Popular social media giants TikTok and WeChat’s run in the United States are hours away from ending. President Donald Trump and his administration have decided to officially ban China’s overwhelmingly popular platforms this weekend.
TikTok’s United States Ban
According to reports, TikTok and WeChat will officially fade to black in just over 48 hours. People in the United States will no longer be able to find and use the video-creating apps.
The White House will take other action to curb WeChat’s use beginning Sunday and will give TikTok until Nov. 12 before further limitations kick in. Western companies and bankers are still wrangling with TikTok’s owner, the White House and Chinese authorities to try to arrange a sale of some of TikTok’s business. The short-form video app has seen explosive growth in the United States, where its users number in the tens of million. (Washington Post)
A White House representative has issued a statement and confirmed President Trump’s decision to ban TikTok.
“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,” Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said in a statement. “At the President’s direction, we have taken significant action to combat China’s malicious collection of American citizens’ personal data, while promoting our national values, democratic rules-based norms, and aggressive enforcement of U.S. laws and regulations.” (Statement)
Counting Down The Minutes
Barring any sudden changes, TikTok’s accessibility will end moments before this coming Monday.
The Commerce Department issued regulations Friday to bar U.S. companies from providing downloads or updates for the TikTok and WeChat apps after 11:59 p.m. Sunday. Companies will also be banned from providing data hosting services for WeChat at that time. “Each collects vast swaths of data from users, including network activity, location data, and browsing and search histories,” the Commerce Department said. “Each is an active participant in China’s civil-military fusion and is subject to mandatory cooperation with the intelligence services” of the Chinese Communist Party. (Wall Street Journal)
The Initial TikTok Drama
In August 2020, President Trump issued executive orders in an attempt to ban both TikTok and social media platform WeChat from being operational in the United States. There was a 45-day deadline and the only solution was for both social media apps to be purchased by a non-Chinese company.
The orders, which use similar language, do not state that a certain amount of money from the sale needs to be sent to the US Treasury Department, which the President has been insisting on for several days. The order regarding TikTok prohibits after 45 days “any transaction by any person, or with respect to any property, subject to the jurisdiction of the United States, with ByteDance Ltd.,” the Chinese company that owns the social media platform. (CNN)
Lil Yachty’s TikTok Ban Stance
Atlanta rapper Lil Yachty recently hit up his social media pages to get at Donald. Instead of getting super deep, Lil Boat simply said he couldn’t give Trump a pass if he went through on the TikTok ban.
“I’ll never forgive trump if he ban tiktok fr” -Lil Yachty’s Twitter
