Trump to block TikTok, WeChat operations in US from Sunday
The department said the actions will “protect users in the US by eliminating access to these applications and significantly reducing their functionality.”
New Delhi: The US Commerce Department has issued a new order to block people in the US from downloading the popular video-sharing app TikTok as of September 20th, says report
Commerce officials said the ban on new U.S. downloads of TikTok could be still rescinded by President Donald Trump before it takes effect late Sunday as TikTok owner ByteDance races to clinch an agreement over the fate of its U.S. operations.
ByteDance has been talks with Oracle Corp and others to create a new company, TikTok Global, that aims to address US concerns about the security of its users’ data. ByteDance still needs Trump’s approval to stave off a US ban.
Commerce officials said they will not bar additional technical transactions for TikTok until Nov. 12, which gives the company additional time to see if ByteDance can reach a deal for its US operations. “The basic TikTok will stay intact until Nov. 12,” Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross told Fox Business Network.
The department said the actions will “protect users in the US by eliminating access to these applications and significantly reducing their functionality.”
Oracle shares fell 1.6% after the news in pre-market trading
Commerce Department officials said they were taking the extraordinary step because of the risks the apps` data collection poses. China and the companies have denied U.S. user data is collected for spying.
Ross said in a written statement “we have taken significant action to combat China`s malicious collection of American citizens` personal data, while promoting our national values, democratic rules-based norms, and aggressive enforcement of U.S. laws and regulations.” The order is set to be published at 8:45 a.m. EDT (1245 GMT) on Friday, Commerce said.