TikTok asks Supreme Court to block ban as deadline nears

Washington — TikTok and its parent company ByteDance have asked the Supreme Court to temporarily pause a law that would ban the app in the U.S. as soon as Jan. 19.

“A modest delay in enforcing the Act will create breathing room for this Court to conduct an orderly review and the new Administration to evaluate this matter — before this vital channel for Americans to communicate with their fellow citizens and the world is closed,” the emergency application said.

TikTok has asked the Supreme Court for an injunction on an emergency basis but has not yet sought review on the merits of the case. In its application, TikTok said the company and its users will suffer “immediate irreparable harm” if the ban is not delayed. 

“Congress’s unprecedented attempt to single out Applicants and bar them from operating one of the most significant speech platforms in this Nation presents grave constitutional problems that this Court likely will not allow to stand,” the filing said. 

The move comes days after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit denied TikTok’s bid to delay the ban from taking effect pending a Supreme Court review.

TikTok and ByteDance asked the Supreme Court to make a decision on its request to delay the law by Jan. 6 so they can “coordinate with their service providers to perform the complex task of shutting down the TikTok platform only in the United States” if the justices decline.

When TikTok challenged the law in May, it argued that it never had a choice between divestment or a ban because a forced sale “is simply not possible: not commercially, not technologically, not legally.” The Chinese government vowed to block the sale of TikTok’s algorithm which tailors content recommendations to each user. A new buyer would be forced to rebuild the algorithm that powers the app. The petition said “such a fundamental rearchitecting is not remotely feasible” under the restrictions within the legislation. 

“The platform consists of millions of lines of software code that have been painstakingly developed by thousands of engineers over multiple years,” the petition said. 

President-elect Donald Trump previously supported a ban but has since reversed his position, though several of his administration picks still back restricting the social media platform. Trump takes office a day after the law’s implementation. 

When asked Monday how he plans to stop a ban, Trump praised TikTok saying it helped him with the youth vote. 

“I have a warm spot in my heart for TikTok,” he said. 

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