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US President Donald Trump wants to ban TikTok from the US market
Photo: Evan Vucci / AP
The US government has been obliged by a court in San Francisco to justify a ban on the short video platform TikTok in writing by Friday.
Otherwise the White House will have to postpone it.
TikTok had taken action against the US government's order to ban the company's app from Apple and Google's offerings, thereby preventing it from being downloaded in the US.
The platform, which belongs to the Chinese company Bytedance, submitted a corresponding application on Wednesday.
Judge Carl Nichols then said the US government had to respond by Friday afternoon.
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 had described the app as a security risk because Chinese authorities could use the app to access data from US citizens.
With two orders, he laid the basis for the end of the app in the USA.
TikTok and Bytedance argued in vain that data from US users was stored in the US and not going to China.
Trump: TikTok decision "solely a question of security"
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.
Trump said the decision on whether to agree to the deal was "solely a matter of security."
The US Department of Commerce postponed TikTok's suspension, which was actually planned for Sunday.
It should now come into force on Saturday.
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bah / Reuters / dpa