US Seeks To Overturn Temporary Block On TikTok Ban

The U.S. is appealing a temporary block on President Donald Trump’s ban on TikTok, Bloomberg reported.

The Trump administration set out to block TikTok earlier this year due to national security concerns. If a sale wasn’t completed in time, the Chinese-owned video-sharing app would effectively be shut down in the U.S.

However, a judge granted a preliminary injunction against the ruling Sept. 27, with the position that the Trump administration had likely exceeded its legal powers.

As of Thursday (Oct. 8), the Trump administration has set about filing a notice of appeal, beginning the process of objecting to the injunction, Bloomberg reported.

If TikTok is actually banned in the U.S., it would be removed from stores run by Apple and Google, which make up a large majority of the app marketplace in the country. That would mean people who didn’t already have the app couldn’t get it, and those who did wouldn’t be able to access updates to keep upgrading the app.

The issue also covers another app, WeChat, which the Trump administration is also trying to ban. The proposed ban on WeChat was also blocked in court, and the U.S. also appealed that last week, Bloomberg reported.

Earlier this month, China said it had found the World Trade Organization (WTO) as an ally in the fight over the proposed TikTok and WeChat bans. The WTO is a Geneva-based organization that aims to make sure global trade flows as well as possible. An unnamed China official said a closed WTO meeting had involved discussions saying the U.S.’s measures don’t align with the WTO’s rules.

The executive orders from the Trump administration, according to the official, restrict trade and violate the principles of the multilateral trading system, and in addition, the orders don’t provide any evidence for wanting to outlaw the apps.

The measures were defended by a U.S. trade official at the meeting, who said the orders were supposed to help reduce national security risks.