Two weeks before the Supreme Court hears oral arguments on TikTok’s future, President-elect Donald Trump has asked the justices to delay a January 19 deadline to sell the app to a new owner or face a US ban.
An amicus brief John Sauer, Trump’s nominee for attorney general, is asking the judge to grant a stay to delay that deadline so that the incoming president can make a “negotiated resolution” that would save the application.
The filing describes Trump as “the only one with the deal-making skills, electoral mandate and political will to negotiate a resolution to save the platform” while addressing national security concerns expressed by the administration.
This combination of images shows a man holding a phone displaying the logo of the Chinese social media platform Tiktok and former President Donald Trump speaking to the media as he arrives for a criminal hearing at Manhattan Criminal Court in New York on May 30, 2024.
Antonin Utzseth Wenig/AFP/POOL/AFP via Getty Images
Trump’s brief says he is “opposed to banning TikTok in the United States at this time,” but does not say the law requiring the sale violates the First Amendment, saying he does not take a position on the merits of the case.
Instead, Sauer’s filing asks the court to suspend the deadline to allow the incoming Trump administration “an opportunity to reach a negotiated settlement that could prevent TikTok from shutting down nationwide, thereby preserving the First Amendment rights of tens of millions of Americans while at the same time protecting the government’s national security.” responding to concerns.”
TikTok, which has more than 170 million US users, is suing China-based ByteDance over a law that requires its current owner to sell it by January 19 or face a US ban.
A federal appeals court earlier this month rejected the company’s request for an emergency break during the period.
It is the Supreme Court to hear the arguments in this case, on January 10.
President Joe Biden Signed the Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications ActIt was part of the $95 billion foreign aid package approved by Congress on April 24.
Biden and some congressional leaders argued that the ultimatum against TikTok was necessary because of security concerns about ByteDance and its connections to the Chinese government.
Trump initially tried to ban TikTok during his first term, but has since reversed course, vowing to “save” the app during his 2024 presidential campaign.
In Trump’s amicus brief, Sauer raised the idea of social media censorship, Brazil’s ban on the X social media platform last month, the handling of the Hunter Biden laptop story and the government’s efforts to stamp out COVID-19 disinformation as events that should be addressed. the judges pause.
“This court should be deeply concerned about setting a precedent that could create a slippery slope toward global government censorship of social media speech,” Sauer wrote in the filing. “The power of a Western government to ban an entire social media platform with over 100 million users should at the very least be considered and exercised with the utmost care, not a ‘very quick’ review.”
Sauer acknowledged that TikTok could pose national security risks while remaining under ByteDance’s control, but also urged judges to be skeptical of national security officials who, he said, “have repeatedly succeeded in censoring inappropriate content and views on social media. a combination of pressure, coercion and deception.’
“There is a striking parallel between the D.C. Circuit’s almost total deference to national security officials seeking social media censorship and the recent and well-documented history of extensive involvement of federal officials in social media censorship efforts targeting tens of millions of Americans,” Sauer wrote.
