TikTok survives for now as US Commerce Department holds off on shutdown

The full shutdown of Tiktok in the United States was set to take effect on Nov 12 until Judge Wendy Beetlestone issued her order on Oct 30. — Reuters

LOS ANGELES: The US Department of Commerce announced that it would not seek to shut down TikTok on Nov 12, and would abide by a court order blocking the move.

The shutdown had been scheduled to go into effect on Nov 12. But a US district judge in Philadelphia issued an injunction on Oct 30, granting a request from three TikTok creators who argued that the shutdown would infringe on their First Amendment rights.

"The Department is complying with the terms of this Order," the department said in a notice in the Federal Register, adding that the ban would not go into effect "pending further legal developments."

The Department of Justice filed a separate notice in the case on Nov 12 indicating that it would appeal the judge's order to the Third Circuit. If the appeals court vacates the injunction, the TikTok ban could go into effect.

TikTok has been seeking its own injunction that would block the shutdown in a separate case in Washington, DC.

The Commerce Department issued an order on Sept 18 that would block downloads of the TikTok app beginning Sept 20, and order a full shutdown of the app on Nov 12. The department cited concerns that TikTok's Chinese parent company, ByteDance, would allow China's government to access data on US users. TikTok, meanwhile, has argued that user data is secure and the Trump administration is pursuing a political agenda against the company.

TikTok has argued that President Trump relied on "anti-Chinese rhetoric" during his campaign, and that the idea of banning the app came about after TikTok users bragged of coordinating to book tickets to a Trump rally in Tulsa, making it appear that attendance would be much greater than it actually turned out to be. TikTok contends that the resulting embarrassment prompted the administration to explore the ban.

The download ban was postponed by a week in September to allow time for ByteDance to transfer the company to a new US entity with ownership stakes held by Oracle and Walmart. That deal has stalled, however, and in the meantime US District Judge Carl Nichols blocked the download ban from taking effect.

The full shutdown was still set to take effect on Nov 12 until Judge Wendy Beetlestone issued her order on Oct 30.

TikTok is also in court seeking to block a divestment order from the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States. – Variety.com