Popular video-sharing app TikTok has asked a US judge to block the Trump administration from enforcing a ban on the Chinese social media network, according to court documents filed late on Friday.
TikTok and its parent company, ByteDance, filed a complaint in a Washington federal court challenging the recent prohibitory moves by the Trump administration.
The US Commerce Department announced a ban on Friday blocking people in the United States from downloading Chinese-owned messaging app WeChat and TikTok starting Sept. 20.
The ban was being introduced for political reasons, TikTok and ByteDance alleged in their complaint. TikTok also said the ban would violate the company’s First Amendment rights.
US President Donald Trump, who has been locked in a long-running trade dispute with China, issued an executive order on Aug. 6 that prohibited US transactions with the Chinese owners of messaging app WeChat and TikTok.
Both ByteDance and TikTok are seeking a “declaratory” judgment and an order “invalidating and preliminarily and permanently enjoining the Prohibitions and the August 6 order,” according to the complaint.
The White House did not immediately respond when Reuters contacted it for comment early on Saturday.
TikTok, which has over 100 million users in the United States, said the ban would “irreversibly destroy the TikTok business in the US.”
TikTok files complaint against Trump administration to try to block US ban
https://arab.news/6qw65
TikTok files complaint against Trump administration to try to block US ban
- US bans Americans from downloading Chinese-owned messaging app WeChat and TikTok starting Sept. 20
Pioneering Asharq Al-Awsat journalist Mohammed al-Shafei dies at 74
- Egyptian was known for his fearless coverage of terrorist, extremist groups
- One of handful of reporters to interview Taliban leader Mullah Omar in 1970s
LONDON: Mohammed al-Shafei, one of Asharq Al-Awsat’s most prominent journalists, has died at the age of 74 after a 40-year career tackling some of the region’s thorniest issues.
Born in Egypt in 1951, al-Shafei earned a bachelor’s degree from Cairo University in 1974 before moving to the UK, where he studied journalism and translation at the University of Westminster and the School of Oriental and African Studies.
He began his journalism career at London-based Arabic papers Al-Muslimoon and Al-Arab — both of which are published by Saudi Research & Publishing Co. which also owns Arab News — before joining Al-Zahira after Iraq’s 1990 invasion of Kuwait.
Al-Shafei joined Asharq Al-Awsat in 1991 and spent 15 years on the sports desk before shifting to reporting on terrorism. He went on to pioneer Arab press coverage in the field, writing about all aspects of it, including its ideologies and ties to states like Iran.
His colleagues knew him for his calm demeanor, humility and meticulous approach, marked by precise documentation, deep analysis and avoidance of sensationalism.
Al-Shafei ventured fearlessly into terrorist strongholds, meeting senior terrorist leaders and commanders. In the 1970s he was one of only a handful of journalists to interview Mullah Omar, the leader of the Taliban, and conducted exclusive interviews with senior figures within Al-Qaeda.
He also tracked post-Al-Qaeda groups like Daesh, Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham and Boko Haram, offering pioneering analysis of Sunni-Shiite extremism and how cultural contexts shaped movements across Asia and Africa.
During the war on Al-Qaeda, he visited US bases in Afghanistan, embedded with international forces, and filed investigative reports from active battlefields — rare feats in Arab journalism at the time.
He interviewed Osama bin Laden’s son, highlighting a humanitarian angle while maintaining objectivity, and was among the few Arab journalists to report from Guantanamo, where his interviews with Al-Qaeda detainees shed light on the group’s operations.
Al-Shafei married a Turkish woman in London in the late 1970s, with whom he had a son and daughter. He was still working just hours before he died in London on Dec. 31.
