The Trump administration will ban TikTok and WeChat, which boast over 100 million U.S. users, from U.S. app stores this weekend in the name of protecting the U.S. from potential national security threats posed by China.
On Sunday, TikTok, a video app popular among American teenagers, and WeChat, a combination messaging, social media and payment app, will be removed from U.S. app stores, according to a Commerce Department press release and two accompanying notices in the Federal Register.
WeChat on Sunday will face a host of other prohibitions—related to fund transfers, payment processing and the like—as well. TikTok will not be subject to these deeper restrictions yet. Consumers will still be able to use TikTok after Sunday, but not download it anew or download further upgrades.
The Trump administration says the parent companies, ByteDance and TenCent Holdings respectively, pose a national security threat because the Chinese Communist Party could pressure the companies for access to the personal data the apps collect on Americans and use it for espionage.
Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross took to Fox News Business Friday morning to explain that the moves will have more far-reaching effects on WeChat, which is used widely in China but also by Americans to communicate with people in China. “For all practical purposes” the app will be shut down in the U.S., Ross said.
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