TikTok files suit in US court to halt download ban in opposition to Donald Trump’s demands, as does WeChat
- Chinese company ByteDance and its video-sharing app TikTok filed the suit in the hope of delaying Monday’s partial ban and November’s total block
- Donald Trump said on Saturday that he had okayed TikTok’s purchase by US company Oracle, but the ban is expected to still take place
TikTok and its Chinese parent company ByteDance are making a fresh legal attempt to stop an impending block on the popular app in the United States.
In a lawsuit filed on Friday night against US President Donald Trump and the Department of Commerce, they are demanding, among other things, an injunction.
A separate suit, to stop a ban on the Chinese app WeChat, was to be heard in a California court on Saturday.
According to decisions by the Washington government, US smartphone users will no longer be able to download TikTok from Monday, and the app will stop working completely on November 12. TikTok has around 100 million users in the US.
On Saturday Trump announced that he had okayed the purchase of TikTok by US company Oracle, but the block is still expected to go into place until the purchase is concluded.
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Oracle reaches deal to become TikTok’s ‘technology partner’, after Microsoft offer is rejected
Trump has dubbed TikTok a security risk on the grounds that Chinese authorities could get data from US users. TikTok and ByteDance deny the allegations.