Judge set to rule on Trump's ban on TikTok downloads
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WASHINGTON • A judge was set to rule yesterday on whether to allow a Trump administration ban on downloads of popular video-sharing app TikTok, which is seeking an injunction to prevent what it said could be a devastating blow.
US District Judge Carl Nichols has promised to consider on an expedited basis the TikTok request to block President Donald Trump's order before it took effect at 11.59pm Sunday (11.59am today in Singapore).
The judge in the US capital was reviewing Trump administration claims that Chinese company TikTok posed a national security threat, along with the firm's denials and its claims that even a temporary ban in the US could do irreparable harm.
US Justice Department and TikTok lawyers agreed to file briefs "under seal", unavailable for public viewing, to avoid disclosing national security and confidential business information.
TikTok, which is owned by China's ByteDance, said in its initial petition that even a temporary ban would "inflict devastating and irreparable harm" on the service.
"Until the administration's intervention, TikTok was one of the fastest growing apps in the United States, and its continued rapid growth is necessary to maintain its competitive market position," TikTok argued.
TikTok has an estimated 100 million users in the US and 700 million worldwide, making it one of the largest in the social media space.
A ban would not only lead to lost revenue but also inflict "extraordinary harm on (TikTok's) reputation and goodwill, making it unlikely that these relationships could be salvaged even if the ban is later lifted", company lawyers argued.
A ban "will cause our user base to stagnate and then precipitously decline", said interim TikTok head Vanessa Pappas.
She noted that until July 1, when rumours of a ban began circulating, TikTok was adding some 424,000 new US users each day.
The TikTok petition also speculated that Mr Trump was retaliating because of reports that his critics had used the app to snatch up tickets to a campaign rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, to which they had no intention of going - an event which flopped and embarrassed the President, with far fewer people in attendance than expected.
Judge Nichols told a telephone hearing last Thursday that he disagreed with government lawyers' claims that the ban - which would not immediately prevent usage of TikTok but prevent downloads by new users - "merely preserves the status quo".
Analysts also pointed out that any ban could prevent users from downloading updates and security patches for TikTok.
Earlier this month, Mr Trump cited national security concerns and issued orders to ban both TikTok and the popular Chinese app WeChat. The WeChat ban has been put on hold in a separate court case in California.
But the TikTok order stops short of a full ban until Nov 12, giving its parent company ByteDance time to conclude a deal to transfer ownership of the app.
A tentative deal unveiled two weekends ago would make Silicon Valley giant Oracle the technology partner for TikTok and a stakeholder in a new entity to be known as TikTok Global.
The status of the deal, which would include investment from American retail giant Walmart, remained unclear as the parties awaited word on whether it would win approval in Beijing.
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
