US puts TikTok ban on ice
November 13, 2020
The US Commerce Department has halted a ban on TikTok that was due to come into effect on November 12th. The order would have prevented the popular video-sharing app from being downloaded in the US.
The Commerce Department said it had delayed the ban “pending further legal developments,” citing a Philadelphia court ruling from September where three prominent TikTok users had argued the app should be allowed to operate in the US.
The decision will be welcomed to the estimated 100 million US TikTok users.
In September, TikTok’s Chinese owner, ByteDance announced a deal with Walmart and Oracle to shift TikTok’s US assets into a new entity called TikTok Global. Donald Trump tentatively supported the deal. However, earlier this week TikTok said it had had no feedback from the US government in two months.
Trump has repeatedly said that the data of US users could be passed on to the Chinese government, though no evidence has been presented showing this. TikTok denies the allegations.