ByteDance has so far rebuffed the idea of selling TikTok. But the lawyer for the US government told the Supreme Court that a ban might be just the “jolt” needed to persuade it to consider the idea, noting that restrictions could be lifted once a deal materialises.

The U.S. Supreme Court upheld on Friday a law banning TikTok in the United States on national security grounds if its Chinese parent company ByteDance does not sell the short-video app by Sunday, as the justices in a 9-0 decision declined to rescue a platform used by about half of all Americans.

Donald Trump had asked the Supreme Court to delay TikTok’s ban-or-sale law to give him an opportunity to act once he returns to the White House.