The order of the United States president Donald Trump’s administration to impose a ban on the Chinese owned short video sharing app TikTok in the US has been temporarily blocked by a federal judge. The Trump administration had planned to eliminate the app from smartphone app stores in the US.
It is reported that the Trump administration plans a more comprehensive ban that has been scheduled for November, after about a week of the US presidential election.
Demand for postponement of the later ban was not agreed to by the judge, Carl Nichols of the US District Court for the District of Columbia.
The judge heard the mater ay an emergency hearing on Sunday morning in which lawyers representing TikTok argued that the decision of the Trump administration to impose a ban on the Chinese app will be an infringement on the First Amendment rights and will result in irreparable damage to the business of the company.
TikTok, owned by the Chinese tech company ByteDance, was declared to be a threat to the national security of the country by the Trump administration earlier this year. Trump had ordered ByteDance to either sell the US operations of TikTok to American companies or get banned from the country altogether.
A tentative deal about TikTok that as claimed to have been struck about a week ago is still not confirmed according to sources as ByteDance and the tow American companies in the deal – Oracle and Walmart, presented contrasting details of the deal. The deal is an effort by ByteDance to please Trump and avoid a ban.
The two parties of the deal had presented conflicting details of the key terms of the deal which included the supposed deal on majority ownership of a completely new company called TikTok global.
Any deal will need to be approved by China, ByteDance has also said.
But in order to give itself a say in any TikTok deal, its list of technologies subject to export bans was revised by Chinese authorities earlier this month.
It will comply with the judge's order, said that US Commerce Department, which is responsible for the specific orders banning TikTok. The department added that it will defend the administration's efforts against the app vigorously.
The reason for ruling was not publicly stated Judge Nichols. A judicial opinion under seal was instead filed by the judge.
Since it functioned as a "modern day version of a town square", therefore TikTok was more than an app, TikTok lawyer John Hall said in arguments to Judge Nichols. "It would be no different than the Government locking the doors to a public forum, roping off that town square," Hall said.
The ownership status of Chinese companies were not purely private and thee companies were subject to intrusive laws that compel them to cooperate with the intelligence agencies of the country – including handing over any data in their possession.
Economic regulations of the type as imposed on TikTok generally were not subject to First Amendment scrutiny, the Justice Department has also argued.
"This is the most immediate national security threat," argued Schwei. "It is a threat today. It is a risk today and therefore it deserves to be addressed today even while other things are ongoing and playing out."
(Source:www.abc.net.au)
It is reported that the Trump administration plans a more comprehensive ban that has been scheduled for November, after about a week of the US presidential election.
Demand for postponement of the later ban was not agreed to by the judge, Carl Nichols of the US District Court for the District of Columbia.
The judge heard the mater ay an emergency hearing on Sunday morning in which lawyers representing TikTok argued that the decision of the Trump administration to impose a ban on the Chinese app will be an infringement on the First Amendment rights and will result in irreparable damage to the business of the company.
TikTok, owned by the Chinese tech company ByteDance, was declared to be a threat to the national security of the country by the Trump administration earlier this year. Trump had ordered ByteDance to either sell the US operations of TikTok to American companies or get banned from the country altogether.
A tentative deal about TikTok that as claimed to have been struck about a week ago is still not confirmed according to sources as ByteDance and the tow American companies in the deal – Oracle and Walmart, presented contrasting details of the deal. The deal is an effort by ByteDance to please Trump and avoid a ban.
The two parties of the deal had presented conflicting details of the key terms of the deal which included the supposed deal on majority ownership of a completely new company called TikTok global.
Any deal will need to be approved by China, ByteDance has also said.
But in order to give itself a say in any TikTok deal, its list of technologies subject to export bans was revised by Chinese authorities earlier this month.
It will comply with the judge's order, said that US Commerce Department, which is responsible for the specific orders banning TikTok. The department added that it will defend the administration's efforts against the app vigorously.
The reason for ruling was not publicly stated Judge Nichols. A judicial opinion under seal was instead filed by the judge.
Since it functioned as a "modern day version of a town square", therefore TikTok was more than an app, TikTok lawyer John Hall said in arguments to Judge Nichols. "It would be no different than the Government locking the doors to a public forum, roping off that town square," Hall said.
The ownership status of Chinese companies were not purely private and thee companies were subject to intrusive laws that compel them to cooperate with the intelligence agencies of the country – including handing over any data in their possession.
Economic regulations of the type as imposed on TikTok generally were not subject to First Amendment scrutiny, the Justice Department has also argued.
"This is the most immediate national security threat," argued Schwei. "It is a threat today. It is a risk today and therefore it deserves to be addressed today even while other things are ongoing and playing out."
(Source:www.abc.net.au)
