Donald Trump Issues Orders Restricting TikTok And WeChat From Operating In The US In 45 Days
Donald Trump on Thursday announced executive orders that restrict the social media app TikTok, along with WeChat from operating in the United States. To avoid the ban, the Chinese-owned parent companies that own these apps need to sell them to a U.S. based company within 45 days.
Despite using the same language, these orders do not state that a portion of money from the deal should be given to the US Treasury Department, something Trump has been insisting on for the last few days. The order for TikTok restricts after 45 days any sort of transaction by any person or regarding any property, subject to the country's jurisdiction, with ByteDance Ltd., the maker of TikTok.
ByteDance CEO Zhang Yiming has accused Trump of trying to kill off a Chinese-owned app that's garnering skyrocketing popularity among Americans. He said the company is leaving no stone unturned in a bid to resolve an intensifying confrontation with Washington, noting that the company hasn't decided whether or not to consider the option to sell TikTok U.S. to Microsoft, Bloomberg reported.
The recently issued orders increase the pressure building around negotiations over TikTok's future through a possible sale. The drama began when Trump announced last Friday that he would use his emergency economic powers or an executive order to ban TikTok from operating in the country, per CNN.
Following a discussion between Microsoft chief executive Satya Nadella and the president, the tech giant said it was gearing up for talks to purchase the app. Earlier this week, Trump announced Sept. 15 as the deadline for the app to find a buyer in the United States, or risk shutting down in the country.
Moreover, Trump also insisted that the deal needs to include a considerable amount of money coming to the U.S. Treasury. The president's Thursday order argues that TikTok captures a myriad of information from its users, including search and browsing histories and location data, giving the Chinese Communist Party access to the personal proprietary information of American people.
Furthermore, the order states that using the captured details, China could track the locations of Federal employees and contractors, conduct corporate espionage, and make records comprising personal information for blackmail. Shortly after he issued the order for TikTok, Trump issued a similar order for a Chinese group chat app WeChat., made by Chinese based company Tencent.
WeChat enables financial transactions. In his order, Trump said he will ban financial transactions with Tencent.