TikTok has avoided being banned in the US, after a judge issued an injunction blocking the order that would have barred Apple and Google’s app stores from listing the social media app.

The administration’s order was set to take effect at midnight on Sunday, but judge Carl Nichols of the US District Court for the District of Columbia issued a preliminary injunction before the deadline. His opinion was sealed, meaning no reasons for the decision were given.

The executive order would have allowed existing TikTok users to continue using the app, while banning new downloads.

“We’re pleased that the court agreed with our legal arguments and issued an injunction preventing the implementation of the TikTok app ban,” stated TikTok’s Chinese parent company ByteDance.

TikTok had argued in a lawsuit that the ban would violate the first and fifth amendments of the US constitution, which protect freedom of speech and due legal process. The US government’s lawyers responded that the app was a “mouthpiece” for the Chinese Communist Party.

The ruling comes a week after WeChat was given a similar last-minute reprieve by a US court. The Chinese messaging app was subject to the same executive order, which would have suspended new downloads and payments via the service.

The White House is forcing ByteDance to sell TikTok to a US firm, or to shut down the app’s US operations, due to concerns that its collection US citizens’ data poses a national security risk.

ByteDance has repeatedly denied handing such data to the Chinese government, but in recent weeks has agreed to form a new company, TikTok Global, that would oversee US operations in partnership with Oracle and Walmart.

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