Trump’s legal crusade against TikTok is blocked after a second judge rules that the President overstepped his authority in trying to ban the app
- U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols in Washington issued the order on Monday night
- TikTok says the restrictions would have effectively barred its use in the US
- Nichols said the move to restrict the app’s use were ‘arbitrary and capricious’
A second US judge has blocked the Trump administration’s attempt to ban TikTok in the U.S.
It is the latest defeat in the White House’s legal crusade against the video-sharing app which the company has said would have effectively barred its use in the United States.
U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols in Washington found that Trump overstepped his authority in using his emergency economic powers to try to ban the app.
It comes after another US judge in Pennsylvania blocked the restrictions that were set to take effect on November 12 after influencers brought a lawsuit.
A second US judge has blocked the Trump administration’s attempt to ban TikTok in the U.S
Nichols wrote that lawyers for TikTok were able to show Trump officials’ ‘failure to adequately consider an obvious and reasonable alternative before banning TikTok’.
He added that the move to restrict the app’s use were ‘arbitrary and capricious’.
Trump’s Commerce Department was seeking to prevent people from being able to download TikTok in app stores.
They also attempted to stop transactions between Americans and TikTok’s Chinese parent company, ByteDance.
The Trump administration has appealed against the sanctions that were already blocked in October in Pennsylvania.
It is the latest defeat in the White House’s legal crusade against the video-sharing app which the company has said would have effectively barred its use in the United States
Nichols wrote if Trump wins that appeal, his injunction would remain in order to prevent users from leaving TikTok for a competing app.
He added that this would exact ‘irreparable harm’ on TikTok.
Commerce Department officials said they were taking the extraordinary step to try and ban TikTok because of the risks the apps’ data collection poses.
China have denied US user data is collected for spying.
The Trump administration has ramped up efforts to purge ‘untrusted’ Chinese apps from U.S. digital networks and has called TikTok and WeChat ‘significant threats.’
TikTok has 100 million users in the United States and is especially popular among younger Americans.