US Democratic Senator Ed Markey and Republican Senator Rand Paul on Thursday urged US President Biden to extend the deadline for selling TikTok by ByteDance by 90 days from January 19 next year.
In April this year, Biden signed the TikTok Blocking Act, which stipulates that ByteDance must sell TikTok within the limited time, otherwise the application will not be available in the U.S. market.
Currently, the bill has been appealed by TikTok to the US Supreme Court, seeking to overturn the legislation on the grounds that it violates the First Amendment right to freedom of speech as stipulated in the US Constitution.
The Supreme Court said on Wednesday that it would consider the legal challenges raised by TikTok and ByteDance and seek injunctions to prevent the upcoming injunction or sale. The relevant debate is scheduled to be held on January 10th next year.
Senators believe that given the uncertain future of the bill and its potential significant impact on freedom of speech, they urge the Biden administration to initiate a 90 day extension before January 19th. The White House has not yet responded to this request.
Twists and turns
The U.S. Department of Justice once accused without evidence that as a Chinese company, TikTok posed a huge national security threat to the United States, because it could obtain a large amount of data from American users, from geographical location to private information, and secretly manipulate the content that Americans browse on the application.
However, TikTok has repeatedly stated that it does not pose a threat to US security and emphasized that there are 170 million users in the US who rely on the TikTok platform for their voice and livelihood. The blatant ban on TikTok will have a catastrophic impact on millions of users.
However, many members of Congress still have a very tough attitude towards TikTok. Senate Republican leader McConnell emphasized on Wednesday that the Supreme Court should not approve any delays. Other senators also claimed that ByteDance must comply with the provisions of the Prohibition Act and sell TikTok's US assets before January 19.
However, there is still a glimmer of hope in this matter. President elect Trump of the United States will take office on January 20. He promised that TikTok would not be banned, which may leave room for ByteDance to retain the ownership of TikTok. If the Biden government approves the extension of the sale period for ByteDance, then ByteDance can wait until Trump takes office to consider the sale.
Trump said this week that he has a hint of gratitude towards TikTok in his heart and will continue to pay attention to this matter.