U.S. government requests courts to put on hold proceedings aimed at banning TikTok

The Justice Department of the U.S has requested the two federal appeals courts to put on hold the government appeals of lower court rulings blocking restrictions that were imposed on social media platform TikTok. The restrictions were imposed during the Trump administration.

Under the Donald Trump’s administration, the Commerce Department wanted Apple Inc and Alphabet Inc's Google app stores to stop offering TikTok for download to new users and to ban other technical transactions.

Three federal judges in separate rulings blocked Commerce orders on TikTok and WeChat.

The Justice Department told appeals courts for the District of Columbia and the Third Circuit that the Commerce Department "plans to conduct an evaluation of the underlying record justifying those prohibitions" to determine if they are warranted by the national security threat Trump described.

Late Wednesday, the Third Circuit agreed to cancel oral arguments that had been set for Thursday and directed the government to file a status report in 60 days.

Previously, the White House said that it is carrying out a review of risks TikTok may present to U.S. data but stressed it has taken no new "proactive step" related to a pending plan for U.S. investors to acquire the Chinese-owned company's American operations.