WASHINGTON: A US judge in Pennsylvania on Friday blocked a US Commerce Department order set to take effect on Nov 12 that would have effectively barred Chinese-owned short video-sharing app TikTok from operating in the US.
US District Court Judge Wendy Beetlestone enjoined the Commerce Department from barring data hosting within the US for TikTok, content delivery services and other technical transactions.
In her ruling, Beetlestone said the order would “have the effect of shutting down, within the US, a platform for expressive activity used by approximately 700 million individuals globally. Over 100 million of these TikTok users are within the US, and at least 50 million of these US users use the app on a daily basis”.
The Commerce Department, which did not immediately comment on Friday, has acknowledged the restrictions would “significantly reduce the functionality and usability of the app in the US” and “may ultimately make the application less effective.”
On Sept 27, US District Judge Carl Nichols in Washington issued a preliminary injunction in a suit brought by TikTok owner ByteDance that stopped the US Commerce Department from ordering Apple Inc and Alphabet Inc’s Google app stores to remove TikTok for download by new users. That order had been set to take effect later that day.
Nichols is set to hold a Nov 4 hearing on the other aspects of the Commerce Department order that Beetlestone blocked on Friday.
The order by Beetlestone, in a suit brought by three TikTok content creators, also blocks the app store download ban.
TikTok said in a statement it was “deeply moved by the outpouring of support” from its users “who have worked to protect their rights to expression”.
Talks have been ongoing to finalize a preliminary deal for Walmart Inc and Oracle Corp to take stakes in a new company, TikTok Global, that would oversee US operations. US President Donald Trump said last month the deal had his “blessing”.
The Trump administration contends TikTok poses national security concerns as personal data collected on 100 million Americans who use the app could be obtained by China’s government. TikTok denies the allegations.
from Free Malaysia Today https://ift.tt/3oLQf9s
via IFTTT
No comments:
Post a Comment