TikTok just barely skirted around a ban in the US. A judge imposed an injunction against President Donald Trump's executive order to ban the app, temporarily delaying TikTok's removal from US app stores.

TikTok Is Safe, for Now

On August 6th, 2020, President Trump issued an executive order that would potentially ban TikTok from US app stores. The only way ByteDance, TikTok's China-based parent company, could avoid the ban is by selling the app's US assets to an American technology company.

Trump initially gave TikTok until September 20th, 2020 to finalize the sale of the app. But after TikTok reached a deal with Oracle and Walmart, Trump delayed the ban until September 27th.

In an effort to suspend the ban even further, TikTok filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration. As a result, Judge Carl Nichols of the US District Court for the District of Columbia granted a preliminary injunction against Trump's executive order. The ruling temporarily delays the ban of the app.

On its site, the US Department of Commerce released a statement in response to the ruling, stating:

The Government will comply with the injunction and has taken immediate steps to do so, but intends to vigorously defend the [Executive Order] and the Secretary’s implementation efforts from legal challenges.

While the ruling temporarily blocks the ban of the app, it still doesn't stop the harsher restrictions from going into effect on November 12th. These constraints essentially bar TikTok's code from operating in the US.

In a comment to The New York Times, a TikTok spokesperson expressed the company's satisfaction with the ruling, saying:

We’re pleased that the court agreed with our legal arguments and issued an injunction preventing the implementation of the TikTok app ban. We will continue defending our rights for the benefit of our community and employees.

The spokesperson also noted that TikTok will maintain its "ongoing dialogue with the government."

Waiting for the Dust to Settle

Although TikTok managed to avoid the September 27th ban, the app still faces the November deadline. In the meantime, users can still enjoy using TikTok, but there's no telling what will happen to the app in the future.