Working for TikTok Won’t Be Illegal Under Trump Order, U.S. Says

(Bloomberg) -- The U.S. government said working for TikTok Inc. won’t be illegal under an executive order by President Donald Trump that will prohibit Americans from transactions with the social-media network and its Chinese parent.

The Commerce Department doesn’t intend to outlaw payment of wages or salaries for TikTok employees in the U.S., interfere with their benefit packages or impose civil or criminal liability, the Justice Department said Monday. The department will specify by Sept. 20 which transactions with TikTok and parent ByteDance Ltd. are to be prohibited in the U.S.

The Justice Department filed the notice in federal court in San Francisco, where a federal judge had been scheduled to hear arguments Tuesday on a TikTok employee’s request to bar Trump’s Aug. 6 executive order while its legality is being contested. Late on Monday, that hearing was taken off the court calendar without an explanation, records show.

According to the U.S., there’s no need for a temporary restraining order because TikTok employees won’t have to fear their jobs will be made illegal.

The filing doesn’t address Oracle Corp.’s interest in acquiring TikTok. The U.S. has said TikTok as well as WeChat, another Chinese-owned app, are a national security threat because the Chinese Communist Party can use the apps to spread misinformation, censor news that is critical of China and steal users’ private data.

The case is Ryan v. Trump, 20-CV-05948, U.S. District Court, Northern District of California (San Francisco).

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