Trump Launches Unban Attempt for TikTok in the U.S.
Donald Trump has turned to the Supreme Court to delay the looming TikTok ban. The US President-elect is hoping for a political solution for the popular video app, which has 170 million users in the US.
Trump’s interference is not unexpected
US President-elect Donald Trump has asked the US Supreme Court to suspend implementation of a law that could ban popular social media app TikTok or force its sale. The law, which came into force in April 2024, requires TikTok to change hands by January 19, 2025. Otherwise, the app risks being banned from the app stores and losing access to important infrastructure.
Trump has already emphasized several times that he wants to prevent this. Social media use: TikTok is primarily used by young people Reuters reports Trump attorney D. John Sauer argues that the president-elect needs time to find a “political solution” to the problem. Trump himself does not take a position on the basic questions of the dispute, but simply asks for the deadline to be postponed until January 19, 2026.
The core of the conflict lies in the US government’s security concerns about TikTok. The app is owned by the Chinese company ByteDance, raising fears that China could gain access to American users’ data. TikTok vehemently denies these connections and argues that a ban would violate constitutionally guaranteed freedom of speech.
Further proceedings from January 10th
On January 10, 2025, the Supreme Court will address this very question in a hearing. At issue is whether the change of ownership law actually violates the right to free speech, as TikTok claims.
Complex political situation
The situation is made even more complicated by Trump’s impending inauguration. While current President Joe Biden could extend TikTok’s deadline by three months if there are promising sales negotiations, TikTok has so far refused to even consider changing ownership.
China had signaled that it would block any sale of the Chinese-developed recommendation software at the heart of the app. He had explained Trump’s motivation for supporting TikTok several times, but in very different ways. In a press conference in December, he was extremely positive about TikTok, even claiming that the app contributed to his success with young voters.
He also expressed his opinion that Facebook in particular would benefit from a TikTok ban and that he wanted to prevent that.
