Trump administration stands firm on TikTok download ban; court to rule

The US government, on September 25, ruled out the possibility of the country backing from its decision to ban new US downloads of the Chinese video-sharing app TikTok. A justice department court filing said that it opposes TikTok’s petition for an injunction to block the order from President Donald Trump. This came a day after US district judge  Carl Nicolas asserted that he would consider the Chinese firm’s request to block the president's order before it goes into effect.

The White House had announced that the application will not be available for download on Google’s Play Store and Apple’s App Store in the United States from September 27. However, TikTok has reportedly argued that it would cause irreparable harm to the video-sharing application. However, the government lawyers argued that they wanted to file a brief “under seal” which would not be available in public record. As per reports, TikTok has tentatively agreed to the decision of sealed briefs but would reserve the right to request that some documents be made public.

Sale talks in final phase

The ban on TikTok was deferred to November 12 after the reports of final talks on the sale of its US operations emerged. According to a Bloomberg report, Oracle and Walmart will buy 12.5 per cent and 7.5 per cent stake respectively in newly established TikTok Global and both companies would pay a combined $20 billion if they agree to the proposed valuation.

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China has repeatedly accused the United States of abusing the concept of national security to oppress non-American companies. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian told a press briefing that Beijing opposes the attempt to abuse the concept of national security and use its power to oppress specific companies of other countries.

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