ByteDance was offered a glimmer of hope in a fight to prevent a ban on fresh downloads of its TikTok app in the US, after a judge reportedly gave the government 24 hours to justify the move.

The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) stated a district court judge was considering upholding a request for an injunction preventing the block, which is due to come into force on 27 September.

ByteDance filed the request earlier this week to give it time to finalise a deal with Oracle and Walmart to run its US operations, WSJ reported.

The judge was reportedly unswayed by government arguments regarding the national security risks posed by new users signing up to TikTok.

Following the initial breakthrough with the US companies, the nation’s administration gave them until 27 September to thrash out the details.

But the app remains under threat as President Donald Trump originally aimed to have it removed from app stores on 20 September alongside Chinese multipurpose service WeChat, a move which was also blocked by a court.