The law to ban China's TikTok in the US market was passed by Congress last April. This law has set a deadline for TikTok until January 19. By this time, TikTok must be freed from Chinese ownership, otherwise the app will be banned in the United States. However, last Thursday, Democrat Senator Ed Markey and Republican Senator Rand Paul requested President Joe Biden to extend this deadline for another 90 days.
Last Thursday, the Supreme Court said, the highest court of the country (Supreme Court) said that it will hear Tiktok and ByteDance in view of the application filed in the Supreme Court demanding the cancellation of the law. The hearing will be held on January 10.
“Given the uncertain future of the legislation and its potential impact on free speech, we urge you to extend the deadline another 90 days before January 19,” the senators told Biden.
The White House and TikTok did not immediately comment. But the opposing parties appealed the lower court's ruling, which upheld the law. Congress passed the legislation in April and Biden signed it into law.
The U.S. Department of Justice said TikTok, as a Chinese company, poses a national security risk. Because it can access vast amounts of information about US users, such as location, private messages, and it is able to secretly control the content Americans see through the app.
But TikTok says it poses no immediate threat to US security.
The White House and TikTok did not immediately comment. The challenging parties appealed the lower court ruling, which upheld the law.
The platform, owned by China's ByteDance, has more than 1 billion users worldwide, including 170 million in the United States. Congress passed the legislation in April and Biden, a Democrat, signed it into law.
On the other hand, Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell filed a brief judgment in the Supreme Court last Wednesday. In which he told the court that there should be no delay in the adoption of TikTok. He compared TikTok to a type of criminal.
Republican Senator Josh Hawley and Democrat Richard Blumenthal said ByteDance must comply with the law.
In 2020, President-elect Donald Trump tried to ban TikTok. But this time he changed his stance and promised in this year's presidential election that he would take steps to save TikTok.
Last Monday, he held an important meeting with TikTok CEO Show Ji Chiu at Mar-a-Lago Estate in Florida. This meeting can play an important role in determining the future of social media. And in this meeting, Trump gave hope to the CEO of TikTok.
Trump said he has a 'warm heart for TikTok' and will 'keep an eye on it'. He launched his own TikTok account to campaign for the recently held elections. Till date this account has 1 crore 47 lakh followers. In this, he has presented himself as a TikTok-friendly candidate.
