{"id":122881,"date":"2025-01-16T13:59:35","date_gmt":"2025-01-16T13:59:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/lawmakers-urge-biden-to-extend-jan-19-deadline-for-tiktok-ban-not-the-answer-usa-today\/"},"modified":"2025-01-16T13:59:35","modified_gmt":"2025-01-16T13:59:35","slug":"lawmakers-urge-biden-to-extend-jan-19-deadline-for-tiktok-ban-not-the-answer-usa-today","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/lawmakers-urge-biden-to-extend-jan-19-deadline-for-tiktok-ban-not-the-answer-usa-today\/","title":{"rendered":"Lawmakers urge Biden to extend Jan. 19 deadline for TikTok ban: 'Not the answer' – USA TODAY"},"content":{"rendered":"

Some lawmakers are urging President Joe Biden<\/a> and the U.S. Supreme Court to take steps to prevent TikTok from being banned Sunday<\/a> under a law they argue would come at the expense of free speech for millions of Americans.
The Supreme Court heard a challenge to the law Friday from TikTok\u2019s\u00a0Beijing-based parent company<\/a>, ByteDance. As it became clear that the court appeared poised to uphold the law, which would require ByteDance to sell the U.S. assets of TikTok by Jan. 19, Sen. Ed Markey<\/a>, D-Mass, announced he planned to introduce legislation to extend the deadline.
The impending law, which would effectively lead to a ban of TikTok in the U.S. if ByteDance is unable to meet the deadline, comes after President\u00a0Joe Biden<\/a>\u00a0signed\u00a0legislation<\/a>\u00a0last spring on national security grounds. However, defenders of the popular app, which has 170 million American users<\/a>, say the law violates the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment protection of free speech.
Under a ban, TikTok would be illegal for distribution through the Apple App Store and Google Play, threatening the livelihoods<\/a> of millions of US. content creators who earn income on the app and potentially send users flocking to similar social media apps<\/a>.
TikTok ban:<\/strong>What is TikTok’s fate? With ban less than 1 week away, here’s what we know<\/a>
The looming ban comes amid concerns from Biden and other U.S. lawmakers that TikTok presents a grave national security threat, allowing China to gather data on Americans or manipulate content that people see.
But many lawmakers have been just as vocal in opposing the ban, which they argue would infringe on Americans’ freedom of expression<\/a>.
Among them is Markey, who on Monday said he planned to introduce legislation<\/a> to delay by an additional 270 days the Jan. 19 deadline by which ByteDance must sell TikTok or face a ban.
“TikTok creators and users across the nation are understandably alarmed. They are uncertain about the future of the platform, their accounts, and the vibrant online communities they have cultivated,” Markey said in a statement. \u201cThese communities cannot be replicated on another app. A ban would dismantle a one-of-a-kind informational and cultural ecosystem, silencing millions in the process.”
Make Washington make sense for you: Sign up<\/a> for USA TODAY’s On Politics newsletter.<\/em><\/strong>
Markey has also joined Sen.\u00a0Rand Paul<\/a>, R-Ky, and Rep. Ro Khanna<\/a>, D-Calif. in submitting a bipartisan brief asking the U.S. Supreme Court to reverse a lower court’s decision to uphold a TikTok ban. In the brief<\/a>, the lawmakers argued that “there are less drastic measures that could effectively address data security issues without infringing on constitutional rights.”
\u201cA ban on TikTok not only violates the free speech of millions of Americans, but it also jeopardizes the livelihoods of creators and small business owners who use the app,” Khanna said in a statement<\/a>. “We need laws to protect Americans\u2019 data, but banning TikTok is not the answer.”
Biden could extend the deadline by 90 days if he certifies ByteDance is making substantial progress toward a divestiture, Reuters reported<\/a>.
While Reuters said it is unlikely ByteDance could meet that standard, some have expressed interest in buying TikTok.
Project Liberty, an organization led by billionaire Frank McCourt, announced last week that it made a\u00a0formal offer to ByteDance to buy the U.S. assets of TikTok<\/a>.
McCourt, former owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers,\u00a0announced last month<\/a>\u00a0that Project Liberty had secured verbal commitments of up to\u00a0$20 billion<\/a>\u00a0for the purchase. “Shark Tank” host and investor\u00a0Kevin O’Leary announced last week that he was joining Project Liberty<\/a>\u00a0on the purchase plan.
If Project Liberty successfully purchased TikTok, it would only be the U.S. assets and not the algorithm, which China considers intellectual property.
The\u00a0Supreme Court\u00a0heard arguments for two-and-a-half hours<\/a> Friday over whether\u00a0TikTok\u00a0can be banned in the United States. By the end, the justices appeared ready to allow<\/a> the U.S. government to force TikTok’s Chinese parent company to sell the company or go dark.
President-elect\u00a0Donald Trump<\/a>, however, has urged the court to delay the deadline to give his administration time after taking office Jan. 20 to\u00a0pursue a political resolution<\/a>. Trump, who tried to ban TikTok during his first administration, has since promised to \u201csave\u201d it.
If the TikTok ban takes effect Sunday, new dowloads on app stores like Apple and Google would no longer be possible.
While existing users could still access and use the app, they will be unable to update the app, which will likely degrade and stop working over time. The TikTok website would also become unavailable through U.S.-based internet hosting services.
Contributing: Reuters<\/em><\/p>\n

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Some lawmakers are urging President Joe Biden and the U.S. Supreme Court to take steps to prevent TikTok from being banned Sunday under a law they argue would come at the expense of free speech for millions of Americans.The Supreme Court heard a challenge to the law Friday from TikTok\u2019s\u00a0Beijing-based parent company, ByteDance. As it […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":122882,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-122881","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-us","8":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122881","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=122881"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122881\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/122882"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=122881"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=122881"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=122881"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}