President Joe Biden has reversed Donald Trump’s intention to ban the popular video app TikTok in the United States.
Mr Biden has canceled the Trump administration’s attempt to prohibit the Chinese-owned app in a new executive order, instead ordering a fresh Commerce Department investigation into security concerns over data sharing and privacy.
The Trump administration tried to ban new downloads of TikTok in August last year and attempted to bar US companies from doing business with ByteDance, the app’s parent company in Beijing.
Mr Trump also backed a takeover of ByteDance by American company Microsoft.
TikTok is estimated to have more than 100 million users in the US and is especially popular with teenagers, some of whom claimed responsibility for the lack of supporters at a Trump campaign rally last year.
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At the time, Mr Trump’s order read: “The spread in the United States of mobile applications developed and owned by companies in the People’s Republic of China (China) continues to threaten the national security, foreign policy, and economy of the United States.”
The courts found Mr Trump had overstepped his authority in his executive order, blocking it from taking effect.
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