Decision On TikTok Ban Coming Sunday

The high-stakes court decision on whether to allow a ban of video-sharing app TikTok set to take effect Sunday (Sept. 27) is expected this weekend.

Reuters reported the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) opposed TikTok’s preliminary injunction to either delay or overrule the ban.

TikTok owner ByteDance Ltd. has asked a federal judge to temporarily stop President Donald Trump’s executive order prohibiting the popular app over national security concerns.

The DOJ filed its objection Friday morning (Sept. 25) and told the court the Sunday ban on the app remains in place.

In court documents, TikTok argued the ban is motivated by political considerations over the November presidential election, not by a genuine national security concern.

The China-based company has reached an agreement with Oracle Corp. and Walmart Inc. to take stakes in the firm.

The news service reported U.S. District Court Judge Carl Nichols for the District of Columbia is expected to rule before Sunday (Sept. 27) on TikTok’s request.

In a related case, last Sunday (Sept.20), a California judge issued a preliminary injunction that blocked a similar order on Tencent Holdings’ WeChat app. The Justice Department has asked the judge to allow the ban to take effect pending appeal.

Oracle Corp. and Walmart Inc. will reportedly pay ByteDance Ltd. $12 billion for a combined 20 percent stake in the video-sharing social media app.

Last weekend, Trump endorsed the sale and paused the administration’s threat to shut down TikTok’s U.S. operations. TikTok has said it agreed to make Oracle its “trusted cloud and technology provider, responsible for fully securing our users' data” in America. As part of the deal, it will create a new U.S.-based company with as many as 25,000 new employees.

But this week, ByteDance was at odds with Oracle over the terms of the deal to purchase the video-sharing app over the weekend, Reuters reported.

ByteDance said it would own 80 percent of a newly-created U.S. company, TikTok Global, which will own most of the app’s operations around the world. ByteDance also said TikTok Global would become its subsidiary.

But Oracle, which along with Walmart had agreed to take stakes of 12.5 percent and 7.5 percent, respectively, in TikTok Global, disagreed. They said the majority ownership would end up being American.