Tech Desk 
Jan 05, 2025
A representational image. — Canva
A week following President-elect Donald Trump's request to the US Supreme Court to delay the law banning TikTok in the country, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) urged the apex court to overturn the president's request.
Last week, the incoming US president lodged his plea to delay the law, seeking to block the popular social media app or enforce a potential divestiture to a US-based company by January 19.
In his legal brief before the apex court, Trump argued that he should be given time after holding office on January 20 to move on to a "political resolution" to the issue.
As the matter is reportedly approaching another US Supreme Court hearing scheduled for January 10, the Justice Department's request comes as a decisive development that might pave the way for a potential ban of TikTok in the US.
Passed in April 2024, the law obliges Bytedance, TikTok's parent firm based in China, to divest the platform's US assets or get banned.
The DOJ believed that ByteDance would have expressed interest in challenging the law legally. Invalidating the China-based tech giant's position to impede the TikTok ban law, it discarded the possibility of Trump's plea being granted.
China "seeks to undermine US interests by amassing sensitive data about Americans and engaging in covert and malign influence operations," said the DOJ in its filing.
