President-Elect Trump Asks Supreme Court To Delay A Ruling On The TikTok Ban
by John Brandon · ForbesThe unfolding drama related to the TikTok ban has taken a new turn. President-elect Donald Trump has asked the Supreme Court to delay a ruling and postpone a decision about whether to allow TikTok to remain on app stores or if it must be sold early next year.
The saga has been developing now for several months. Here’s a quick rundown of where it all stands, along with a few thoughts about how this might all end.
How the TikTok ban discussion started
I first wrote about a potential TikTok ban way back in 2022 when Congress floated the idea of banning the app on government-owned devices. That law actually went into effect in 2023, but then in April of this year, the House approved a bill that would ban TikTok entirely. ByteDance, which owns TikTok, would have until January 19 to sell the app. App stores would face hefty fines if they let users download the app.
The Senate approved that measure, and then President Biden signed the bill that included a provision to extend the ruling.
Just recently, an appeals court confirmed the measure once again, saying that the Chinese company should start looking for a new buyer and even suggested that users should start looking for alternatives.
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How the TikTok ban saga might finally end
I’m calling this a saga because the TikTok ban is really about free speech versus foreign interference, especially during election seasons. There are two distinct sides, and it’s looking like the Supreme Court will determine what happens next.
On the one hand, users should be able to decide which apps they use. A free speech advocacy group has challenged the Supreme Court to consider revoking the ban. They argue that the federal government should not be in a position to make apps illegal, saying that is what a dictatorship would do.
Yet, on the other hand, concerns about interference are legitimate. The TikTok algorithm is controlled by ByteDance, and that’s the one piece of the technology they do not want to hand over to someone else. With social media, the algorithm is the heart of the app, determining what we see in our feeds based on our preferences.
The algorithm is where the real interference can happen. If a foreign entity wanted to influence Americans, they could tweak the algorithm to show specific content (for example, more posts from one specific candidate or one viewpoint). That is what has caused most of the stir in recent months and pushed this debate all the way to the Supreme Court.
That said, President-elect Trump has strong opinions. One report by CNN argues that Trump is a trailblazer on social media apps like TikTok; he has said that his campaign had “billions” of views prior to the election.
Trump was once a TikTok naysayer when it comes to interference and tends to view everything through an America first lens. I suspect his change of heart is related to those billions of views which, in part, helped him get elected.
I’m not sure Trump will be able to influence the outcome of the TikTok ban as much as he thinks he can. For starters, this is the Supreme Court—we’re not talking about elected officials or a federal agency he controls.
I’ll be curious if the Supreme Court even responds to Trump about the TikTok ban. Usually, they tend to have their day in court, especially since it’s their court.