TikTok asks Supreme Court to temporarily block law that could ban site in U.S.

WASHINGTON – TikTok on Monday asked the Supreme Court to stop the clock on the Jan. 19 deadline it’s facing to be sold or face a ban in the United States.

In an emergency appeal, attorneys for the social media giant and its China-based parent company, ByteDance, said the deadline should be on hold as the high court considers its challenge to the federal law that mandated the sale.

The company also argues the incoming Trump administration needs time to evaluate what TikTok calls a "massive and unprecedented speech restriction."

A federal appeals court this month upheld the law and rejected TikTok’s request to pause enforcement until the Supreme Court considers the company’s appeal.

Unless ByteDance sells the hugely popular platform by the deadline, it will be banned from app stores and web hosting companies in the U.S.

Congress passed that requirement in April with overwhelming bipartisan support.

Proponents of the bill said that TikTok posed a national security risk and raised concern about the possibility of the Chinese government spying on Americans through the app and spreading propaganda.

The Jan. 19 deadline falls one day before President-elect Donald Trump takes office.

Trump promised during the campaign to “save TikTok” despite having tried to ban it during his first administration.

On Monday, Trump told reporters he has a "warm spot" for TikTok.

“We'll take a look at TikTok,” Trump said in response to a reporter’s question about how he planned to save the platform.

Will TikTok be banned? Donald Trump says he has a 'warm spot' for app as it faces January deadline

The company says it has more than 170 million monthly users in the Untied States.

TikTok argues the law violates the First Amendment rights of those users.

Rejecting that argument, the appeals court wrote, “The First Amendment exists to protect free speech in the United States. Here the government acted solely to protect that freedom from a foreign adversary nation and to limit that adversary's ability to gather data on people in the United States."

TikTok asked the Supreme Court to act by Jan. 6 to give app stores and web hosting companies time to meet the Jan. 19 deadline if enforcement is not paused.

Delay won’t cause the government any “material harm,” the company told the court, but even a temporary TikTok ban would have “devastating” effects on the company’s ability to attract users and content creators,

A one-month shutdown would cause the site to lose one-third of its daily users, the company contends.

“A modest delay in enforcing the Act will create breathing room for this Court to conduct an orderly review and the new Administration to evaluate this matter," TikTok's lawyers told the court, "before this vital channel for Americans to communicate with their fellow citizens and the world is closed."

Contributing: Joey Garrison

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: TikTok asks Supreme Court to temporarily block impending ban