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Trump bans US TikTok and WeChat app store downloads on September 20th.
The U.S. Department of Commerce issued a new order to block people in the U.S. from downloading the popular TikTok video sharing app as of September 20th, Reuters first reported Friday.
The full order was published by the Ministry of Commerce on Friday morning. 'Any transaction by any person, or in respect of any property, subject to the jurisdiction of the United States, with ByteDance Ltd,' reads the order, 'is prohibited to the extent permitted by applicable law.' It shall take effect on 20 September.
Over the last few weeks, TikTok 's Chinese parent company, ByteDance, has been engaged in talks with US companies like Microsoft and Oracle to set up a new company, TikTok Global, to address Trump 's concerns about user data security. Earlier this month, President Trump launched negotiations calling for the closure of US TikTok operations unless it was sold to US companies by 15 September. Microsoft has dropped out of the bidding, leaving Oracle and Walmart as the leading candidates to take part in the new TikTok company. Still, the administration has yet to reach an agreement that meets all of its requirements.
Officials told Reuters that the Commerce Department 's rule prohibiting US downloads of TikTok and other Chinese-owned apps, such as the WeChat Messaging Platform, could be issued as early as Friday. That rule is said to have come into force on Sunday, September 20th, banning new downloads of both WeChat and TikTok.
We have already committed to unprecedented levels of additional transparency and accountability well beyond what other apps are willing to do, including third-party audits, verification of code security, and U.S. government oversight of U.S. data security, TikTok said in a statement on Friday.
We will continue to challenge the executive order that has been enacted without due process and threatens to deprive American people and small businesses across the US of a significant platform for both voice and livelihoods.
Reuters said that the government's ban would prevent Apple and Google from offering any of these Chinese-owned apps to US users in their app stores. Technology companies would still be allowed to offer TikTok to users outside the US. US-based companies would not be barred from doing business with Chinese-owned apps, such as how Walmart and Starbucks allow users to do business through WeChat.
Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said Friday to Reuters, We have taken significant action to combat China's malicious collection of American citizens ' personal data while promoting our national values, democratic norms, and aggressive enforcement of U.S. laws and regulations.
Apple and Google did not respond immediately to requests for comments from The Verge.
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