Trump asks Supreme Court to pause law that could ban TikTok

WASHINGTON — Donald Trump has urged the US Supreme Court to pause a federal TikTok law that would ban the popular social media app or force its sale, with the Republican US President-elect arguing that he should have time after taking office to pursue a "political resolution" to the issue.

TikTok and its owner ByteDance are fighting to keep the popular app online in the United States after Congress voted in April to ban it unless the app's Chinese parent company sells it by Jan 19.

They have sought to have the law struck down, and the Supreme Court has agreed to hear the case.

But if the court does not rule in ByteDance's favour and no divestment occurs, the app could be effectively banned in the United States on Jan 19, one day before Trump takes office.

"This case presents an unprecedented, novel, and difficult tension between free-speech rights on one side, and foreign policy and national security concerns on the other," Trump said in a filing on Dec 27.

"Such a stay would vitally grant President Trump the opportunity to pursue a political resolution that could obviate the Court's need to decide these constitutionally significant questions," the filing added.

Free speech advocates separately told the Supreme Court on Dec 27 that the US law against Chinese-owned TikTok evokes the censorship regimes put in place by the United States' authoritarian enemies.

Trump indicated earlier this week that he favoured allowing TikTok to keep operating in the United States for at least a little while, saying he had received billions of views on the social media platform during his presidential campaign.

The US Justice Department has argued that Chinese control of TikTok poses a continuing threat to national security, a position supported by most US lawmakers.

TikTok says the Justice Department has misstated the social media app's ties to China, arguing that its content recommendation engine and user data are stored in the United States on cloud servers operated by Oracle Corp while content moderation decisions that affect US users are made in the United States as well.

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