Trump’s Tiktok ban delayed

More comprehensive measure still scheduled for November

NEW YORK — A federal judge on Sunday postponed a Trump administration order that would have banned the popular video sharing app Tiktok from U.S. smartphone app stores around midnight.

A more comprehensive ban remains scheduled for November, about a week after the presidential election. The judge, Carl Nichols of the U.S District Court for the District of Columbia, did not agree to postpone the later ban.

The ruling followed an emergency hearing Sunday morning in which lawyers for Tiktok argued that the administration’s app-store ban would infringe on the company’s First Amendment rights and do irreparable harm to the business.

Earlier this year, President Donald Trump declared that Tiktok was a threat to national security and that it must either sell its U.S. operations to U.S. companies or be barred from the country.

Tiktok, owned by Chinese company Bytedance, is scrambling to firm up a deal tentatively struck a week ago in which it would partner with tech company Oracle and retailer Walmart and that would get the blessing of the Chinese and American governments. In the meantime, it is fighting to keep the app available in the U.S.

In arguments to Judge Nichols, Tiktok lawyer John Hall said that

Tiktok is more than an app but rather is a “modern day version of a town square.”

“If that prohibition goes into effect at midnight, the consequences immediately are grave,’” Hall said.

“It would be no different than the government locking the doors to a public forum, roping off that town square.”

Justice Department lawyer Daniel Schwei sought to undercut Tiktok lawyers’ argument, saying that Chinese companies are not purely private and are subject to intrusive laws compelling their cooperation with intelligence agencies. The Justice Department has also argued that economic regulations of this nature generally are not subject to First Amendment scrutiny.