The ban had been set to take effect at 11:59 p.m. local time on Sunday.

US District Judge Carl Nichols said in a brief order he was issuing a preliminary injunction to prevent the TikTok app store ban from taking effect. Nichols declined “at this time” to block other restrictions by the US Department of Commerce set to take effect on November 12, which will block US companies from providing internet hosting and services for the app, CGTN reported.

Nichols’ detailed written opinion is expected to be released as soon as Monday.

The restrictive orders by the commerce department were a response to one of two executive orders signed by President Donald Trump – the one to block US companies’ transactions with ByteDance Ltd. – TikTok’s parent company in Beijing. The other is to take over TikTok’s US operations.

The department on September 18 issued an order banning US transactions with TikTok and messaging app WeChat starting September 20, from which any provision of service to distribute or maintain the WeChat or TikTok mobile applications, constituent code, or application updates through an online mobile application store in the US will be prohibited.

On September 19, it announced an order to delay TikTok’s US app store ban, saying that the decision was taken “in light of recent positive developments.”

Sunday’s ruling is a victory for TikTok after it challenged the ban as unconstitutional and a violation of due process.

The US government’s previous executive order was issued without due process, said TikTok after it learned about the restrictions, adding that “it may deprive the American people and small businesses of an important platform for their voice and living.” On the same day, TikTok and ByteDance filed the complaint in a Washington federal court.

US officials have alleged national security concerns over the short-video sharing app due to its Chinese ties, although TikTok has reiterated many times that all its data is stored on servers in the US, with a backup in Singapore, while making efforts to deal with the US government’s security concerns.

ByteDance said on September 20 it had a preliminary deal for Walmart Inc. and Oracle Corp. to take stakes in its subsidiary, TikTok Global. Negotiations continue over the terms of the agreement and to resolve concerns from Washington and Beijing.

The deal is still to be reviewed by the US government’s Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), and by China’s Ministry of Commerce given it is subject to a revised Catalogue of Technologies Prohibited and Restricted from Export.

Bytedance said early Thursday that it has applied for a license with the Beijing commerce authority in line with China’s tech export requirements.

US District Judge Wendy Beetlestone in Pennsylvania on Saturday rejected a bid by three TikTok content creators to block the ban.

The content creators argued they would “lose access to tens of thousands of potential viewers and creators every month, an effect amplified by the looming threat to close TikTok altogether.”

The judge wrote that the ban is “undoubtedly an inconvenience” but said in denying the request “they will still be able to create, publish, and share content for their millions of current followers.”

Earlier, US Magistrate Judge Laurel Beeler in San Francisco blocked the US Commerce Department from requiring Apple Inc. and Alphabet Inc.’s Google to remove Chinese-owned messaging app WeChat for downloads.

It marks the second time the company has tried to legally challenge the US government.

TikTok and the owner of the platform, ByteDance, asked a judge in a Washington federal court to block the Trump administration’s moves barring the app from operating in the US, Bloomberg cited the suit as saying. The complaint was filed on Friday night, shortly after the Department of Commerce announced that people in the US would not be able to download the video-sharing service starting on Sunday, RT reported.

The Chinese company accused Trump of exceeding his authority, claiming that his actions are based on political reasons, but not an “unusual and extraordinary threat” posed to the US, as required by law. The suit added that Trump’s policies could “destroy an online community where millions of Americans have come together to express themselves.”

The ban on TikTok’s operations violates First Amendment free-speech rights, the complaint reportedly said. It also echoes previous accusations against the US government, saying that it “ignored evidence” showing TikTok’s commitment to privacy.

Contrary to allegations that the company captures “vast swaths of information from US users” and gives the Chinese government access to it, TikTok has previously insisted it stores user data in the US and Singapore and does not share anything with Beijing.

TikTok sued the Trump administration for the first time in August, shortly after Trump signed an executive order threatening to ban its US operations over alleged national security concerns. The company’s move was supported by Beijing, which in turn accused Washington of “organized and systematic economic bullying” of foreign companies.

The video-sharing app still has the chance to remain functional in the US if it secures a deal to sell its American operations to a US company by November 12. Oracle is the main candidate is to take the assets, but the agreement will require approval from both the Chinese and US governments. Trump earlier said he is not happy about some details of the deal, such as the fact that parent company ByteDance keeps a majority stake.

“It has to be 100 percent as far as national security is concerned,” he said earlier this week. “I’m not prepared to sign off on anything. I have to see the deal.”

Shortly after news broke that Microsoft is out of the picture in bidding for TikTok’s US operations, and rumors began circulating that Oracle is the winner, China’s state broadcaster CGTN reported that ByteDance will not sell TikTok’s US operations to Microsoft or Oracle, citing sources, TechCrunch reported.

ByteDance, the world’s most valuable startup credited with pioneering algorithmic content recommendation for short videos — a significant key to how TikTok works so well — won’t give its source code to any US buyers, sources told CGTN. A source told the South China Morning Post earlier that the tech upstart has decided not to sell or transfer the source code behind its popular video app.

ByteDance said it won’t comment on market rumors.

The clock is ticking on TikTok’s fate. Beijing was ostensibly absent from ByteDance’s negotiations with Washington in the early days, but that seems to have changed as the deal’s deadline inches closer, with the US government threatening to shut down the service in 45 days from August 6 (September 20) if ByteDance didn’t find a local buyer for the company.

First, the Chinese government revised its export rules that could block the transfer or sale of ByteDance’s recommendation algorithms, and now there’s the state report refuting rumors that Oracle has secured the deal.

The acquisition of TikTok’s US assets has been rumored to be for as much as $50 billion, according to reports.

ByteDance’s rise to prominence is closely linked to its use of algorithm to serve up videos, memes, news articles and other forms of content across its family of apps. Machine learning does away the need for human curation and even social and interest graphs, forming virtuous cycles within ByteDance services – the more content one consumes, the better the apps get at predicting one’s interest. The data-driven process transcends cultural differences, arguably why TikTok became the first consumer app from China to conquer the West.

Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said the US violates the market economy’s rules by generalizing the concept of national security and making presumptions of guilt and threatening relevant companies without any evidence، CGTN reported.

The remark came after Pompeo told in a Fox News interview on Sunday that US President Donald Trump will take action in the coming days concerning a broad array of national security risks presented by software connected to the Chinese government.

Speaking at a daily briefing on Monday، Wang also told reporters that China hopes the US can stop politicizing economic and trade issues، as well as its discriminatory policies to provide an open، fair، just and non-discriminatory business environment.

“As far as TikTok is concerned, we’re banning them from the United States,” Trump told reporters on Friday on Air Force One, adding he will “sign the document tomorrow.”

ByteDance did not immediately respond to CGTN’s request for comment. TikTok belongs to the Chinese group ByteDance and has nearly one billion users worldwide.

As TikTok’s second-largest user base, the US has seen an increase of 45 million new users in 2020 alone amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The app has been downloaded more than 165 million times on app stores, according to Sensor Tower data.

Just a few hours ago, reports said Microsoft was planning to acquire TikTok’s US operations.

Earlier, in response to Trump’s comments over a potential ban of TikTok, Chinese Foreign Ministry said certain politicians in the US should give up their prejudice against Chinese companies. China also slammed the United States as “the world’s real hacker empire.”