TikTok Ruling: Biden Administration Asks Courts to Dismiss Government Appeals

The Biden administration on Monday requested two federal appeals courts to dismiss the Justice Department’s authorized challenges to court docket rulings that barred a Trump-era effort to ban new downloads of Chinese-owned video-sharing app TikTok.

Last month, President Joe Biden withdrew a sequence of government orders issued by former President Donald Trump that sought to ban new downloads of WeChat, TikTok, and different Chinese apps and ordered a brand new evaluate.

The Commerce Department on June 22 formally withdrew a listing of prohibited transactions with ByteDance-owned TikTok and Tencent-owned WeChat issued in September that sought to bar downloads of the apps.

The Justice Department mentioned Monday that the federal government’s authorized challenges have been now moot. It requested the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia and the Third Circuit to dismiss its appeals.

Separately, the Justice Department mentioned in a submitting with the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals that it had not determined methods to proceed in its attraction of a decrease court docket ruling blocking restrictions on WeChat that the Trump administration had sought to place in place.

The authorities mentioned it was in talks with legal professionals for the WeChat customers who had filed go well with “about appropriate next steps in this appeal.” The authorities plans to tell the court docket about its determination by July 26.

During Donald Trump’s presidency, the Commerce Department had additionally sought to bar different transactions that might have successfully banned WeChat’s use within the United States and later sought comparable restrictions that might have barred TikTok’s use. Courts blocked all these restrictions from taking impact.

The Biden order directed the Commerce Department to watch software program functions like TikTok that might have an effect on US nationwide safety, in addition to to make suggestions inside 120 days to guard US knowledge acquired or accessible by corporations managed by international adversaries.

Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo advised Reuters in a June 28 interview that the division was “just getting started” with its evaluate that may embrace an “evidence-based” evaluation.

“The whole point of the executive order is to take really strong steps to protect Americans’ data from collection and utilization by foreign adversaries,” Raimondo mentioned.

Biden’s government order additionally revoked one other Trump order signed in January that focused eight different communications and monetary expertise software program functions.

That Trump order directed officers to ban transactions with eight Chinese apps, together with Ant Group’s Alipay and Tencent’s QQ Wallet and WeChat pay. No bans have been issued.

A separate US nationwide safety evaluate of TikTok, launched in late 2019, stays energetic.

© Thomson Reuters 2021