US Justice Department wants Trump request to delay TikTok ban rejected

Under the law, the ban will be implemented this month.

File photo: TikTok app

TikTok's future in the US

According to a Reuters report, the US Department of Justice has asked the Supreme Court to reject President-elect Donald Trump's call to delay the law that would ban social media giant TikTok or source its sale by January 19.

Trump, who will be inaugurated on January 20, has argued in a legal brief he filed that he should have time to pursue a "political resolution" to the issue.

However, the DOJ said the request could only be granted if ByteDance, TikTok's Chinese owner, had established it was likely to succeed on the merits but the company had not done so.

The government further said, "no one can seriously dispute that (China's) control of TikTok through ByteDance represents a grave threat to national security: TikTok’s collection of reams of sensitive data about 170 million Americans and their contacts makes it a powerful tool for espionage."

TikTok is urging the Supreme Court to block the law on free-speech grounds under the First Amendment of the US Constitution. Otherwise, new downloads of TikTok on Apple or Google would be banned but existing users could continue to accessing the app but services will degrade and stop over time.

What do you think guys?

Via: Reuters