Trump asks Supreme Court to rescue TikTok from US ban

President-elect Donald Trump is asking the Supreme Court to negotiate a deal to save TikTok from an imminent ban in the United States.

“When he takes office, he seeks the ability to solve the problems at hand through political means,” Trump said in an opinion submitted to the court. “Only he has the full transactional expertise, electoral authority, and political will.” To negotiate a resolution to save the platform.”

Last week, the Supreme Court agreed to hear arguments that a law passed by Congress banning TikTok on national security grounds violates the First Amendment. The bill gives the president broad discretion to delay implementation if progress is made on a deal that would prevent TikTok from being fully controlled by its Chinese parent, ByteDance. But the deadline for that decision is January 19, one day before President Trump’s inauguration.

In his filing with the Supreme Court, President Trump asked for a reprieve from the January 19 deadline for the bill, asking that the deal he would negotiate would “allow this court to now very quickly address the historically challenging First Amendment issues presented herein.” “There will be no need to make decisions,” he argued. basic.”

He has over 14 million followers on TikTok and ownership of Truth Social, which gives him the unique ability to “assess the importance of TikTok as a unique medium for free speech, including core political speech.” It is claimed that you will have . He also cited Brazil’s temporary ban on Elon Musk X as an example of the “historic risk presented” by banning TikTok.

Trump pushed for a TikTok ban during his first term, but changed his stance after his campaign successfully used the platform in the 2024 election. He recently met with TikTok CEO Shou Chew at Mar-a-Lago and told the crowd, “Maybe we should keep this idiot around for a while.”