One way or another, incoming president Donald Trump has vowed that he will be the one to “save TikTok.” And it looks like he is taking this promise up a notch as he urges the Supreme Court to delay TikTok’s incoming ban.
Unless the app severs its ties with Chinese parent company ByteDance, TikTok is due to be banned on Jan. 19. This is just one day before Trump’s inauguration. In the court filing, which was written by Trump’s lawyer D. John Sauer, it’s said that Trump was to find a “political resolution” to this problem.
What did Trump say to the Supreme Court?
“President Trump takes no position on the underlying merits of this dispute,” Sauer writes.
“Instead, he respectfully requests that the Court consider staying the Act’s deadline for divestment of January 19, 2025, while it considers the merits of this case, thus permitting President Trump’s incoming Administration the opportunity to pursue a political resolution of the questions at issue in the case.”
The question at the heart of this case is whether TikTok’s ban violates users’ constitutional right to free speech. While the Court of Appeals rejected this argument, the Supreme Court is set to hear this case on Jan. 10.
Reportedly, in the days following Trump’s filing, he met with TikTok CEO Shou Chew once again. So, while Trump isn’t exactly known for being truthful about things, it looks like he wasn’t lying when he said he had a “warm spot” for TikTok.
