President-elect Donald J. Trump has urged the Supreme Court to delay a looming deadline that could result in a nationwide ban of TikTok, the immensely popular social media app, unless its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, sells its U.S. operations to an American entity. The deadline, set for January 19 — just one day before Trump’s inauguration — has prompted a constitutional clash over national security, free speech, and executive authority.
In a 25-page amicus brief filed on Friday, Trump requested the justices to issue a stay on the deadline, arguing that the issue requires a more measured resolution. The President-elect contended that his incoming administration should have the opportunity to negotiate a political solution that addresses the national security concerns raised by the app’s Chinese ownership while preserving the free speech rights of TikTok’s 170 million American users.
“This case presents an unprecedented and novel tension between free-speech rights on one side and foreign policy and national-security concerns on the other,” the brief states. “As the incoming Chief Executive, President Trump has a particularly powerful interest in and responsibility for those national-security and foreign-policy questions, and he is the right constitutional actor to resolve the dispute through political means.”
The Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act mandates ByteDance to divest its U.S. TikTok operations by January 19 or face an effective shutdown of the app in the United States. The federal government argues that TikTok poses a significant threat to national security, citing concerns that the Chinese government could exploit the app to surveil Americans or manipulate public discourse.
Critics of the Act, including Trump, counter that the government’s concerns are insufficiently balanced against the constitutional rights of TikTok users. The brief highlights the app’s role as a platform for free expression, emphasizing its importance to political discourse, cultural connection, and economic livelihood. […]
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