TikTok challenges US government's restrictions on app downloads, sues Trump

Following the restrictions imposed by the US government on the downloads of the video-sharing mobile application TikTok in the country, its Chinese parent company ByteDance has challenged the move.

According to reports, in the lawsuit filed against US President Donald Trump and the US Commerce Department, both ByteDance and TikTok have said, “The plaintiffs are entitled to preliminary injunctive relief enjoining the implementation or enforcement of the executive order issued on August 6, 2020”.

Read - Trump Threatens To Cut Off TikTok If Deal Doesn't Go Through

This came after US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross announced that the downloads of TikTok and WeChat will be restricted from both the Apple Store and the Android's Google Play Store from September 20. While ByteDance moved court, WeChat’s parent company Tencent has reportedly not yet taken any legal approach.

"Please take notice that plaintiffs TikTik Inc and ByteDance Ltd ... hereby voluntarily dismiss this action without prejudice as to defendants Donald J. Trump, Wilbur L. Ross and the US Department of Commerce," according to an electronic image of the court document filed by the plaintiffs quoted by ANI. 

Read - US President Trump Says 'won't Approve' TikTok Deal If ByteDance Retains Control

TikTok’s downloads blocked until Sept 27

The US Commerce Department had also said that it is postponing the planned prohibition of new downloads of TikTok until September 27. Following the drastic measures that have further led to the deterioration of US-China relationship, Trump threatened to cut off TikTok if the company fails to reach a tentative deal with two US-based firms, that are, Walmart and Oracle to manufacture a new American service. This triggered an angered response by Hu Xijin, the editor-in-chief of the Chinese Communist Party’s mouthpiece, Global Times. Hu Xijin lashed out on Trump and said he should “stop exporting” the Chinese-owned company. 

Meanwhile, Trump referring to ByteDance said, “They will have nothing to do with it, and if they do, we just won’t make the deal. It’s going to be controlled, totally controlled by Oracle, and I guess they’re going public and they’re buying out the rest of it — they’re buying out a lot, and if we find that they don’t have total control then we’re not going to approve the deal.”

Read - ByteDance Says TikTok's Global Business Will Be Its Subsidiary Under Deal With Trump

Read - 'Stop Extorting': Chinese Stooge Slams Trump For Trying To Turn TikTok Into A 'US Baby'

(With inputs from agencies)