A US judge has issued a temporary injunction on the government’s order blocking new TikTok app downloads.

The app for the short-form video service was facing being removed from Apple’s App Store and Android’s Google Play platform at the weekend.

While TikTok would have continued to work for US users, software updates and new downloads would have been unavailable. 

Judge Carl Nichols of the US District Court for the District of Columbia temporarily overruled the ban on Sunday (September 27).

"We're pleased that the court agreed with our legal arguments and issued an injunction preventing the implementation of the TikTok app ban,” said a statement from TikTok. “We will continue defending our rights for the benefit of our community and employees. At the same time, we will also maintain our ongoing dialogue with the government to turn our proposal, which the President gave his preliminary approval to last weekend, into an agreement."

TikTok appears to still be in negotiations on a deal for its future ownership in the US. President Trump has said that a proposed partnership between TikTok, Oracle and Walmart must involve the video app’s parent company, Chinese online giant ByteDance, handing over complete control. 

ByteDance denies US claims that TikTok is a security threat.

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