TikTok’s Last Stand: Requesting US Supreme Court to Stop Ban, Shou Zi Chew (TikTok CEO) Meets Trump

On Monday, TikTok made a “last ditch effort” to continue operating in the United States: requesting the US Supreme Court to temporarily block the “no sell, no ban” regulation, otherwise TikTok will cease operations in the United States from January 19th.

TikTok said on its official website that ByteDance and TikTok had made an urgent request to the judge to suspend the injunction on TikTok’s application, and they appealed against the lower court’s decision to maintain the law. A group of American TikTok users also made a similar request on Monday.

US President elect Trump has stated that he will pay attention to this matter. According to insiders, Trump met with TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew in Florida on Monday.

TikTok makes a final push

In April of this year, the US Congress passed the unreasonable regulation of “ban if you don’t sell”. According to the new regulations, TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, must divest its U.S. business using TikTok within 270 days, or TikTok will face a comprehensive ban in the United States.

TikTok appealed that this regulation violated the First Amendment’s protection of freedom of speech, but on December 6th, the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in Washington rejected TikTok’s appeal.

In the document submitted to the Supreme Court on Monday, TikTok and ByteDance said, “If Americans fully understand the so-called ‘secret’ content manipulation risks and choose to continue to watch the content on TikTok with wide eyes, the First Amendment will give them the right to make a choice and not be subject to government review.”

They added: “If the opposition opinion of the Washington D.C. Circuit Court is upheld, then Congress will be free to prohibit any American from making statements, as long as it is confirmed that there is a risk of their statements being affected by foreign entities.”

TikTok spokesperson Michael Hughes said after submitting the documents, “We are requesting the court to do what has traditionally been done in freedom of speech cases: to conduct the strictest scrutiny of speech bans and draw conclusions that violate the First Amendment

Ban will seriously harm TikTok

At present, about 170 million Americans use TikTok. TikTok and ByteDance said that even if TikTok was banned for only one month, it would cause TikTok to lose about one third of its American users and weaken its ability to attract advertisers, content creators and employees.

If the ban is not lifted, small businesses on TikTok will lose over $1 billion in revenue within just one month, and creators will lose nearly $300 million in revenue

TikTok claims to be one of the “most important speech platforms” used in the United States. The company stated that TikTok currently does not pose an imminent threat to US national security, and delaying the implementation of the “no sell, no ban” regulation will allow the Supreme Court to consider the legality of the ban and enable the incoming Trump administration to evaluate the law as well.

Trump said he will ‘pay attention’

Trump attempted to ban TikTok during his first term in 2020, but was unsuccessful. He changed his stance in this year’s presidential election and promised to work hard to save TikTok. Trump will take office on January 20th, the second day after the legal ban on TikTok takes effect.

TikTok and ByteDance said in their submission that the ban would “close one of the most popular speech platforms in the United States the day before the inauguration… It is unusual for a federal law to ban a speech platform used by half of Americans.”

At a press conference on Monday Eastern Time, when asked how he would block TikTok’s ban, Trump responded by saying, “I have a warm heart for TikTok,” and he would “take a look” at this matter.

According to insiders, Trump met with TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew in Florida on Monday.

TikTok and ByteDance asked the United States Supreme Court to make a ruling on their request before January 6.