A federal judge postponed an order from the administration of Donald Trump last Sunday, where Trump ordered the download of the TikTok app. A more comprehensive ruling is expected by November once the presidential election is over.
The judge who issued a postponement is Carl Nichols from the US District Court of District of Columbia. This ruling came about after a hearing where TikTok lawyers said that the order, which banned TikTok from app stores in the US, infringes the First Amendment rights. They also argued that the ban would cause business harm that is beyond repair.
If you remember, Donald Trump was resolute in making TikTok go away from the US through a total ban. This comes after issues surfaced that kids allegedly used the app to sabotage President Trumps Tulsa Rally. President Trump said that TikTok is a cause of concern as it poses a national security issue.
While TikTok is not a gambling app like Canadian online casino apps that use cookies to improve the efficiency of the navigation and perform analytics, the President firmly believes that the app may be used by the Chinese government to gather data from US citizens.
Deal Between TikTok And Oracle
Along the way, one solution that executives looked into was to sell TikTok shares to Microsoft. However, this plan did not materialize, and TikTok was then sold to different companies like Oracle.
As of this time, the deal between TikTok and Oracle is not yet final. Oracle is a huge software company, and it is one of the companies vying for stakes at TikTok, along with Walmart. While discussions are on the way, TikTok is still in a battle against the US government to make the app stay afloat in the United States.
Battle: TikTok Vs. US Government
TikTok executives issued a statement and said that they were happy about this court ruling. They further said that they are actively seeking a win-win situation about the sale of its shares to US stakeholders. Because of this ruling, the Commerce Department is not going to put a ban on TikTok just yet.
The Commerce Department is the one responsible for the banning, and they are actively seeking to advance the interests of the Trump administration.
The judge who countered the ban order did not publicly explain why he ruled in favour of TikTok. The judge, however, provided an opinion through sealed filing. The US government’s briefing about it and the judge’s ruling are both sealed from the public.
TikTok lawyers said that TikTok is not just an app. They argued that it is like a modern-day town square. They also said that if the ban happens, the consequences are grave, which is akin to the government closing the doors to a public forum, which essentially is a violation of the First Amendment.
In addition to this, the lawyers also said that the ban would have an adverse impact on the capabilities of thousands of content creators and that the ban would prevent the TikTok developers from launching security updates over the air.
One lawyer from the Justice Department claimed that Chinese companies are not exactly private, that they are expected to comply with intrusive Chinese laws. The lawyer Daniel Schwei also said that this ban is not a violation of the First Amendment.
He also argued that the lawyers of TikTok could not prove the damage that the ban would cause. Furthermore, he said that the actual threat to national security was TikTok, knowing that the Chinese government, by law, can access its files.
The Trump administration has set the TikTok ban in motion, and we can recall that this has started as early as August of 2020. What many people do not realize is that TikTok is not the only app that was on the list, but also another one called WeChat, which is also a Chinese app. the concern of the Trump administration is that these apps have the personal information of millions of US citizens, which can be handed over to Chinese authorities.
US-Based TikTok Entity: TikTok Global
Microsoft attempted to get majority shares of the TikTok business, but Trump gave it to Oracle and Walmart, both of which will bet 20% of the shares in the new US-based TikTok entity, which will be called TikTok global. Despite this. Trump can still retract this approval for the deal, which can happen if Oracle has no total control over the company.
Until now, the deal is not yet finished. Both TikTok and the US parties are still ironing out the kinks of the deal, but we can expect this saga to end after the November elections.
