US President Donald Trump signed on Thursday an executive order banning any transactions with TikTok’s developer ByteDance Ltd. beginning 45 days after the document’s signing.
“The spread in the United States of mobile applications developed and owned by companies in the People’s Republic of China (China) continues to threaten the national security, foreign policy, and economy of the United States. At this time, action must be taken to address the threat posed by one mobile application, in particular, TikTok”, the document read.
Trump also signed an executive order that bans any transactions related to China’s WeChat mobile application 45 days after the document’s signing.
“WeChat, a messaging, social media, and electronic payment application owned by the Chinese company Tencent Holdings Ltd., reportedly has over one billion users worldwide, including users in the United States. Like TikTok, WeChat automatically captures vast swaths of information from its users. This data collection threatens to allow the Chinese Communist Party access to Americans’ personal and proprietary information”, the document added.
Tencent shares fell more than 4 percent following Trump’s order to ban WeChat-related transactions.
Trump has targeted TikTok over its Chinese ownership. On Monday, the president said that he has set a deadline of 15 September for the application to be bought by US owners. Should this deadline pass, Trump has pledged to ban the app in the United States.
