When is the TikTok Ban Deadline?

Several days have gone by since November 12, the date popular Chinese-owned social media app, TikTok was supposed to be banned in the United States. Not only did this ban not happen, but the fuzz that came with it also faded away after tense months of trying to guess what was going to happen. Last week, it was reported that because Trump is contesting the results of the Election, TikTok feels as if his administration has its hands full with the legal drama surrounding it, therefore, simply forgetting to come through with the ban. That aside, TikTokers have filed a couple of injunctions that are helping to stall the app's ban.

On November 13, which also happened to the Friday the 13th, the Commerce Department's order to effectively bar TikTok in the United States was blocked by a US district court. If that executive order had not been blocked by Judge Wendy Beetlestone, the ban on ByteDance-owned TikTok would have taken effect on November 12 barring the app from being used in the country.

The Commerce Department reacted to these injunction by saying it would comply with it but it plans to defend the executive order and the efforts to implement it from legal challenges.

When giving her ruling, Judge Wendy encouraged the Commerce Department not to bar TikTok from providing their content delivery services, or hosting their data in the US.

TikTok's troubles started when Trump's administration made claims that it poses concerns to the national security of the United States because the app collects personal data on 100 million Americans who use it. The administration went on to claim that the Chinese government could easily obtain this data from ByteDance, putting the US at risk, allegations that TikTok denies.

Will the Tiktok Ban Happen?

For now, there is no clear indication on whether or not the ban will take effect in the future.

US District Judge Carl Nichols, who on September 27 issued a preliminary injunction that stopped the removal of TikTok from Alphabet Inc's Google Play Store and Apple Inc's App Store will on November 18 hold a hearing on the other aspects of the executive order blocked by Judge Beetlestone. So let's wait and see.

Is There Still a US Company Involved?

Even with the uncertainty of whether the ban will still take effect at a later date or not, ByteDance is still trying to push through a deal to sell to US-based firms a stake in TikTok in a bid to ease concern about the privacy of its users data.

ByteDance is finalizing a deal with US software maker Oracle Corp and US retail giant Walmart Inc. for them to take stake in a new company, TikTok Global. This deal that has the blessing of President Trump will have TikTok Global oversee ByteDance operations in the US.