Washington, Dec 16 (EFE).- TikTok asked the US Supreme Court on Monday to block a federal law that would require it to be divested from its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, or be banned in the North American country at the end of January.<\/p>
TikTokand ByteDance brought the case before the top US court after an appeals court rejected a similar request on Friday.<\/p>
The plaintiffs asked the Supreme Court to temporarily halt the law from coming into force, while the Justice Department studies the constitutionality of the legislation.<\/p>
In the application, TikTok and ByteDance requested a response before Jan. 6.<\/p>
Time is running out for the Supreme Court to rule given that the law, approved by Congress and signed into law by President Joe Biden, must come into force on Jan. 19, one day before Donald Trump assumes power as the country’s new president.<\/p>
The companies invoked the First Amendment of the Constitution, which protects freedom of expression, warning that the law would “shutter one of America’s most popular speech platforms the day before a presidential inauguration.”<\/p>
According to TikTok and its Chinese parent company, the closure of the hugely popular short video app would “silence” users who use it to express their opinions on politics and other matters of public concern.<\/p>
The ban will also cause “substantial and unrecoverable monetary and competitive harms” to small businesses that use the platform to advertise and do business, they added.<\/p>
The law was passed with bipartisan support by Democratic and Republican lawmakers amid concerns that the Chinese government may be able to obtain information about users in the US from ByteDance and use its influence on American public opinion by manipulating what people see on the application.<\/p>
Trump, who tried to ban the platform during his first term (2017-2021), promised during the election campaign to “save TikTok” if he won.<\/p>
However, he has not commented on the case since he was declared the winner of the presidential election in November. EFE<\/p>
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