FILE PHOTO: Senators urge Biden to extend ByteDance’s deadline to sell TikTok’s U.S. assets by 90 days or face a ban. |Image source: Reuters
Democratic Senator Ed Markey and Republican Senator Rand Paul on Thursday urged President Joe Biden to extend China’s ByteDance deadline for selling the U.S. assets of its short video app TikTok by 90 days from January 19, Otherwise you will face a ban.
The Supreme Court said on Wednesday it would consider legal challenges from TikTok and ByteDance seeking injunctions to halt imminent bans or sales, and would hold arguments on the matter on January 10. : “We urge you to trigger the 90-day extension before January 19.”
The White House and TikTok had no immediate comment. Challengers are appealing a lower court ruling upholding the law. Approximately 170 million Americans use TikTok. Congress passed the measure in April, and Democrat Joe Biden signed it into law. The U.S. Department of Justice said TikTok, a Chinese company, poses a “national security threat of immense depth and scale” because of its access to vast troves of data on U.S. users, from their locations to private messages, and the ability to covertly manipulate Americans in the U.S. Content viewed on the app. TikTok says it does not pose an imminent threat to U.S. security.
TikTok and ByteDance said the law violates First Amendment protections of free speech. In a brief to the Supreme Court on Wednesday, Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell urged the court to reject any delays and likened TikTok to a hardened criminal. Other senators, including Republican Sen. Josh Hawley and Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal, said ByteDance must comply with the law.
Republican President-elect Donald Trump, who unsuccessfully tried to ban TikTok during his first term in the White House in 2020, changed his stance during this year’s presidential campaign and pledged to do what he could to save TikTok. Trump said this week that he “has a warm place in my heart for TikTok” and that he would “take a look” at the matter.
Trump was inaugurated on January 20, the day after TikTok’s deadline under the law.
Published – December 20, 2024 10:02 am (IST)