During the Supreme Court arguments, Jeffrey Fisher, the lawyer representing TikTok content creators who have challenged the law, questioned why Congress focused only on TikTok and not on major Chinese online retailers like Temu. Fisher raised concerns about the exclusion of other companies with millions of users whose data could also be at risk of Chinese control. The law was signed by Democratic President Joe Biden, and his administration is defending it in the case. The deadline for divestiture is set just before Republican President-elect Donald Trump takes office. Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar, defending the law on behalf of the Biden administration, emphasized the need for ByteDance to divest as scheduled to prevent foreign adversaries from maintaining control over a significant communications channel in the U.S. The Supreme Court debated potential covert influence campaigns by China using TikTok, with arguments on free speech protections. Trump sought to delay the deadline to allow his administration to address the matter politically. The law grants the president the power to extend the deadline under specific conditions, which currently do not seem to apply. Justice Brett Kavanaugh questioned whether the president could choose not to enforce the law.
“K as a general matter, of course the president has enforcement discretion,” Prelogar said. “Again, that’s one of the reasons why I think it makes perfect sense to issue a preliminary injunction here and simply buy everybody a little breathing space,” Francisco said
