President-elect Donald Trump Trump fiercely opposed to TikTok during his 2017-21 first term, and tried in vain to ban the video app on national security grounds. File
| Photo Credit: AFP

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump filed a brief Friday urging the Supreme Court to pause a law that would ban TikTok the day before his January 20 inauguration if it is not sold by its Chinese owner ByteDance.

“In light of the novelty and difficulty of this case, the court should consider staying the statutory deadline to grant more breathing space to address these issues,” Mr. Trump’s legal team wrote, to give him “the opportunity to pursue a political resolution.”

Mr. Trump was fiercely opposed to TikTok during his 2017-21 first term, and tried in vain to ban the video app on national security grounds.

The Republican voiced concerns — echoed by political rivals — that the Chinese government might tap into U.S. TikTok users’ data or manipulate what they see on the platform.

U.S. officials had also voiced alarm over the popularity of the video-sharing app with young people, alleging that its parent company is subservient to Beijing and that the app is used to spread propaganda, claims denied by the company and the Chinese government.

Mr. Trump called for a U.S. company to buy TikTok, with the government sharing in the sale price, and his successor Joe Biden went one stage further — signing a law to ban the app for the same reasons.

Reversing course

Mr. Trump has now, however, reversed course.

At a press conference last week, Mr. Trump said he has “a warm spot” for TikTok and that his administration would take a look at the app and the potential ban.

Earlier this month, the President-elect met with TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida.

Recently, Mr. Trump told Bloomberg he had changed his mind about the app: “Now (that) I’m thinking about it, I’m for TikTok, because you need competition.”

“If you don’t have TikTok, you have Facebook and Instagram — and that’s, you know, that’s Zuckerberg.”

Facebook, founded by Mark Zuckerberg and part of his Meta tech empire, was among the social media networks that banned Mr. Trump after attacks by his supporters on the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021.

The ban was driven by concerns that he would use the platform to promote more violence. Those bans on major social media platforms were later lifted.

‘Unprecedented’

In the brief filed on Friday, Mr. Trump’s lawyer made it clear the president-elect did not take a position on the legal merits of the current case.

“President Trump takes no position on the underlying merits of this dispute,” John Sauer wrote in the amicus curiae — or “friend of the court” — brief.

“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,” he said.

A coalition of free speech groups — including the American Civil Liberties Union — also filed a separate brief to the Supreme Court opposing enforcement of the law, citing censorship concerns.

“Such a ban is unprecedented in our country and, if it goes into effect, will cause a far-reaching disruption in Americans’ ability to engage with the content and audiences of their choice online,” the rights groups’ filing read, in part.

The U.S. apex court agreed last week to hear TikTok’s appeal against Biden’s move to force its owner to divest from it or face a ban.

With oral arguments scheduled for January 10, the case would have to be heard at a breakneck speed.

TikTok argues that the law, the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, violates its First Amendment free speech rights.

AFP, among more than a dozen other fact-checking organizations, is paid by TikTok in several countries to verify videos that potentially contain false information.

New York:

TikTok and Universal announced a new licensing agreement Thursday, ending a months-long dispute that saw popular music expunged from the social media platform.

The companies released a joint statement that said the new deal included “improved remuneration” for artists and songwriters under the Universal Music Group (UMG) umbrella, and will also assuage concerns over the growth of AI-generated content on TikTok.

Universal chairman Sir Lucian Grainge said “this new chapter in our relationship” would “drive innovation in fan engagement while advancing social music monetization.”

The deal “focuses on the value of music, the primacy of human artistry and the welfare of the creative community,” he said.

TikTok’s CEO Shou Chew similarly said “we are committed to working together to drive value, discovery and promotion for all of UMG’s amazing artists and songwriters, and deepen their ability to grow, connect and engage with the TikTok community.”

The deal wraps up closely watched negotiations that saw a breakdown earlier this year, with the companies — two of the most powerful players in the music and tech industries — publicly criticizing each other as they jockeyed for leverage.

Universal — whose roster of artists includes Taylor Swift, Drake and Billie Eilish — ordered music from all artists connected to its vast publishing catalog to come down off the app, leaving many concerned over losing the marketing potential TikTok can offer.

Millions of videos involving Universal artists became muted on the platform.

But while the stripped music will now return to TikTok, it comes at a moment of uncertainty for the wildly popular video-sharing app, one week after a new US law demands the company divest from its Chinese parent company ByteDance or be shut out of the American market.

The app has 170 million users in the United States alone.

Neither Universal nor TikTok disclosed any financial terms of the deal.

Several weeks ago, the powerful and popular Swift returned some of her music to the app ahead of the release of her most recent album.

It was unclear exactly how she did it, but Swift does own her own master recordings as well as her songwriting rights, though those two are administered by Universal’s publishing arm.

In their joint statement the companies said they were “working expeditiously to return music by artists represented by Universal Music Group and songwriters represented by Universal Music Publishing Group to TikTok in due course.”

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)