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President Donald Trump’s ban on TikTok was temporarily blocked by a federal judge, dealing a blow to the government in its confrontation with the popular Chinese-owned app that it says threatens national security.
After an unusual hearing on Sunday morning, US District Judge Carl Nichols granted a preliminary injunction against the ban on new downloads from the video sharing network, which would have taken effect at 11:59 p.m. in Washington. The judge declined to grant a court order on a separate set of bans scheduled for November 12 that are designed to further curb use of the app in the US.
The owner of TikTok, ByteDance Ltd., requested the suspension after the president ordered the app to be removed from US stores, unless the company sold a stake in its US operations to a domestic buyer. The ban would have removed TikTok from stores run by Apple and Google’s Android, the most widely used app marketplaces. People who don’t have the app yet wouldn’t have been able to get it, and those who already have it wouldn’t have access to the updates needed to ensure its safe and smooth operation. TikTok has been downloaded by more than 100 million Americans.
“We are pleased that the court has accepted our legal arguments and issued a court order preventing the implementation of the TikTok app ban,” the company said in a statement. “We will continue to defend our rights for the benefit of our community and employees. At the same time, we will also maintain our permanent dialogue with the government to convert our proposal, to which the President gave his preliminary approval last weekend, into an agreement ”.
It is the second legal ruling against the Trump administration’s efforts to crack down on popular apps with Chinese owners. Trump has called for bans on both TikTok and WeChat, owned by China’s Tencent Holdings Ltd., arguing that the apps could give the Chinese government access to millions of Americans’ personal data. WeChat users won a court order against a ban last week. The bans are part of an increasingly tough line that Trump has taken against Beijing as the election approaches.
Sealed opinion
TikTok’s order was issued with a sealed opinion, so the reasons for the judge’s ruling were not immediately available. The judge asked both parties to submit the documents before 11 a.m. Monday to say whether the opinion should be disclosed. The government presented sealed documents on Friday that it said contained “confidential business information,” but much of that presentation was later published with small redactions. The judge also ordered both parties to submit a joint proposed schedule for future hearings “by” September 30.
“The government will comply with the court order and has taken immediate steps to do so, but it intends to vigorously defend the EO and the secretary’s implementation efforts from legal challenges,” the Commerce Department said in a statement, referring to the executive order of the president. A spokeswoman for the Treasury Department said the November sale deadline remains in effect. If the government chooses to appeal the decision, it would go to the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, one level below the Supreme Court.
ByteDance is fighting the Trump administration in court even as it seeks approval for the sale of a stake in the US business to Oracle Corp. and Walmart Inc. Sunday’s ruling does not affect the November 12 deadline for the sale. A lawyer for TikTok told the judge in Sunday’s virtual hearing that the ban was irrational given that ByteDance is in talks to reach an agreement that the president himself has demanded.
“How does it make sense to enforce this app store ban tonight when there are ongoing negotiations that could make it unnecessary?” Attorney John Hall asked.
Even as the TikTok sale is still awaiting final U.S. approval, two of China’s most prominent state-backed media spokespersons denounced the deal last week.
Offer ‘Gangster’
“What the United States has done to TikTok is almost the same as a gangster forcing an unreasonable and unfair business onto a legitimate company,” the China Daily wrote in an opinion piece on Wednesday. Hu Xijin, the influential editor-in-chief of the Party-run Global Times, tweeted that Beijing would likely not approve the current deal as it jeopardizes China’s national security.
China’s Foreign Ministry in Beijing did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the court decision on Monday.
TikTok’s lawyer told the judge on Sunday that banning it from US app stores would undermine security by preventing existing users from receiving weekly security updates. He argued that the government has less expensive alternatives, such as sale, to achieve its national security objectives. ByteDance says Trump is exceeding his authority with the ban.
“The consequences are immediately serious,” Hall told the judge. “It would be no different than the government closing the doors to a public forum, cordoning off that town square.”
His language echoed a ruling by a California judge suspending Trump’s WeChat ban last week, citing its effect on free speech and the irreparable damage the ban would do to the company.
China ‘Threat’
At Sunday’s hearing, Daniel Schwei, a lawyer for the Justice Department, responded that “the concern here is about the risk of data security and leaving the data vulnerable to the Chinese government. It is a threat today, it is a risk today, and therefore deserves to be addressed today. ”The US government decided last week to extend its deadline to allow for more discussions on the sale.
In a presentation on Friday, the United States cited FBI Director Christopher Wray’s assessment that China represents the “greatest long-term threat to our nation’s information and intellectual property.”
TikTok is “challenging a national security determination by the president, as well as the judgment of the secretary of commerce on what is necessary to mitigate such damage to national security,” Schwei told the judge. “And I think the court owes significant deference to that.”
