US bans WeChat, TikTok from app stores
- The US has banned TikTok and WeChat from US app stores.
- The WeChat app is also prohibited from conducting transactions in the United States.
The U.S. government said it would ban TikTok by September 15 if an agreement wasn’t reached by then. The emerging video platform then announced a partnership with Oracle pending US approval. Unfortunately, that doesn’t seem enough to save it from sanctions.
The US Department of Commerce has announced that both TikTok and the messaging app WeChat will be blocked for US app stores such as the Play Store and the Apple App Store from September 20. In addition, the WeChat app is now also blocked from conducting transactions in the US This date.
As of September 20 for WeChat and November 12 for TikTok, both will be banned from using US hosting services, content delivery network services and peering services for their apps as well.
The Commerce Department claimed that this step was taken in the name of national security:
The WeChat and TikTok threats are not identical, but they are similar. Each collects huge amounts of data from users, including network activity, location data, and browsing and search history. Each of them is actively involved in the civil-military merger of China and is subject to mandatory cooperation with the CCP’s intelligence services. This combination leads to the use of WeChat and TikTok, which creates unacceptable risks to our national security.
The department also notes that President Donald Trump made TikTok available through November 12 to address the obvious national security concerns. It adds that if the concerns are resolved, that order “can be lifted”.
