A second federal judge has blocked the Trump administration’s attempt to ban TikTok downloads in the U.S., underscoring the dwindling legal options the Trump administration has to pursue an outright ban of the popular app.
On Monday, Judge Carl Nichols of the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., granted a preliminary injunction that stops the Commerce Department from implementing restrictions on TikTok that would have essentially banned the app in the U.S.
Judge Nichols said the government’s ban likely overstepped its authority under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, calling the action arbitrary and capricious.
Judge Nichols’s order follows an October decision from a case that TikTok creators brought in Pennsylvania court, arguing that the ban would have deprived them of their income and their ability to express themselves. The judge in that suit, Wendy Beetlestone, blocked the restrictions on Oct. 30.
The Commerce Department had been set on Nov. 12 to restrict U.S. companies from conducting transactions with TikTok, including hosting the company’s data and delivering the company’s content, which would have essentially made the app inoperable in the U.S.
