Trump Admin To Block TikTok And WeChat Downloads In U.S. App Stores On Sunday

On Friday morning, the Trump administration announced that it will be blocking any new U.S. downloads of the TikTok and WeChat apps beginning on September 20, citing national security reasons.

According to a press release from the Department of Commerce, the ban is intended to enforce President Trump's original executive order from August 6 in which he gave the China-based companies behind the apps 45 days to sell their U.S. businesses to a U.S. company, or be banned.

As of Sunday, any efforts to distribute or maintain either app will be strictly prohibited.

Unsplash | Olivier Bergeron

Beginning the same day, it will also be illegal for any company to offer "internet hosting services enabling the functioning or optimization of the [WeChat] mobile application in the U.S.," meaning the application will be removed from Apple and Google mobile app stores.

The same will apply for TikTok starting on November 12.

Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said the order has been put into place to "combat China's malicious collection of American citizens' personal data."

Unsplash | Kon Karampelas

“Today’s actions prove once again that President Trump will do everything in his power to guarantee our national security and protect Americans from the threats of the Chinese Communist Party,” he said in the release.

Ross added that the ban will also promote "national values, democratic rules-based norms, and aggressive enforcement of U.S. laws and regulations.”

In the past, officials have voiced concerns about TikTok collecting data from American users to give to the Chinese government.

Unsplash | Solen Feyissa

As of right now, there are an estimated 1 billion people using TikTok around the world, with some 175 million of those being from the U.S.

The company collects data from its users, but TikTok has previously claimed it does not share that data with the government and would refused if ever asked to do so.

WeChat is a China-owned messaging and social media app that is also a popular marketing and sales tool for U.S. companies in China.

But the app is also largely used by U.S. users to communicate with friends and family in China.

As CNBC reported, banning the application will prove particularly devastating to those users as China has already previously blocked other messaging apps such as Facebook's Messenger, Instagram, Google, and Snapchat.

h/t: CNN, U.S. Department of Commerce, CNBC

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