Second Federal Judge Rules Against Trump Order to Ban TikTok

A federal judge on Monday blocked the Trump administration's attempt to ban new downloads of TikTok in the United States, the latest defeat in the White House's efforts to outlaw the app in the country (via TechCrunch).

tiktok logo
President Trump in August signed an executive order that would officially ban any U.S. transactions with TikTok if its Chinese parent ByteDance did not reach a deal to divest it to a U.S. company. Commerce Department officials later said they were taking the unprecedented step of banning the app because of the risks posed by its data collection practices and Chinese ownership.

On Monday, however, U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols in Washington concluded that President Trump had overstepped his authority in using his emergency economic powers to try to put the wildly popular app out of business.

Nichols wrote that the government "likely exceeded IEEPA's [the International Emergency Economic Powers Act] express limitations as part of an agency action that was arbitrary and capricious." Nichols is a Trump appointee and the second federal judge to rule against the president's ban.

Should the order have gone into effect, Apple and Google could have been forced to remove TikTok from their respective app stores, and users who already have the app installed would no longer receive updates. However, in October, a federal judge granted TikTok a preliminary injunction that temporarily halted the banning order while TikTok owner ByteDance sought a way to divest the app's U.S. operations to an American-based company.

ByteDance's deadline to divest itself of the social media app TikTok elapsed on Monday, but talks are set to continue with the U.S. government about a sale without another deadline extension. ByteDance has reached a proposed deal with Oracle and Walmart that would divest it of the social media app and create a new U.S.-based company called TikTok Global.

Note: Due to the political or social nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Political News forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.

Tag: TikTok

Popular Stories

iOS 18

iOS 18.4 Coming Next Week With These New Features for Your iPhone

Friday February 14, 2025 6:18 am PST by
The first iOS 18.4 beta for iPhones should be just around the corner, and the update is expected to include many new features and changes. Bloomberg's Mark Gurman expects the iOS 18.4 beta to be released by next week. Below, we outline what to expect from iOS 18.4 so far. Apple Intelligence for Siri Siri is expected to get several enhancements powered by Apple Intelligence on iOS...
iPhone 17 Roundup Feature 2

iPhone Design to Change 'Significantly' This Year

Monday February 17, 2025 7:09 am PST by
Apple is set to "significantly change" the iPhone's design language later this year, according to a Weibo leaker. In a new post, the user known "Digital Chat Station" said that the iPhone's design is "starting to change significantly" this year. The "iPhone 17 Air" reportedly features a "horizontal, bar-shaped" design on the rear, likely referring to an elongated camera bump. On the other...
Apple Maps 2024

Apple Maps Might Start Showing Ads

Sunday February 16, 2025 7:22 am PST by
Apple is "exploring" the idea of showing search ads in the Apple Maps app, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. Back in 2022, Gurman said software engineering was "already underway" to display ads in the Apple Maps app, but Apple did not move forward with the idea at the time. Today, he said Apple is "giving this notion more thought" again. This time around, he said Apple has yet to...
Tim Cook Apple Park

10+ Announcements Apple Could Have Rolled Into a February Event

Saturday February 15, 2025 8:00 am PST by
Apple appears to have enough upcoming product announcements to justify a full event this month, yet all signs indicate these reveals will be handled through a series of press releases instead. There are a multitude of rumors from reliable sources about specific announcements in the coming weeks, so here's everything that Apple could have feasibly included in a hypothetical February event: ...
apple launch feb 2025 alt

What to Expect From the 'Apple Launch' Next Week

Thursday February 13, 2025 11:48 am PST by
Apple has yet to announce any new devices this year, but that could change starting next week. Apple CEO Tim Cook today said to "get ready" for a "launch" on Wednesday, February 19. "Get ready to meet the newest member of the family," said Cook, in a social media post. The post includes an #AppleLaunch hashtag, along with a short video featuring an animated Apple logo inside of a circle....
iPhone 17 Pro Render Front Page Tech

iPhone 17 Pro With All-New Camera Bar Design Allegedly Revealed

Thursday February 13, 2025 5:49 pm PST by
Apple's next-generation iPhone 17 Pro will feature three rear cameras arranged in a familiar triangular layout, but the cameras will be housed in an all-new rectangular camera bar with rounded corners, according to YouTube channel Front Page Tech. iPhone 17 Pro camera design render created by Asher for Front Page Tech In a video uploaded today, Front Page Tech host Jon Prosser said the camera ...
Apple 2025 Thumb 1

Two of Apple's Oldest Products Are Finally Getting Updated This Year

Friday February 14, 2025 6:03 am PST by
Apple released the HomePod mini in November 2020, followed by the AirTag in May 2021, and both still remain first-generation products. Fortunately, rumors suggest that both the HomePod mini and the AirTag will finally be updated at some point this year. Below, we recap rumors about the HomePod mini 2 and AirTag 2. HomePod mini 2 In January 2025, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said Apple is ...
maxresdefault

The MacRumors Show: Apple Teases Its Next Major Product Launch

Friday February 14, 2025 9:38 am PST by
On this week's episode of The MacRumors Show, we discuss the imminent Apple product "launch" that is widely expected to be the fourth-generation iPhone SE. Subscribe to The MacRumors Show YouTube channel for more videos In a social media post on Thursday, Apple CEO Tim Cook teased an upcoming "launch" of some kind scheduled for Wednesday, February 19. "Get ready to meet the newest member of...

Top Rated Comments

farewelwilliams Avatar
55 months ago
maybe Trump is tired of winning so much.
Score: 31 Votes (Like | Disagree)
rp2011 Avatar
55 months ago
Good! Checks and balances. Congress needs to make sure a petty moron like Trump can never again abuse his authority like he has. He was impeached and voted out, but that he still wielded and abused his Presidential authority for asinine childish tantrums is mind boggling.
Score: 19 Votes (Like | Disagree)
-DMN- Avatar
55 months ago
It's quite fascinating to see those in the chat celebrate a Chinese Communist Party (CCP) backed application. A country that bans, YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, Gmail, Google Play,.....TaKeS DeEp BrEaTh...CNN, New York Times, BBC, Wall Street Journal, TIME...LIST GOES ON FOR AN ETERNITY. Yet declares Trumps the FACIST. lollolololololololol
Score: 14 Votes (Like | Disagree)
imlovinit Avatar
55 months ago

Good! Checks and balances. Congress needs to make sure a petty moron like Trump can never again abuse his authority like he has. He was impeached and voted out, but that he still wielded and abused his Presidential authority for asinine childish tantrums is mind boggling.
Unfortunately, his spineless groupies are still controlling Congress.
Score: 13 Votes (Like | Disagree)
rp2011 Avatar
55 months ago

Unfortunately, his spineless groupies are still controlling Congress.
Then there is his looney cult
Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Krizoitz Avatar
55 months ago

Yeah, all those illegal issues like bombing American Citizens around the world, oops, that was Obama. And spying on Americans and violating their rights, oops, that was Bush. Or forcing Americans to buy health care or pay a fee, ooops, that was that crap bag McCain. Or screwing a intern and lying about it, oops, that was Clinton. Or being the head of the CIA, oops, that was Bush 1. Or saying we need to get black people in line to vote how we want them to, oops, that was Johnson.
Yep, things have been so bad for four years.
https://www.dictionary.com/e/whataboutisms/
?
Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)