Washington, Sept 28 (AFP/APP):TikTok won a last-minute reprieve late Sunday as a US federal judge halted enforcement of a politically charged ban ordered by the Trump administration on downloads of the popular video app, hours before it was set to take effect. District Judge Carl Nichols issued a temporary injunction at the request of TikTok, which the White House has called a national security threat stemming from its Chinese parent firm’s links to the Beijing government. The opinion was sealed, so no reason for the decision was released in a brief order by the court in Washington. The Trump administration order sought to ban new downloads of the app from midnight (0400 GMT Monday) but would allow use of TikTok until November 12, when all usage would be blocked. The judge denied TikTok’s request to suspend the November 12 ban. The decision represents a temporary win for TikTok, which has 100 million US users. But the court has yet to consider the merits of the legal arguments on whether the social platform should remain available to Americans. TikTok has argued that even a temporary ban would be devastating and cause the company irreparable harm by stunting its growth and hurting … Continue reading TikTok gets reprieve as judge halts Trump download ban