The US federal judge who issued a temporary injunction on Sunday to halt a ban on TikTok downloads said in his ruling that “over 100 million Americans currently use TikTok to share their films, photographs, art, and news.”

“Barring TikTok from US app stores would, of course, have the immediate and direct effect of halting the influx of new users, likely driving those users to alternative platforms and eroding TikTok’s competitive position,” Judge Carl Nichols said, AFP reported.

President Donald Trump’s administration had issued an order that would’ve banned new downloads of TikTok from midnight on Monday (0400 GMT Monday). It was stopped by Judge Nicholas just hours before the ban was to come into effect.

He issued the injunction at the request of TikTok, which the White House has called a national security threat stemming from its Chinese parent firm ByteDance’s alleged links to the Beijing government.

In his ruling, the judge said TikTok had showed that the actions against it “likely exceed the lawful bounds” of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) that was cited to support the ban.

“Plaintiffs have demonstrated that they are likely to succeed on their IEEPA claims,” Nichols said in the written ruling. 

The act restricts a president from prohibiting personal communications involving nothing of value, according to the judge.

TikTok lawyers had argued the ban was “arbitrary and capricious”.

“We’re pleased that the court agreed with our legal arguments and issued an injunction,” TikTok said in a statement, AFP reported.

Government lawyers have argued the president has a right to take national security actions, and said the ban was needed because of TikTok’s links to the Chinese government through its parent firm ByteDance

Although the judge halted the ban, he has allowed the use of the app until November 12, when all usage would be blocked in the country.

During the hearing, lawyers for the company had argued that the ban was unnecessary because negotiations were already underway to restructure the ownership of TikTok to address national security issues raised by the administration.

A tentative deal would make Silicon Valley giant Oracle the technology partner for TikTok and a stakeholder in a new entity to be known as TikTok Global.