Trump administration yet again targets TikTok

TikTok has been very unlucky this year because when the entire world seems to be attracting the deadly attack of Coronavirus, the social media platform has attracted the attention of Donald Trump. After several failed attempts in delisting the platform from the US market, it seems that the ex-president doesn’t want to believe that he lost, much like he doesn’t want to believe that he is now the ex-president of the US.

The Department of Justice filed an appeal of a judge’s order that blocked restrictions on TikTok in the US from taking effect. It seems that after facing several setbacks and suffering numerous losses in the court, the Trump administration doesn’t care anymore. They will do anything to go out with the last bang.

Earlier the Commerce Department imposed restrictions on TikTok which prevented new downloads of the app from US app stores. However, US District Judge Carl Nichols issued an order on December 7th that blocked the Commerce Department’s restrictions on TikTok The Trump administration is appealing against the same order.

TikTok and its other brother from the same homeland, has received a continuous attack from the Trump administration stating the security concerns about the apps. Trump invoked the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), which allows the president to ban transactions between US and foreign entities. He even forces the parent company of TikTok to either release a spin-off of the app which would be made in the US or to simply sell the app to a US firm. Come on, Donald you think ByteDance is a 9-year-old kid from whom you can easily steal a candy?

But Trump administration managed to force TikTok to enter into a new deal with cloud computing giant Oracle. It was supposed to form a new entity called TikTok Global. But it seems that the social media platform had some other plans. TikTok filed a petition on November 10th seeking a 30-day extension of the November 12th deadline to form the new entity. And guess what, Trump administration being the smart people they are, accepted the petition and gave the social media platform an extension until November 27^th, and again until December 4th.

And now, it seems that Trump himself is facing a ban from the white house and possibly from the entire United States. As for his administration’s attempts at banning TikTok, it’s still wildly coyote chasing after the Roadrunner. And we know how it ends.

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