TMTPOST -- President-elect Donald Trump has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to delay a possible ban against TikTok as the court is set to decide the popular short video platform’s future in the country next month.

Credit：Xinhua News Agency

In a 25-page amicus brief released on Friday, John Sauer, Trump’s lawyer who is also the president-elect’s pick for U.S. solicitor general, has request the Supreme Court to delay a January 19 deadline if TikTok’ Chinese parent company ByteDance Ltd. does not divest the short video app.

The brief says Trump  "opposes banning TikTok in the United States at this juncture,  and seeks the ability to resolve the issues at hand through political means once he takes office."

 “President Trump takes no position on the underlying merits of this dispute,” wrote Sauer.“Instead, he 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.”

The U.S. Congress has passed a bill and U.S. President Joe Biden signed into law that could ban TikTok in the country in April. The Protecting Americans From Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act ( the “Act”)  is part of a comprehensive foreign aid package providing assistance to Israel, Ukraine and other U.S allies. It gives TikTok owner ByteDance 270 days to divest its U.S. assets including TikTok, otherwise the Chinese tech giant would face a ban on its app being available in U.S. app stores or on U.S. web hosting services. It also grants the White House the authority to prolong this deadline by another 90 days if the president deems that progress has been made towards a sale.

A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit earlier this month ruled against TikTok’s request last week for pause of the ban that set a deadline of January 19 for a sale of ByteDance. TikTok the same day requested the Supreme Court to review the recent ruling of an appeals court that upheld an act threatening a U.S. ban.

The Supreme Court last week said it would take up TikTok's appeal challenging the Act. It is scheduled to hear arguments in the case on Jan. 10.

TikTok’s recent request to pause the U.S. ban was deemed as efforts to win time for Trump’s incoming administration to weigh in the relevant federal law.

Trump earlier this year has showcased his TikTok-fridendly tone, sharply reversing his hard-line stance against TikTok in his first presidential term in 2020.

In a March interview with CNBC, Trump said he still believed TikTok posed a national security risk but opposed banning it because doing so would help its rival Facebook. Trump in June joined TikTok and stating “it’s my honor” on his first video posted on the platform. During a Q&A video widely circulated on June 7, Trump said he would "never ban TikTok."  

Trump was reported last month to seek blocking the U.S. ban. If TikTok owner ByteDance doesn’t meet the deadline required by the Act, Trump could work on options to delay or even cancel the ban. One option Trump can adopt would be to leverage his administration’s authority to extend the deadline by 90 days if there is “significant progress” towards a sale, The Washington Post reported.  It added that legal experts have suggested Trump could also encourage Congress to repeal the legislation altogether or influence his attorney general not to enforce it.

“We’ll take a look at TikTok. You know, I have a warm spot in my heart for TikTok,” Trump said last week at press conference at Mar-a-Lago club in Pam Beach, Forida. “TikTok had an impact, so we’re taking a look at it.” Trump attributed Republican gains with young voters to TikTok and signaled his openness to stop the social media platform.

Trump also last week met with TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew at  Mar-a-Lago, and expressed his fondness for the app, attributing his campaign’s success to the social media platform.

Trump last Sunday sent one of his most clearest and the strongest signals to date that he opposes any TikTok ban in U.S. 

"We did go on TikTok and we had a great response with billions of views," Trump told a crowd of supporters at AmericaFest, hosted by Turning Point USA and Turning Point Action on Sunday. Trump added, "They brought me a chart ... and as I looked at it, I said, maybe we got to keep this sucker around for a little while."