TikTok, WeChat targeted for US ban with Trump’s latest executive orders
- Unspecified ‘transactions’ with Chinese owners of the popular video and messaging services to be barred within 45 days
- Apps ‘a threat’ to national security, foreign policy and economy of the United States, according to Washington
The Trump administration announced executive orders on Thursday evening in the US banning “to the extent permitted under applicable law, any transaction” with TikTok owner ByteDance, or that is related to WeChat with its parent company Tencent Holdings, “by any person, or with respect to any property, subject to the jurisdiction of the United States” starting 45 days from Thursday.
The orders call on the Secretary of Commerce to define the banned transactions. As such, the scope of the ban, including which specific transactions would be cut, remains unclear and analysts said the orders could be subject to legal challenges.
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The orders cite legal authority from the National Emergencies Act and the International Emergency Economic Powers Act.
The executive orders said the spread of Chinese-owned mobile apps in the US threatened “the national security, foreign policy, and economy of the United States”, and that WeChat and TikTok’s data collection threatened to “allow the Chinese Communist Party access to Americans’ personal and proprietary information”.
Tencent Holdings’ messaging app WeChat, like TikTok, “reportedly censors content that the Chinese Communist Party deems politically sensitive and may also be used for disinformation campaigns that benefit the Chinese Communist Party”, according to the executive orders.
