US decides against enforcing TikTok ban following court ruling

The US government will not enforce its ban on Chinese-owned social media sensation TikTok to comply with a federal court ruling issued in the national security case.

The move comes after a federal court in Pennsylvania blocked the Trump administration from carrying out the ban, which had been ordered by the White House based on claims the app posed a security threat due to the company's links to Beijing.

The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday that the US Commerce Department had decided to hold off on enforcing a Trump administration order to ban the video-sharing app owned by Chinese-based ByteDance.

According to the report, the Commerce Department said the shutdown order won’t go into effect "pending further legal developments." Other court cases are also pending on the matter.

ByteDance had been given until Thursday to restructure ownership of the app in the United States to meet national security concerns, but it filed a petition in a Washington court this week asking for a delay.

The company said in a statement Tuesday that it had asked the government for a 30-day extension because of "continual new requests and no clarity on whether our proposed solutions would be accepted," but it was not granted.

The Trump administration has been seeking to transfer ownership of TikTok to an American business to allay security concerns, but no deal has been finalised.