WASHINGTON, Sept 26, 2020 (BSS/AFP) – The Trump administration said Friday
it would not back down from a plan to ban new US downloads of the popular
video-sharing app TikTok, setting up a court showdown ahead of a Sunday
deadline.
A Justice Department court filing said it opposes TikTok’s petition for an
injunction to block the order from President Donald Trump, who has called the
Chinese-owned social platform a national security risk.
US District Judge Carl Nichols set a hearing for Sunday at 9 am (1330 GMT)
in Washington for TikTok’s request to block the president’s order before it
goes into effect at 11:59 pm Sunday (0359 GMT Monday).
The government lawyers said they wanted to file a brief “under seal,” which
would not be available as a public record, citing national security and
confidential business information.
The court filing said TikTok had tentatively agreed to sealed briefs but
would reserve the right to request that some documents be made public.
– ‘Irreparable harm’ –
TikTok has argued that a ban, even if temporary, could cause irreparable
harm to the video-sharing application, which has some 100 million US users.
Nichols, who sits on the bench in Washington, told a telephone hearing on
Thursday he disagreed with government lawyers’ claims that the ban — which
would not immediately prevent usage of TikTok but prevent downloads by new
users and updates — “merely preserves the status quo.”
Analysts also pointed out that any ban could prevent users from downloading
updates and security patches for TikTok.
Earlier this month, Trump cited national security concerns and issued
orders to ban both TikTok and the popular Chinese app WeChat — which has
been put on hold in a separate court case in California.
But the TikTok order stops short of a full ban until November 12, giving
the Chinese parent firm ByteDance time to conclude a deal to transfer
ownership of the app.
A tentative deal unveiled last weekend would make Silicon Valley giant
Oracle the technology partner for TikTok and a stakeholder in a new entity to
be known as TikTok Global.
The status of the deal, which would include investment from US retail giant
Walmart, remained unclear as the parties awaited word on whether it would win
approval in Beijing.
As part of its earlier court filing, a statement from TikTok interim head
Vanessa Pappas said the proposed ban would be devastating for the social
platform, which had been surging in much of the world.
A ban “will cause our user base to stagnate and then precipitously
decline,” Pappas said.
She noted that until July 1, when rumors of a ban first began to circulate,
TikTok was adding some 424,000 new US users each day.
The TikTok petition also speculated that Trump was retaliating because of
reports the app was used by his critics to snatch up tickets to a campaign
rally in Tulsa to which they had no intention of going — an event which
flopped with significantly fewer people in attendance than expected.