-
Important news
-
News
-
Shenzhen
-
China
-
World
-
Opinion
-
Sports
-
Kaleidoscope
-
Photos
-
Business
-
Markets
-
Business/Markets
-
World Economy
-
Speak Shenzhen
-
Leisure
-
Culture
-
Travel
-
Entertainment
-
Digital Paper
-
In-Depth
-
Weekend
-
Newsmaker
-
Lifestyle
-
Diversions
-
Movies
-
Hotels and Food
-
Special Report
-
Yes Teens!
-
News Picks
-
Tech and Science
-
Glamour
-
Campus
-
Budding Writers
-
Fun
-
Qianhai
-
Advertorial
-
CHTF Special
-
Futian Today
在线翻译:
szdaily -> World Economy -> 
Judge blocks US ban on TikTok
    2020-09-29  08:53    Shenzhen Daily

U.S. President Donald Trump’s ban on TikTok was temporarily blocked by a federal judge, dealing a blow to the Trump administration in its showdown with the popular Chinese-owned app it says threatens “national security.”

U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols granted a preliminary injunction against the ban on the widely used video-sharing network after an unusual Sunday morning hearing.

The judge refused to grant an injunction against a November deadline for a sale. TikTok’s owner, ByteDance Ltd., had requested the hold after Trump ordered TikTok out of American app stores unless the company sold a stake in its U.S. operations to a U.S. buyer.

The ban, scheduled to go into effect at 11:59 p.m. in New York, would have removed TikTok from the app stores run by Apple Inc. and Google’s Android, the most widely used marketplaces for downloadable apps. People who don’t yet have the app wouldn’t be able to get it, and those who already have it wouldn’t have access to updates needed to ensure its safe and smooth operation. TikTok is used regularly by 19 million Americans.

ByteDance is fighting the Trump administration in court even as it pursues its approval for the sale of a stake in the U.S. business to Oracle Corp. and Walmart Inc.

Trump has called for bans on both TikTok and WeChat, owned by China’s Tencent Holdings Ltd. The bans are part of an increasingly hard line he has taken on China as the election approaches.

Even as the sale of TikTok is still awaiting final U.S. approvals, two newspapers in China last week denounced the deal.

“What the United States has done to TikTok is almost the same as a gangster forcing an unreasonable and unfair business deal on a legitimate company,” China Daily wrote in a Wednesday opinion piece. Hu Xijin, the influential editor-in-chief of the Global Times, tweeted that China likely wouldn’t approve the current agreement as it endangered China’s national security.

A lawyer for TikTok told the judge at Sunday’s virtual hearing that the ban was irrational given that ByteDance is in talks to strike a deal Trump himself has demanded.

“How does it make sense to impose this app-store ban tonight when there are negotiations underway that might make it unnecessary?” attorney John Hall asked.

Hall said banning TikTok from U.S. app stores would undermine security by preventing existing users from receiving weekly security updates. He argued that the U.S. Government has less burdensome alternatives, such as the stake sale, to achieve its “national security” aims. ByteDance says Trump is exceeding his authority with the ban.

“The consequences immediately are grave,” Hall told the judge. “It would be no different than the government locking the doors to a public forum, roping off that town square.”

His language echoed the ruling of a judge in California who put a hold on Trump’s WeChat ban two weeks ago, citing its effect on free speech and the irreparable harm that the ban would cause to the business.

In a separate case, a federal judge in Pennsylvania on Saturday rejected a request by TikTok users to halt the ban, saying the consequences of the ban wouldn’t be severe enough for the users to justify an injunction temporarily blocking the order while the litigation continues.

(SD-Agencies)

深圳报业集团版权所有, 未经授权禁止复制; Copyright 2010-2020, All Rights Reserved.
Shenzhen Daily E-mail:szdaily@126.com