Bobby Chesney: TikTok Wins Round One

Note: This piece was originally published in Lawfare and was written by Checks & Balances member Bobby Chesney.

Sunday, Sept. 27, was a dramatic win for TikTok (which was only fitting, considering the style of its typical popular content). It had initially dodged sanctions thanks to its proposed deal with Oracle and Walmart, but enthusiasm for that deal had been waning in both Washington and Beijing (and for seemingly irreconcilable reasons). Barring judicial intervention, an initial sanction would have kicked in at midnight on Sunday, barring app stores under U.S. jurisdiction from continuing to carry the app or facilitating updates of it for existing users. Late in the day, however, a federal district court in Washington announced that it was granting TikTok’s motion for a preliminary injunction against implementation of the ban.

Continue reading at Lawfare.