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WASHINGTON (REUTERS) – The Trump administration to ban WeChat and the video-sharing app TikTok from U.S. app stores starting Sunday night (Sept. 20), a move that will prevent Americans from downloading the platforms. Chinese-owned for fear they pose a threat to national security. .
The bans, announced on Friday, affect only new downloads and updates and are less radical than expected, particularly for TikTok, giving its parent group ByteDance some breathing space to close a deal on the fate of its US operations. USA
WeChat, an all-in-one e-payment, social media and messaging app, faces tougher restrictions since Sunday.
Current TikTok users, on the other hand, will see little change until November 12, when a ban on some technical transactions will go into effect, which TikTok said would amount to an effective ban.
“We do not agree with the decision of the Department of Commerce and we are disappointed that it can block downloads of new applications from Sunday and prohibit the use of the TikTok application in the US as of November 12,” he said the company in a statement.
“We will continue to challenge the unjust executive order, which was enacted without due process and threatens to deprive the American people and small businesses in the US of a meaningful platform for both voice and livelihoods.”
Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross told Fox Business Network that “the basic TikTok will remain intact until November 12.”
President Donald Trump could still rescind the ban on new US downloads of the popular app before it goes into effect if ByteDance seals a deal with Oracle that addresses concerns about the security of its users’ data.
“This is the right move: increase pressure on Beijing, protect Americans,” Republican Senator Josh Hawley said on Twitter.
The Trump administration has stepped up its efforts to purge “untrusted” Chinese apps from American digital networks amid mounting tensions with Beijing on a variety of issues, from trade and human rights to the battle for the technological supremacy.
The WeChat ban, used by more than 1 billion people around the world, prohibits the transfer of funds or the processing of payments to or from people in the United States through it. Users could also start to experience significantly slower service or sporadic outages starting Sunday night.
WeChat developer Tencent Holdings called the order “unfortunate” but said it will “continue to discuss with the government and other stakeholders on ways for the United States to achieve a long-term solution.”
The Commerce Department order prohibits Apple’s app store, Alphabet’s Google Play and others from offering the apps on any platform “that can be accessed from within the United States,” a senior Commerce official told Reuters.
While the bans are less dramatic than some feared, the Commerce Department said it could issue additional orders if it discovers that “illicit WeChat or TikTok behavior is being replicated by another app in some way beyond the scope of these executive orders. “.
Shares of Oracle fell 0.7 percent after initially falling 1.6 percent in pre-market trading.
The American Civil Liberties Union said the Commerce order “violates the First Amendment rights of individuals in the United States by restricting their ability to communicate and conduct important transactions on the two social media platforms.”
The order does not prohibit US companies from doing business on WeChat outside of the US, which will be good news for US companies like Walmart and Starbucks that use WeChat’s built-in ‘mini-app’ programs to facilitate transactions and engage to consumers in China, officials said. .
The order will not prohibit transactions with WeChat owner Tencent’s other businesses, including its online gaming operations, and will not prohibit Apple, Google, or others from offering TikTok or WeChat applications anywhere outside of the United States.
On Friday, a US judge in California refused to block the Commerce Department’s WeChat order, but set a hearing for 2.45pm EDT (2.45am Saturday Singapore time). A lawyer for WeChat users did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The bans are in response to a pair of executive orders issued by Trump on Aug. 6 that gave the Commerce Department 45 days to determine which transactions to block from apps it believes pose a threat to national security. That deadline expires on Sunday.
Commerce Department officials said they were taking an extraordinary step due to the risks posed by collecting data from apps. China and the companies have denied collecting data from US users for spying.
Ross said in a written statement that “we have taken significant steps to combat China’s malicious collection of personal data of US citizens, while promoting our national values, rules-based democratic norms, and aggressive enforcement of laws and regulations. Americans “.
Apple and Google did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
POPULAR APPLICATIONS
TikTok has 100 million users in the United States and is especially popular with younger Americans.
WeChat has averaged 19 million daily active users in the United States, analytics firms Apptopia said in early August. It is popular with Chinese students, expats, and some Americans who have personal or business relationships in China.
The Department of Commerce will not seek to force people in the United States to delete the apps or stop using them. “We are aiming for a higher corporate level. We are not going to go after individual users, ”said a Commerce official.
Over time, officials said, the lack of updates will degrade the usability of the apps.
“The expectation is that people will find alternative ways to carry out these actions,” said a senior official. “We expect the market to act and there will be safer applications that will fill these gaps that Americans can trust and that the US government will not have to take similar action on.”
Commerce is also banning additional technical transactions with WeChat starting Sunday that will significantly reduce the usability and functionality of the app in the United States.
The order prohibits data hosting within the United States for WeChat, content delivery services, and networks that may increase the functionality and traffic of the Internet or traffic exchange services.
“What will happen immediately is that users will experience lag or lack of functionality,” a senior Commerce official said of WeChat users. “It may still be usable, but it won’t be as functional as before.”
Commerce will ban the same set of technical transactions for TikTok, but that won’t go into effect until November 12.
Commerce will not penalize people who use TikTok or WeChat in the United States.
The order does not prohibit the storage of data within the United States for WeChat or TikTok.
Some Americans may find alternative solutions. There is nothing to stop an American from traveling to a foreign country and downloading any of the apps, or potentially using a virtual private network and desktop client, the officials admitted.
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