US to ban TikTok and WeChat downloads in 48 hours

Daily US Times: Two of the most popular Chinese apps TikTok and WeChat will be banned from US app stores from Sunday unless President Trump agrees to a last-minute deal.

The Department of Commerce said it would bar people in the United States from downloading the messaging and video-sharing apps through any app store on any platform.

The Trump administration says the companies could pass user data to China and threaten national security.

But both companies and China deny this.

WeChat will effectively shut down in the country on Sunday, but people will still be able to use TikTok until 12 November, when it could also be fully banned.

TikTok said it was disagreed with the commerce department and “disappointed” in the order and , saying it had already committed to “unprecedented levels of additional transparency” in light of the Trump administration’s concerns.

The micro video-sharing company said in a statement: “We will continue to challenge the unjust executive order, which was enacted without due process and threatens to deprive the American people and small businesses across the US of a significant platform for both a voice and livelihoods.”

The ban order from the Department of Commerce follows President Donald Trump’s executive orders signed in August. It gave businesses in the US 45 days to stop working with either Chinese company.

If a planned partnership between TikTok owner ByteDance and US tech firm Oracle is agreed and approved by President Trump, the app will not be banned.

It is not yet clear whether President Trump will approve the deal, but he is expected to review it before the Sunday deadline.

The department acknowledged that the threats posed by TikTok and WeChat were not identical but said that each collected “vast swathes of data from users, including network activity, location data, and browsing and search histories”.

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