U.S. Judge Halts Trump's TikTok Ban, Hours Before It Was Set To Start
Source: NPR
A federal judge on Sunday temporarily blocked President Trump's TikTok ban, granting a temporary reprieve to the wildly popular video-sharing app.
During a telephone court hearing on Sunday, lawyers for TikTok argued that Trump's clampdown infringed on free speech and due process rights.
John Hall, an attorney for TikTok, argued that the app, with some 100 million American users, is a "modern day version of the town square" and shutting it down is akin to silencing speech. Judge Carl Nichols of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, responded by halting the ban, which was set to kick in at midnight Sunday.
The action from the White House would have forced TikTok to be removed from smartphone app stores, meaning TikTok could not reach new users, and those who already had it would be deprived of app updates, eventually rendering it nonfunctional.
Read more: https://www.npr.org/2020/09/27/917452668/u-s-judge-halts-trumps-tiktok-ban-hours-before-it-was-set-to-start