Trump asks Supreme Court to give him time to negotiate TikTok terms

President-elect Donald Trump says he is in a unique position to negotiate a deal resolving national security and other problems with TikTok and asked the Supreme Court on Friday to stay a ban on the social media site that is expected to come into effect. effective January 19. . File Pool Photo by Spencer Platt/UPI | License photo

Dec. 28 (UPI) — President-elect Donald Trump intervened in the Supreme Court case that could ultimately decide whether a federal ban on TikTok occurs.

Attorney John Sauer filed a 25-page brief Friday asking the Supreme Court to consider whether the Protecting Americans from Apps Controlled by Foreign Adversaries Act violates the First Amendment.

“President Trump is one of the most powerful, prolific and influential social media users in history,” Sauer said.

Trump has 14.7 million followers on TikTok, which he says allows him to “evaluate the importance of TikTok as a unique medium for free speech, including fundamental political discourse,” says he.

Sauer said Trump and “his rival” used TikTok to connect with voters during the 2024 election cycle.

“As this court states, ‘the constitutional guarantee of the First Amendment has its fullest and most pressing application precisely to the conduct of campaigns for political office,'” Sauer said.

The document states that 170 million Americans use TikTok and that the president and vice president are the only elected officials who represent all voters in the country.

Trump also owns the social media site Truth Social, which Sauer said “gives him an in-depth perspective on the extraordinary power of government that was attempted to be wielded in this matter.”

He said the government’s power is to “effectively shut down a social media platform favored by tens of millions of Americans, largely based on concerns about disfavored content on that platform.”

Sauer cites Brazilian officials ban for over a month earlier in 2024 due to political speeches on this social networking site as an example of government interference in free speech.

“President Trump alone has the perfect deal-making expertise, the electoral mandate and the political will to negotiate a resolution to save the platform while addressing national security concerns expressed by the government,” Sauer said.

Trump acknowledges these concerns, but the 270-day federal deadline for TikTok to sell its U.S. interests or be shut down expires on January 19, while Trump is scheduled to be sworn in on January 20.

“This unfortunate timing interferes with President Trump’s ability to…pursue a resolution aimed at both protecting national security and saving a social media platform that provides a popular way for 170 million Americans to exercise their fundamental First Amendment rights,” Sauer said.

The brief asks the court to extend TikTok’s deadline to allow the incoming Trump administration to negotiate a resolution on the issue.

At least one critic said Trump’s interest in the issue was more personal than political.

“With Donald Trump, it’s always a combination of two things,” Rep. Jake Auchincloss, Democrat of Mass., told CNN host Jim Sciutto on Friday. The Hill reported.

“It’s, number one, flattery and inflating one’s ego. And then number two is the gentle corruption and sycophancy of those around him,” Auchincloss said. “These two threads can intertwine and change American policy.”

The Supreme Court should hear arguments regarding the awaiting ban from TikTok on January 10 and whether or not Chinese company ByteDance should sell the social media company to a US company or face being banned on January 19.

US lawmakers and officials have accused ByteDance of being influenced by the Chinese government, which its owners have denied.