U.S. Insists on Need to Ban TikTok

Trump's administration is persistent.
Photo/s: Kon Karampelas via Unsplash
U.S. President Donald Trump's administration has insisted on the need to ban TikTok due to national security concerns in a new court filing ahead of a plan to make the video app unavailable on Nov. 12.

The filing comes as the court considers the legality of the administration's bid to make the Chinese-owned app unavailable in the United States, where it has 100 million users.

"The president should not be prevented from regulating national security threats simply because a foreign adversary cloaks its activities within a media company," the filing on Friday at a federal court in Washington says.

ALSO READ:

Why is TikTok Mixing Fun and Politics? We Asked Doracrybaby

No Hate, TikTok Is Banning These Types of Content

The Trump administration is seeking to persuade the judge in the case to allow it to move forward with restrictions on the video-sharing app, which it claims has links to the Chinese government through its parent firm ByteDance.

Continue reading below ↓

In September, a temporary injunction prevented the government from removing TikTok from mobile application download platforms.

That Trump administration order had sought to ban new downloads of the app but continue to allow the of TikTok until Nov. 12, when all usage would be blocked. 

The judge at the time denied TikTok's request to suspend the Nov.12 ban, but the court has yet to consider the merits of the legal arguments on whether the social platform should remain available to Americans.

ALSO READ:

TikTok Gets Serious, Launches U.S. Elections Guide

TikTok has repeatedly defended itself against allegations of data transfers to the Chinese government. 

It says its servers where user information is stored are located in the United States and Singapore.

The company has also said the ban is unnecessary since negotiations are underway to restructure the ownership of TikTok to address national security issues raised by the administration.

A tentative deal has been unveiled that would make Silicon Valley giant Oracle the technology partner for TikTok and a stakeholder in a new entity to be known as TikTok Global.

Continue reading below ↓
Recommended Videos
Latest Headlines
Recent News