A United States judge on Sunday temporarily blocked the Donald Trump administration’s order to ban Chinese video-sharing app TikTok for download in the country from midnight, AP reported.
Judge Carl Nichols, however, did not stay a more comprehensive ban order on the app scheduled for November, about a week after the US presidential elections.
TikTok’s lawyer argued that the ban was an infringement of the first amendment of the US Constitution that pertains to freedom of speech and that the Trump administration’s order would do irreparable harm to the business.
“How does it make sense to impose this app store ban tonight when there are negotiations underway that might make it unnecessary?” TikTok’s lawyer John E Hall asked during the hearing, according to Reuters. “This is just punitive. This is just a blunt way to whack the company… There is simply no urgency…
