With the clock ticking on the uncertain future of ByteDance’s short form content app TikTok, a pending potential ban from the United States received a bit of a positive boost as President elect Donald Trump is pushing to pause the ban, according to NBC News.
However, the Justice Department is fighting back and on Friday urged the Supreme Court to reject Trump’s request to delay the implementation of the law that would effectively put a ban on the TikTok app in the United States, or force it’s sale from the Chinese company by January 19th.
According to NBC News, the Department of Justice says that Trump’s filing took “no position” on the First Amendment question, the basis of the lawsuit that the Supreme Court has agreed to hear on the fast-tracked basis and also took aim at ByteDance’s First Amendment arguing on Friday.
“The Act does not warrant heightened First Amendment scrutiny because it does not impose a burden on any cognizable First Amendment rights of ByteDance, its U.S. subsidiary, or TikTok’s users,” lawyers for the department wrote.
“The Act satisfies any level of First Amendment scrutiny, and this Court should uphold it” it continued.
“President Trump takes no position on the underlying merits of this dispute. 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,” Trump’s lawyer D. John Sauer wrote.
Trump has voiced his opinion on his TruthSocial platform, opposing the banning of TikTok posting how popular Trump content on the platform performs and asking – “Why would I want to get rid of TikTok?”
As it stands now, the Supreme Court will hear arguments on the case later this week on January 10th, which is only 9 days away from the date that the app is set to be banned under the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act.
That act was passed Congress with bipartisan support in 2024 and signed by President Joe Biden.
“Nothing in the Act would prevent a post-divestiture TikTok from presenting exactly the same content in exactly the same manner. The Act targets control by a foreign adversary, not protected speech,” Justice Department lawyers wrote on Friday.
