Following Trump’s decision, the US Commerce Department announced that it is delaying the proposed ban on TikTok by a week to let all parties sort out the nitty gritty of the deal. “In light of recent positive developments, Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross, at the direction of President Trump, will delay the prohibition of identified transactions pursuant to Executive Order 13942, related to the TikTok mobile application that would have been effective on Sunday, September 20, 2020, until September 27, 2020”, the DoC said in a statement. Meanwhile, a US federal judge in California has halted the Trump administration’s ban on WeChat, which was also slated to go into effect Sunday alongside TikTok. In her ruling, judge Laurel Beeler said that WeChat users who filed for an injunction against the proposed ban “have shown serious questions going to the merits of the First Amendment claim, the balance of hardships tips in the plaintiffs favor”. The move now ensures that the app will continue to remain available for download on the App Store and and the Play Store in the US for the foreseeable future.
