US Judge issues temporary stay on Trump's TikTok ban hours before it was to go into effect

US President Donald Trump's ban on TikTok downloads was halted by US federal Judge Carl Nichols on Sunday just hours before it was to go into effect. Judge Carl Nichols has given the app more time to obtain approval from the appropriate authorities in China to finalise the deal with Oracle and Walmart, reported US media. The Judge did not explain the ruling but asked both sides to make time for a detailed argument. Judge Carlos Nichols was nominated by Donald Trump last year. 

The US Commerce Department is planning to implement a complete ban from November 12 which will render the app unusable if the deal with the US companies does not get finalised by then, while TikTok plans to continue its discussion with the US government to reach a favourable agreement, as per the report. On the other hand, the US Commerce Department has agreed to comply with the stay but will continue defending its decision despite the legal challenges. On September 25, the US Judge had asked the Trump administration to either postpone the ban or defend itself during the hearing after which the US government refused to back down. 

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TikTok sues US government 

The China-based company took the US government to court after the ban was announced. Appealing for an injunction, Tiktok's parent company stated that the ban was a violation of the First Amendment free speech rights as the video-sharing app is used by people to express themselves. As per reports, TikTok also argued that the ban would cause irreparable harm to the app while the government argued that they only wanted a brief 'under seal'. They further added that the under seal would not be a public record to which the company tentatively agreed while reserving the rights to request certain documents be made public. 

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Donald Trump tries to ban TikTok

US President Donald Trump banned Chinese-owned video-sharing app TikTok in the US citing national security concerns. According to the executive order signed by Trump on August 6, all citizens and businesses in the country were to be banned from engaging in any transactions or deals with TikTok, Bytedance and WeChat which was to take effect in 45 days. On August 14, he signed another other giving time to ByteDance to disinvest in TikTok within 90 days and hand over control of operations in the US. Soon after, the US Commerce Department postponed the ban on the app till September 27 allowing it time finalise the deal with Oracle and Walmart. Donald Trump also stated that the US partners of the company will need to have 'total control' of the operations of the app or the deal won't be approved. 

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(With inputs from agencies)