U.S. will ban WeChat and TikTok downloads starting Sunday (update: not)

[Joe White]

A hot potato: TikTok and WeChat are set to be banned in the United States starting Sunday, September 20, on all app stores and platforms, unless President Trump makes a decision on a last-minute deal. The move comes as the Trump administration claims that both apps pose a threat to national security, and could pass user data on to China. TikTok, WeChat, and the Chinese government all deny the accusations.

Follow-up: Trump approves Oracles's TikTok bid "in concept" - Tick tock, tick tock... ban has been delayed by a week while new deal is finalized

Update #2: A judge in California has temporarily blocked the US Commerce Department’s ban on WeChat which would have come into effect Sunday night. While not as popular as TikTok, WeChat is estimated to be used by around 19 million users in the United States, as it's popular with Chinese students, and Americans who have personal or business relationships in China.

TikTok has tried working with the U.S., claiming it has offered “unprecedented levels of additional transparency” in recent days. Tencent, owner of WeChat, will also continue talks with the U.S. in an attempt to achieve “a long-term solution.”

President Trump signed an executive order banning the apps in August. It gave U.S. businesses 45 days to stop working with the companies. In the order, Trump wrote, “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.”

TikTok has rocketed in popularity over the last year, especially among younger users.

Out of its 800 million-strong user base, some 30 million are based in the U.S. But, despite its popularity, there have been numerous privacy concerns. It’s already been banned by Joe Biden’s staff, the Navy, and the TSA, among others.

As it stands, there are two different timeframes for both apps. A full ban on WeChat is going into effect this Sunday, September 20. On the same date, a ban on updates and maintenance to the TikTok app will be in place, with a view to banning TikTok entirely on November 12 – unless satisfactory changes to the app’s services are made.

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/86809-us-ban-wechat-tiktok-downloads-starting-tomorrow.html

 

[m4a4]

The popular apps are said to pose a treat to national security

Oooooo, like a candy treat?

 

[PenguinJoe]

Good thing I live in Canukistan. No Trump banning stuff on me.

 

[Hexic]

About damn time. The fact that it’s taken this long for this Chinese honey pot to get banned (and blatant support by some Americans who simply don’t understand what China is) doesn’t spell well for the average critical thinking skills set.

 

[Trillionsin]

They will just rebrand and release a new app

 

[Uncle Al]

I would be more interested to see and hear the technical side of how they are going to ban the traffic? If we were so efficient on blocking web sites, why can't they just block the domain's where so many of the election oriented hackers are coming from?

 

[tacobravo]

Now the US needs to ban all of the Chinese crap rip off apps in the Google Play Store.

 

[treetops]

I wonder how China reports this news, it like when they ban stuff and the USA says they have no freedoms?

 

[QuantumPhysics]

I had an hour long conversation with my Chinese girlfriend (in Shanghai) about how to get around this. Zoom? Microsoft Teams? Twitter?

It's so comforting to know that with record job loss, record inflation, record housing loss, record health crisis and 200,000 deaths that we, as a nation were able to DEFEAT Tik Tok and We Chat...

 

[toooooot]

Great! And then should look into what we can ban next, at least until they stop banning anything that doesn't fit in in their paranoid communistic utopia.
I like that they become making services that are liked outside China.
I like it because soon they will learn a lesson, a lesson being that if you treat companies that wanna make business in China the way you do, your companies will face the same fate outside China.

 

[PEnnn]

This administration has failed (as usual) to tell us what the Chinese will be doing wilt billions of silly TikTok videos about people twerking and posting BS and drivel. Or why is that a national security issue...assuming the Chinese have access to them

And also assuming the administration is not lying about the whole thing....

 

[Julio Franco]

Follow-up: Trump approves Oracles's TikTok bid "in concept"
https://www.techspot.com/news/86812-trump-approves-oracles-tiktok-bid-concept.html

Tick tock, tick tock... ban has been delayed by a week while new deal is finalized

 

[ET3D]

The great US firewall is starting. Trump promised a wall, and by God he's going to deliver one. And who's historically been the best at building walls of all kinds if not the Chinese? I'm convince now that Trump is a Chinese admirer.

 

[Seraphim401]

Trump 2020!
Down with the China virus.

 

[poohbear]

Good thing I live in Canukistan. No Trump banning stuff on me.

This is not about Trump. China has banned anything from Google (Youtube, Google Search, Maps etc) and Facebook (instagram/whatsapp) or any platform that allows users freedom of speech. They've banned these American apps for more than a decade. This reciprocal ban is long overdue.

 

[Endymio]

An update to Joe White's update: China's state-run paper has said it is unlikely China will approve the deal to give Oracle part-ownership, as it will "hurt national security interests".

For those few who still believe Tik Tok is just an innocuous social-media platform, this new twist is difficult to explain.

 

[Impudicus]

Isn't this what China does to American apps and web sites? Even if they did pass my user information to China, what kind of data would it even be, and what use would the Chinese Government have with my data? There is nothing on my entire phone that they could possibly use against the United States as a matter of national security. Trump's phone on the other hand I could understand, simple solution, if you have information on your device that could be used against the united states as a matter of national security, don't install ANY apps on that device.