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TikTok should continue to be available for download
Photo: ROMAN PILIPEY / EPA-EFE / Shutterstock
US President Donald Trump wants to forbid Apple and Google to offer the app of the short video platform TikTok for download in the USA.
A US district court in Washington has now temporarily blocked this order, which should come into effect on Monday.
Judge Carl Nichols granted an injunction requested by Chinese TikTok owner Bytedance to continue offering the app in US app stores.
However, the judge declined "at this point" to block additional restrictions by the Commerce Department, due to come into effect on November 12th, which TikTok said would result in the app becoming unusable in the United States .
After a hearing on Sunday morning, Judge Nichols announced that he would make a decision on the TikTok ban that same day.
A TikTok lawyer criticized the ban.
He asked, "How does it make sense to impose this app store ban tonight when negotiations are underway that may make it unnecessary?"
Who is taking over TikTok?
The US software company Oracle and the retailer Walmart are currently negotiating a takeover of TikTok.
Should there be a deal, the end of TikTok could be averted.
US President Donald Trump had ruled in mid-August that TikTok owner Bytedance had 90 days to sell the company.
Otherwise the service, which is especially popular with young people, will be banned.
Trump justified this with concerns about the user data of around 100 million Americans, which could get into the hands of the Communist Party of the People's Republic via the Chinese company.
Bytedance took legal action against the planned ban.
The US government's planned restrictions are not related to national security concerns, but rather to political considerations in view of the upcoming presidential election, the company said.
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ptz / Reuters / AFP