• by Wendy Davis , December 20, 2024

Two senators are urging President Joe Biden to extend by 90 days the deadline for when TikTok must separate from parent company China-based ByteDance.

“Absent a judicial injunction, decision overturning the law, or action by you, TikTok will soon be banned in the United States, causing its creators and users serious hardship,” Senators Ed Markey (D-Massachusetts) and Rand Paul (R-Kentucky) said in a letter sent to Biden on Thursday.

The Protecting Americans From Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act (H.R. 7521), passed earlier this year, will prohibit app stores and websites from distributing TikTok unless it's sold by ByteDance by January 19. The statute provides that the U.S. president can extend that deadline by three months, if a sales deal is in the works.

Biden, who will still be in office on that date, hasn't yet indicated whether he is inclined to extend the deadline.

President-elect Donald Trump attempted to ban the app in 2020, but recently indicated he no longer supports a ban.

TikTok says the law violates the First Amendment's prohibition on censorship, and will ask the Supreme Court to invalidate the statute. The Supreme Court plans to hear the case on January 10 -- just nine days before the ban is slated to go into effect.

The senators say in their letter to Biden that even if the Supreme Court upholds the law, ByteDance won't have enough time to find a buyer before January 19.

The law was driven by concerns that without a divestiture, the Chinese government may be able to access data about TikTok's users, and use the app to influence public opinion.

Earlier this year, TikTok and a group of content creators sued to block the law, arguing that it violates the free speech rights of TikTok as well as its users.

The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected those arguments, ruling on December 6 that the law's curbs on speech are justified by national security concerns.