- TikTok won another battle against Trump
- TikTok stars got a judge to stop up the ban
- Last month a D.C. judge blocked the ban
TikTok is a viral Chinese video-sharing social networking service. It is owned by ByteDance. The app is used to create short music, lip-sync, dance, comedy, and talent videos. The duration of a video can vary between 3 to 15 seconds. While short looping videos can go up to 3 to 60 secs.
The app was released in the year 2016. In the duration of 4 years, it has gained a sturdy fanbase. After facing a ban in India, it was once again ready for a similar situation in the US. However, the company has won the battle against the Trump government.
The company was about to face a ban in the U.S. on Friday, a federal judge in Pennsylvania issued an order. This blocked the restrictions that would have blocked TikTok from operating on 12 November. Though the battle was not led by TikTok. It was rather led by a group of TikTok creators.
The case was led by Douglas Marland, Alec Chambers, and Cosette Rinab. The following creators have 2.7 million, 1.8 million, and 2.3 million followers respectively. They argued that the ban would cause them to lose their followers. Also, they’d lose their brand sponsorship i.e. source of income.
However, it’s not the first time that the U.S. courts have sided with Tiktok. Last monthly, a D.C. judge blocked the ban. The ban would have removed the app from being listed in US app stores by Apple and Google. And now, the November 12 ban has been blocked completely.
The ban and its consequences?
This ban would have blocked companies that provide internet hosting services to TikTok. The Trump government was all set to ban TikTok from the US. The move was initiated due to its Chinese parent company ByteDance, claiming it was a national security threat.
The core arguments were made in the name of security threat.
As per the judge, the hypothetical risk was unable to be stated by the government. It wasn’t such a risk that it outweighed the public interest. There are more than 100 million users that utilize the app for spreading “informational material”.
The ban would shut down a platform of expressive creativity according to the judge. “We are deeply moved by the outpouring of support from our creators. They have worked to protect their rights to expression, their careers, and to help small businesses. They’ve served during the Pandemic”, says the interim Global Head of TikTok Vanessa Pappas.
“We stand behind our community as they share their voices. We are committed to continuing to provide a home for them to do so”, she added. Though the company remained quiet during the whole process. Many creators participated through voting messaging as their way to participate as they were too young.
TikTok remained active in the product department throughout the mess. Even Pakistan banned and then unbanned the app.
