An advocate holds an indication for TikTok following a information convention outdoors the US Capitol in Washington, DC, US, on Tuesday, March 12, 2024.
Graeme Sloan | Bloomberg | Getty Pictures
TikTok on Monday requested the Supreme Courtroom to dam a regulation that would successfully ban the favored social media app in the USA by Jan. 19.
On the identical day, President-elect Donald Trump met with TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago membership in Palm Seaside, Florida, NBC Information confirmed.
TikTok desires the Supreme Courtroom to first think about its enchantment of that regulation, which might require its Chinese language proprietor, ByteDance, to promote the app by that date or power Google and Apple to cease supporting TikTok on their platforms within the U.S.
The request got here three days after the U.S. Courtroom of Appeals in Washington, D.C., refused to delay the impact of its ruling upholding the regulation, the Defending People from International Adversary Managed Purposes Act.
The appeals courtroom in that ruling cited nationwide safety considerations raised by members of Congress who backed the regulation.
Trump earlier Monday instructed reporters, “We’ll check out TikTok,” when he was requested in regards to the potential ban.
“You recognize, I’ve a heat spot in my coronary heart for TikTok,” Trump stated, pointing to his electoral efficiency amongst younger voters in November.
Trump in his first time period within the White Home tried to ban the app, however in the course of the latest marketing campaign stated he opposed the regulation handed by Congress and signed by President Joe Biden.
In its request Monday to the Supreme Courtroom, TikTok’s legal professionals wrote, “Congress has enacted an enormous and unprecedented speech restriction. TikTok is a web based platform that is likely one of the Nation’s hottest and vital venues for communication.”
The corporate’s attorneys argued there’s a “robust public curiosity” in having the Supreme Courtroom overview the appeals courtroom ruling upholding the regulation in query.
“The Act will shutter considered one of America’s hottest speech platforms the day earlier than a presidential inauguration,” the submitting stated. “This, in flip, will silence the speech of Candidates and the numerous People who use the platform to speak about politics, commerce, arts, and different issues of public concern.”
In a press release posted on its X social media account, TikTok Coverage stated, “The Supreme Courtroom has a longtime report of upholding People’ proper to free speech.”
“Right this moment, we’re asking the Courtroom to do what it has historically executed in free speech instances: apply essentially the most rigorous scrutiny to speech bans and conclude that it violates the First Modification,” the assertion stated.
The identical publish stated estimates present that if TikTok is banned, small companies that use the app will lose greater than $1 billion in income in only one month, and creators will lose almost $300 million in earnings in a single month.
