Judge blocks Trump’s TikTok download ban in the U.S.
Trump’s controversial download ban on the TikTok app in the United States has been blocked for the time being by a judge.
TikTok and Trump have been butting heads for the past few months and it’s come to a head recently with the U.S. president threatening to ban downloads of the social video app. Trump had ordered that it would be banned from download today whilst they arrange a possible sale.
A judge has ruled that the download ban will not go into effect today. It will remain available to download for people in the U.S. on app stores whilst the court determines whether the band is legal and if the app truly poses a risk to national security, as Trump suggests.
Further planned restrictions are set to effectively end TikTok’s presence on November 12th and have not been declined by the court. The commerce department stated: “The government will comply with the injunction and has taken immediate steps to do so, but intends to vigorously defend the [executive order] and the Secretary’s implementation efforts from legal challenges.”
Following Trump’s vocal mistrust of TikTok because of its Chinese origin, claiming concerns over U.S. citizens data being stored in China. He has since ordered that TikTok hand over U.S. operations to a U.S. company. It had seemed that Walmart and Oracle would take over but after TikTok offered them 20% stake Trump then demanded that the app-makers, ByteDance, hand over full control.
It is now uncertain what will happen with TikTok in the U.S. where it is hugely popular and has millions of downloads.