TikTok asks Supreme Court for a lifeline as sell-or-ban deadline approaches

TikTok and ByteDance asked the United States Supreme Court to block the law that forces TikTok to be sold off or banned in the United States, according to an emergency filing with America’s top court on Monday.

The social media company requested that the Supreme Court consider blocking the sell-or-ban law passed earlier this year by January 6. This would give American app stores and internet hosting providers just a few weeks to prepare for January 19, the deadline when the U.S. could force them to block TikTok.

“Today, TikTok is asking the Court to do what it has traditionally done in free speech cases: apply the most rigorous scrutiny to speech bans and conclude that it violates the First Amendment,” said TikTok spokesperson Michael Hughes in an emailed statement to TechCrunch.

Also on Monday, TikTok CEO Shou Chew is reportedly meeting with President-elect Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago, according to CNN’s Kaitlan Collins. The meeting comes hours after Trump told reporters he has a “warm spot in my heart for TikTok,” which is quite the change of heart considering Trump previously tried to ban TikTok with an executive order.

The TikTok ban was long destined for the Supreme Court, but now it finally appears to be headed there. TikTok has argued for months that this law hinders the free speech of millions of users, app stores, and the company itself. However, that argument has fallen flat so far with the Department of Justice, which last week asked a U.S. appeals court to reject ByteDance’s motion to block the law.