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Donald Trump asks US Supreme Court to halt TikTok ban

President-elect cites recent election win in calling himself the ‘right constitutional actor to resolve the dispute through political means’

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TikTok is challenging the US law that would require it to sell to a non-Chinese buyer or else face a ban. Photo: SOPA Images via ZUMA Press Wire/dpa
Khushboo Razdanin Washington
US president-elect Donald Trump on Friday filed an amicus brief with the US Supreme Court in TikTok’s legal case, urging the justices to temporarily halt a law requiring the popular app to be banned by January 19 unless it is sold to a non-Chinese buyer.
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Earlier on Friday, TikTok, owned by Chinese tech giant ByteDance, filed a brief with America’s highest court reiterating its position that the law was unconstitutional and should be overturned.

Trump “takes no position on the underlying merits of this dispute”, according to the submission. “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.”

This would permit the “incoming administration the opportunity to pursue a political resolution of the questions at issue in the case”, it added.

Trump surprised many when, earlier this year, he began questioning the legislation that led to the ban that TikTok is racing against the clock to suspend, even if temporarily. In his first term as president, he signed an executive order to ban TikTok, an action later rejected by a lower federal court.
US president-elect Trump currently has more than 14 million followers on TikTok. Photo: AFP/various sources
US president-elect Trump currently has more than 14 million followers on TikTok. Photo: AFP/various sources
Although the president-elect has yet to post on his personal TikTok account since winning the US election last month, he turned to the video app during his campaign to engage young Americans. Nearly 30 per cent of TikTok’s 170 million US-based users are between 25 and 34 years old.
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