Tik Tok Ban Washington/Sputnik: The US Commerce Department is backing off from enforcing a shutdown of Chinese-owned TikTok video-sharing app after a federal court ruling prevented the move, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday.
The shutdown of TikTok will not go into effect "pending further legal developments", the Journal reported Thursday, citing a decision by US District Judge Wendy Beetlestone in Philadelphia in October to block the Commerce Department order.
Judge Beetlestone made the decision after a suit brought against the Trump administration by three TikTok stars: comedian Douglas Marland, fashion guru Cosette Rinab and musician Alex Chambers.
TikTok has been in the news since August after the Trump administration threatened to ban the app in the United States, citing wider concerns about alleged Chinese government spying on data of Americans using China-originated social media.
The ban on TikTok was originally to take effect on September 20, but was later deferred to November 12 after the administration offered the company a way out by selling itself to a US entity.
However, none of those actions against TikTok appear likely to take place now, after President Donald Trump’s defeat to his challenger Joe Biden in the November 3 US election.
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