Published 11:15 IST, August 7th 2020
Trump signs executive order banning transaction with TikTok, WeChat in 45 days
Trump signed an executive order banning American citizens and businesses from doing any transaction with Chinese-owned application TikTok, ByteDance, WeChat.
US President Donald Trump on August 6 signed an executive order banning American citizens and businesses from doing any transaction with Chinese-owned application TikTok, its parent company ByteDance Ltd. and messaging app WeChat after 45 days. Trump in his executive order stated that these steps have been taken because the applications mentioned above threaten the national security, foreign policy, and economy of the United States. Trump has accused the Chinese-owned apps of storing personal data of American citizens and possibly sharing it with Beijing.
"TikTok automatically captures vast swaths of information from its users, including Internet and other network activity information such as location data and browsing and search histories. This data collection threatens to allow the Chinese Communist Party (CPC) access to Americans’ personal and proprietary information — potentially allowing China to track the locations of Federal employees and contractors, build dossiers of personal information for blackmail, and conduct corporate espionage," Trump said in his order.
Trump in his order further accused TikTok of censoring content, especially those that the CPC deems politically sensitive, content related to Hong Kong's pro-democracy movement, China's treatment of Uighur Muslims in Xijiang province, etc. Trump also accused WeChat of similar charges, including data collection, espionage, etc. In addition, Trump added that "WeChat captures the personal and proprietary information of Chinese nationals visiting the US, thereby allowing the CPC a mechanism for keeping tabs on Chinese citizens who may be enjoying the benefits of a free society for the first time in their lives".
Growing scrutiny
The order came when US tech giant Microsoft is already in talks with ByteDance to reach an agreement regarding sales of TikTok's US operations. US Senate on August 6 unanimously passed a bill banning the use of Chinese-owned video application TikTok by federal employees on government devices. Meanwhile, TikTok has invested a huge amount in Ireland to open a new European data collection centre amid growing scrutiny over its practices across the world. In June, the Indian government banned the Chinese-owned video-sharing app citing national security and privacy as reasons following a violent military clash at the Himalayan border with the People's Liberation Army (PLA). India was reportedly TikTok's largest market.
Updated 11:15 IST, August 7th 2020