At an event hosted by Turning Point USA in Phoenix, Arizona, U.S. President-elect Donald Trump suggested on Sunday that TikTok may continue operations in the United States “for a little while.”
Addressing the crowd at AmericaFest, an annual gathering organized by the conservative group Turning Point, Trump acknowledged the popular video-sharing app’s impact on the recent presidential election. “I think we’re going to have to start thinking because, you know, we did go on TikTok, and we had a great response with billions of views, billions and billions of views,” he said.
“They brought me a chart, and it was a record, and it was so beautiful to see, and as I looked at it, I said, ‘Maybe we gotta keep this sucker around for a little while’,” Trump added, hinting at a possible reprieve for the app.
This comes as the U.S. Supreme Court agreed on Wednesday to review a request from TikTok and its parent company, ByteDance, to block a law that would require the sale of the app by January 19 or face a ban on national security grounds.
The nation’s top court is scheduled to hear arguments on January 10 regarding whether the law unconstitutionally limits freedom of speech, potentially breaching the First Amendment.
TikTok argued in its petition that the potential ban would shutter one of America’s most popular speech platforms the day before a presidential inauguration and “silence the speech of Applicants and the many Americans who use the platform to communicate about politics, commerce, arts, and other matters of public concern.”
In April, U.S. President Joe Biden enacted the law that gives ByteDance 270 days to sell TikTok, citing national security concerns. Failure to comply would require app store operators such as Apple and Google to remove TikTok from their platforms.
In May, TikTok sued the U.S. government to block the potential ban, a move that has drawn widespread criticism and sparked debates about free speech and digital commerce.
Earlier this month, the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C. dismissed TikTok’s claim that the ban is unconstitutional, setting the stage for the upcoming Supreme Court hearing.
As legal battles unfold, TikTok’s future in the United States remains uncertain. However, Trump’s recent remarks suggest there may be room for negotiations, offering a glimmer of hope for the app’s millions of users and content creators.
Reference(s):
cgtn.com
