The US bans on Chinese apps TikTok and WeChat are not particularly valuable for US security, experts told AFP Friday, but could step up broader commercial pressure on Beijing and help President Donald Trump appear tough as he seeks reelection.
In announcing the bans -- to take effect in 45 days -- Trump declared Thursday that Chinese mobile apps "threaten the national security, foreign policy, and economy of the United States."
Data collection by the apps, he argued "threatens to allow the Chinese Communist Party access to Americans' personal and proprietary information," which he said could be used for espionage, blackmail, and to track Chinese nationals inside the US.
But cyber security specialists say the benefits to the ban are minimal and don't solve any immediate threats.
The WeChat ban especially, they say, actually harms a large number of Chinese Americans, US-based Chinese, and businesses working with China, all for whom the app is essential to communications.
- 'Data-sucking operation' -
Both apps collect huge amounts of data on hundreds of millions of users.
An all-in-one tool, WeChat provides messaging, financial transactions, group chats, and social media, all of which is stored on Chinese servers that a 2017 security law says must be accessible by Chinese intelligence.
TikTok, a simple app for making and sharing short videos, meanwhile mines users' accounts and phones for lots of identifying information.
"WeChat is bad," said Nicholas Weaver, a lecturer in computer security at the University of California in Berkeley.
"It uses encrypted links to WeChat's servers in China... but the servers see all messages, so the Chinese government can see any message it wants," ..
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