New York (AFP)

TikTok has asked a US judge to suspend an executive order from the Trump administration that plans to ban downloading of the app in the United States from Sunday.

In a motion filed with a court in Washington, the social network, a subsidiary of the Chinese company ByteDance, asserts that such a ban would not be in accordance with the Constitution of the United States.

A hearing is scheduled to be held in federal court in Washington on Thursday from 2:00 p.m. GMT.

The US Department of Commerce announced on Saturday that it was postponing until at least September 27 (instead of September 20) the ban on downloading the popular application in the United States.

A complete ban on TikTok's activities on American soil could come into force from November 12.

To escape it, Donald Trump demanded that TikTok bring its activities in the United States under American control.

"If the bans are not suspended, the damage to the plaintiffs will be irreparable," the platform writes in the court document.

The app particularly challenges the idea that the Trump administration's measure is based on fears for the national security of the United States.

Mr. Trump has indeed repeatedly accused the application of spying for the benefit of China through the collection of data from its users, which the social network denies.

- "Authorization request" -

"As unclear and contradictory statements by the president and other officials have proven in recent months, the bans were not motivated by genuine national security concerns, but rather by political considerations linked to the general elections in come ", asserts TikTok.

The platform had already initiated legal proceedings in late August in California to challenge the ban decree.

Its parent company ByteDance said in a statement Thursday that it had made a "request for authorization" to export technology to the Chinese Ministry of Commerce - without clearly linking this initiative to TikTok or to a possible sale.

This initiative could concern the algorithm used by the application of videos.

It is the true value of the platform, as it is used to determine what content a user is most likely to engage with.

But China refuses that this precious algorithm does not fall into the American purse.

On August 28, the Chinese Ministry of Commerce included the algorithms in the list of artificial intelligence technologies that in theory cannot be exported.

The TikTok saga in the United States has experienced many upheavals in recent weeks.

The app last Saturday confirmed a plan to create a new company involving computer software group Oracle, as a technology partner in the United States, and retail giant Walmart as a business partner.

Called TikTok Global, it plans to acquire a stake of 12.5% ​​from Oracle and 7.5% from Walmart.

The Americans would hold four of the five seats on the board.

But Donald Trump hammered on Monday that he would not give his approval if the new group remained under Chinese control, while affirming that Oracle and Walmart would own the majority of the new group.

ByteDance, which includes US investors, called the information "false rumors."

© 2020 AFP