Trump Banning TikTok, WeChat Downloads Beginning Sunday

Topline

President Trump is banning downloads of the apps TikTok and WeChat from Sunday, according to a press release from the U.S. Commerce Department, through executive orders and coming amid ongoing negotiations between ByteDance, TikTok’s parent company, with the Trump administration and Beijing to resolve U.S. concerns over the video app.

A TikTok symbol in Beijing.

Photo by VCG/VCG via Getty Images

Key Facts

“The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has demonstrated the means and motives to use these apps to threaten the national security, foreign policy, and the economy of the U.S.,” wrote Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross in the press release announcing the decision.

The press release says both apps pose threats to national security by collecting “vast swaths” of user data, along with “mandatory cooperation” with the CCP’s intelligence services and by participating in “China’s civil-military fusion.”

Smartphone users will not be able to download TikTok or WeChat from Sunday, according to the press release, while WeChat users will also be unable to use the app for financial transactions.

TikTok has until November 12 to resolve the administration’s “national security concerns,” the release states.

According to the Financial Times, TikTok will still be usable on smartphones for people who already have the app, but the experience will degrade as software updates will be disabled.

ByteDance and Tencent did not respond to requests for comment by Forbes on the bans.