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TikTok files complaint against Trump administration to block US ban

WION Web Team
Washington, DC, United States of AmericaUpdated: Sep 19, 2020, 01:58 PM IST

Photograph:(Reuters)

Story highlights

TikTok, which has over 100 million users in the United States, said the ban would "irreversibly destroy the TikTok business in the US."

Popular video-sharing app TikTok has filed a complaint to block the Trump administration's ban on the Chinese social-media network.

TikTok and its parent company, ByteDance Ltd., filed a complaint in a Washington federal court challenging the recent prohibitory moves by the Trump administration.

The US Commerce Department announced a ban on Friday blocking people in the United States from downloading Chinese-owned messaging app WeChat and TikTok starting September 20.

A Bloomberg report cited the complaint as saying that Trump exceeded his authority when he banned the app, and that he did so for political reasons rather than to stop an "unusual and extraordinary threat" to the US, as the law requires.

US President Donald Trump, who has been locked in a long-running trade dispute with China, issued an executive order on August 6 that prohibited US transactions with the Chinese owners of messaging app WeChat and TikTok.

Both ByteDance and TikTok are seeking a "declaratory" judgment and an order "invalidating and preliminarily and permanently enjoining the Prohibitions and the August 6 order," according to the complaint.

TikTok, which has over 100 million users in the United States, said the ban would "irreversibly destroy the TikTok business in the US."