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The US government is serious: According to the Commerce Department on Friday, Apple and Google will no longer be able to offer Chinese apps TikTok and WeChat in their US app stores starting next Sunday, September 20. Any other platform that can be accessed from the US will no longer be able to offer the apps.
According to Reuters, the agreement will not mean the immediate and complete end of the two applications in the US: Users can continue to use the applications, but will no longer receive updates, which could make the applications unattractive or even unusable. over time. Apps can still be downloaded outside of the US, and US companies can still do business with WeChat outside of the US.
However, within the US, using WeChat, which is owned by Chinese company Tencent, will become more difficult starting Sunday, Commerce Department officials said, because US service providers would no longer be able to deliver. technical assistance with operations. That could quickly lead to application crashes.
TikTok is longer than WeChat
TikTok doesn’t face a similar fate until November 12, when the deadline for a second executive order from Donald Trump ends. Until then, according to the ministry, users would not notice much difference.
Thus, the end of TikTok in the US could be completely avoided if US President Donald Trump agreed to the proposed deal between the US companies and the Chinese parent company Bytedance.
The deal calls for Oracle and WalMart, as well as Bytedance’s US shareholders, to take over at least 60 percent of TikTok. This stems from a draft from the US Treasury Department, which Bytedance has already approved, according to people familiar with the situation. Now, the president of the United States still does not have a green light. If business goes like this, the experts at Bytedance want to bring the platform, then called TikTok Global, to the US stock exchange. China’s stance is still not entirely clear. According to Bytedance, the Beijing government has to give its approval just like Trump.
TikTok says it has around 100 million users in the US, WeChat estimates around 19 million. The US government describes both as a national security risk, because the data of US citizens could reach the Chinese government through the apps. Bytedance denies it.
