US Court Halts TikTok Download Ban

Decision Ahead of Download Ban Deadline on 27th
"Download Ban Plan Should Be Postponed Until 25th"

[Image source=Reuters Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy New York=Correspondent Baek Jong-min] The U.S. court has put a brake on the Trump administration's plan to ban downloads of the Chinese video-sharing app TikTok within the United States.

On the 24th (local time), U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols in Washington DC accepted the position of TikTok's parent company ByteDance and ordered the government to either postpone the download ban plan until the afternoon of the 25th or submit documents refuting TikTok's request to the court.

Earlier, the U.S. Department of Commerce announced it would ban the provision of the TikTok app on Google and Apple's app stores starting from the 20th, citing national security concerns, but postponed it by a week to the 27th due to positive progress in TikTok's sale negotiations.

ByteDance argued, "This restriction is not a genuine national security issue but a political consideration related to the upcoming general election."

The Department of Commerce claimed that the preliminary injunction lawsuit was filed too close to the deadline, but this was not accepted.

Judge Nichols plans to hold an additional hearing on the morning of the 27th if the government does not postpone the TikTok app download ban plan.

The U.S. court had previously granted a preliminary injunction filed by users of the Chinese mobile messenger WeChat against the Department of Commerce's plan to ban its use in the U.S. The Department of Commerce stated it would appeal the WeChat-related decision but has not yet filed an appeal.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.