The
Commerce Department's August order would have barred
transactions with TikTok, which its owner ByteDance had warned
would effectively prohibit TikTok's use in the United States.
The White House did not appear to be a in a rush to implement an
Aug. 14 divestiture order that directed ByteDance to sell TikTok
by Thursday.
There were no immediate efforts by the Trump administration to
enforce that order, even though it was not clear whether the
government would formally grant a request by ByteDance to extend
the sale deadline.
The Commerce Department said Nov. 1 it would comply with Judge
Wendy Beetlestone's order blocking the ban, but said it would
"vigorously defend" its actions.
TikTok did not immediately comment on the government's appeal to
the U.S. Third Circuit.
Beetlestone enjoined the agency from barring data hosting within
the United States for TikTok, content delivery services and
other technical transactions.
President Donald Trump's administration contends that TikTok
poses national security concerns as personal data collected on
100 million Americans who use the app could be obtained by
China's government. TikTok denies the allegations.
Beetlestone wrote the "government’s own descriptions of the
national security threat posed by the TikTok app are phrased in
the hypothetical."
On Sept. 27, U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols in Washington
issued a preliminary injunction in a suit brought by ByteDance
that stopped Commerce from ordering Apple Inc <AAPL.O> and
Alphabet Inc's Google <GOOGL.O> app stores to remove TikTok for
download by new users. That order had been set to take effect
later that day.
The U.S. Treasury Department said on Wednesday it wanted a
resolution of national security concerns it has raised about
TikTok before a Thursday divestiture deadline. A Treasury
spokeswoman had no comment on Thursday.
ByteDance has been in talks for a deal with Walmart Inc <WMT.N>
and Oracle Corp <ORCL.N> to shift TikTok's U.S. assets into a
new entity called TikTok Global. It said on Tuesday it had
requested a 30-day extension of the divestiture deadline to
finalize terms. Trump said in September the deal had his
"blessing."
ByteDance on Tuesday filed a petition with the U.S. Court of
Appeals in Washington challenging the Aug. 14 divestiture order,
which gave the Justice Department power to enforce the demanded
sale. A Justice Department spokeswoman on Thursday declined to
comment.
ByteDance said a fourth proposal submitted on Friday sought to
address U.S. security concerns "by creating a new entity, wholly
owned by Oracle, Walmart and existing U.S. investors in
ByteDance, that would be responsible for handling TikTok's U.S.
user data and content moderation."
(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Chris Reese and
Lincoln Feast.)
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