Trump's War on Chinese Apps
Some popular Chinese apps may not be available in the United States soon
President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Michael Pompeo are in lockstep when it comes to national security. Lately, the aim has been Chinese technology.
Last week, Trump announced an executive order—effective September 20—that will ban transactions on apps TikTok and WeChat, owned and operated by Chinese companies ByteDance and Tencent. It is unclear just how strict the order will be.
From the order:
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. In addition, the application captures the personal and proprietary information of Chinese nationals visiting the United States, thereby allowing the Chinese Communist Party a mechanism for keeping tabs on Chinese citizens who may be enjoying the benefits of a free society for the first time in their lives.
TikTok in particular has been considered a national security threat by US politicians dating back to 2019.
Should a full ban be implemented, the likely action would be for companies like Apple and Google to remove the apps from their app stores. TikTok, WeChat, and 57 other Chinese apps were banned in India in late June.
WeChat reportedly gets 19 million daily active users in the United States. TikTok had expected to earn $500 million in revenue from the United States in 2020.
As WeChat counts its last weeks in American app stores, TikTok has a chance to survive. Trump said he would not ban TikTok if ByteDance were to sell its US operations to a US company.
Microsoft has already announced its plans to attempt a deal for the popular app. A report over the weekend suggested a possible interest from Twitter in a merger. Microsoft is still considered the front-runner.