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WASHINGTON: A judge was set on Sunday (September 27) to decide whether to allow a Trump administration ban on downloads of the popular video-sharing app TikTok, which seeks a court order to prevent what it said could be a hit devastating.
US District Judge Carl Nichols has promised to expeditiously consider TikTok’s request to block the president’s order before it takes effect at 11:59 p.m. Sunday (Monday, 11:59 a.m. Singapore time).
The judge in the US capital was reviewing the Trump administration’s claims that Chinese-owned TikTok posed a threat to national security, along with the company’s denials and its claims that even a temporary ban could cause harm. irreparable.
Attorneys for the US Department of Justice and TikTok have agreed to file “sealed” reports, which are not available to the public, to avoid revealing confidential business and national security information.
TikTok, which is owned by ByteDance of China, said in its initial petition that even a temporary ban “would inflict devastating and irreparable damage” on the service.
“Until the administration’s intervention, TikTok was one of the fastest growing applications in the United States, and its continued rapid growth is necessary to maintain its competitive position in the market,” argued TikTok.
TikTok has an estimated 100 million users in the United States and 700 million worldwide, making it one of the largest in the social media space.
A ban would not only lead to loss of revenue, but would also inflict “extraordinary damage to (TikTok’s) reputation and goodwill, so it is unlikely that these relationships can be salvaged even if the ban is later lifted. “argued the company’s lawyers.
A ban “will cause our user base to stagnate and then precipitously decline,” said TikTok Acting Director Vanessa Pappas.
He noted that as of July 1, when rumors of a ban began to circulate, TikTok was adding around 424,000 new US users every day.
The TikTok petition also speculated that Trump was retaliating due to reports that his critics had used the app to snatch tickets to a campaign rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma that they had no intention of going to, an event that failed and embarrassed him. President, far fewer people attended than expected.
THE STATUS QUO
Judge Nichols said in a telephone hearing Thursday that he disagreed with assertions by government attorneys that the ban, which would not immediately prevent TikTok use but would prevent downloads by new users, “simply preserves the status quo “.
Analysts also noted that any ban could prevent users from downloading security updates and patches for TikTok.
Earlier this month, Trump cited national security concerns and issued orders to ban both TikTok and the popular Chinese app WeChat, which was suspended in a separate court case in California.
But TikTok’s order doesn’t reach a total ban until November 12, giving parent company ByteDance time to finalize an agreement to transfer ownership of the app.
A tentative deal unveiled last weekend would make Silicon Valley giant Oracle both TikTok’s technology partner and a stakeholder in a new entity to be known as TikTok Global.
The status of the deal, which would include investment from US retail giant Walmart, was unclear as the parties waited for news on whether it would win approval in Beijing.
