BEIJING (dpa-AFX) - TikTok will continue to operate in the U.S. for the time being after the Commerce Department said it will abide by a temporary injunction that prevents the government to shut down the Chinese social media app.
Earlier, President Donald Trump had issued an executive order to effectively shut down TikTok on November 12, claiming that the app posed a security threat due to the company's links to China.
ByteDance, the owner of TikTok, had been given until Thursday to restructure ownership of the app in the US to meet national security concerns. However, earlier this week, TikTok filed a petition in the US Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit seeking clarity on its future.
ByteDance agreed to sell 20% of TikTok Global to Walmart and Oracle while making Oracle a 'trusted technology partner' in the U.S.
A federal judge issued a preliminary injunction against the first Trump's executive order.
'I am very happy that the court has granted an injunction preventing the implementation of the TikTok ban that would have prohibited new users to download the app,' TikTok's interim chief Vanessa Pappas wrote on Twitter. 'We will continue to seek to protect the rights of our users, partners, artists, employees, businesses, and creators.'
The Commerce Department announced that the shutdown order won't go into effect 'pending further legal developments.'
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX