TikToker and president-elect Donald Trump has asked the Supreme Court to delay the TikTok ban deadline, at least until after he’s in office and can try handling this himself. In a December 27 filing obtained by NBC News, Trump’s lawyer, D. John Sauer, argued that the former Apprentice host is the only person who can “negotiate a resolution” that will save the app while also addressing the “national security concerns” about it. Under an act that President Biden signed into law in April, TikTok is currently set to be banned in the U.S. on January 19— the day before Trump will be sworn in —unless its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, sells its stake in the platform.
TikTok has filed an appeal to challenge the divest-or-ban legislation, calling it an unconstitutional violation of free speech rights. The Supreme Court is expected to hear two hours of oral arguments for that case on January 10. “President Trump takes no position on the underlying merits of this dispute,” Sauer noted in his Friday filing. “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.”
Trump previously tried to get TikTok banned during his presidency in 2020, but recently said that he has a “warm spot” in his heart for the app due to support from young voters. Earlier this month, he met with TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew at Mar-a-Lago. We’ll have to wait and see whether the app will live on in America, or whether it will end up as a lesson to ask not what your country can do for your “For You” page.