Judge gives TikTok temporary reprieve

Lawyers representing the popular social media app claim President Donald Trump’s executive order against TikTok violated the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols on Sunday temporarily blocked the Trump administration from restricting U.S. app stores from doing business with ByteDance, TikTok’s Chinese parent company, starting at midnight. The U.S. Department of Commerce said it would comply with the ruling but continue to “vigorously defend” the ban, which aims to protect U.S. users from possible data breaches by the Chinese government.

Can Americans still access TikTok? For now, yes. But Nichols left in place a ban on all use of the app starting on Nov. 12. American companies Oracle and Walmart are negotiating to purchase TikTok, which would eliminate Chinese ownership. Trump said he wants U.S. corporations to have complete authority over the app, while ByteDance is trying to retain as much control as possible.

Dig deeper: Read my report in The Stew on the debate over TikTok.