The U.S. Department of Justice urged the Supreme Court on Friday to deny President-elect Donald Trump’s request to delay the enforcement of a law requiring TikTok to either sell its U.S. operations or face a ban by January 19.
Last week, Trump submitted a legal brief arguing for time after his inauguration on January 20 to seek a “political resolution” to the matter. The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear arguments on January 10.
The law, enacted in April, mandates that TikTok’s Chinese parent company, ByteDance, divest its U.S. assets or face a ban. TikTok has not yet commented.
In its filing, the DOJ argued that Trump’s request could only be granted if ByteDance demonstrated a strong likelihood of success in its case, which the company has not done.
DOJ said no one disputes China “seeks to undermine U.S. interests by amassing sensitive data about Americans and engaging in covert and malign influence operations.”
The government asserted that “no one can seriously dispute that (China’s) control of TikTok through ByteDance represents a grave threat to national security: TikTok’s collection of reams of sensitive data about 170 million Americans and their contacts makes it a powerful tool for espionage.”
Trump lawyer D. John Sauer wrote last week the president-elect “respectfully requests that the Court consider staying the Act’s deadline for divestment of January 19, 2025, while it considers the merits of this case, thus permitting President Trump’s incoming administration the opportunity to pursue a political resolution of the questions at issue in the case.”
On Friday, TikTok asked the Supreme Court to block the law, citing free speech protections under the First Amendment. The company argued that Congress did not seek to ban other Chinese-owned apps like Shein or Temu, suggesting the law targets TikTok for its content, not its data.
If the court doesn’t block the law by January 19, new TikTok downloads from Apple and Google stores will be banned, though existing users can still access the app. Over time, the service will degrade as companies are prohibited from providing support.
President Biden could extend the deadline by 90 days if he certifies that ByteDance is making significant progress toward divesting TikTok.
Trump’s stance on TikTok has shifted since 2020, when he attempted to block the app and force its sale to U.S. companies due to its Chinese ownership.