The request comes as the Supreme Court prepares to hear arguments on January 10 regarding TikTok and ByteDance’s legal challenge to the law requiring the sale or ban. The senators urged Biden to delay the deadline, citing concerns over the law’s implications for free expression. “Given the law’s uncertain future and its consequences for free expression, we urge you to trigger the 90-day extension before January 19,” they wrote.
The Supreme Court’s review follows a lower court ruling that upheld the law, which Congress passed in April and Biden signed into law shortly thereafter. The Justice Department argues that TikTok poses a “national-security threat of immense depth and scale,” citing the app’s access to sensitive data on American users and its potential to influence content. TikTok, which has 170 million American users, denies posing any immediate security risk and argues that the law violates free speech protections under the First Amendment.
