Aug 6, 2020,09:51pm EDT
Jack Brewster Forbes Staff Business I’m a news reporter for Forbes.
Updated Aug 6, 2020, 10:33pm EDT
President Trump signed an executive order on Thursday that will prohibit Americans from doing business with ByteDance, the company that owns TikTok, and a similar order that bans transactions involving WeChat, a social messaging app, with its owner, Tencent, beginning September 20, in an effort to bar the China-owned social media platforms from the U.S. due to national security concerns.
KEY FACTS
Both orders are set to take effect in 45 days, though the orders will likely be challenged in court.
Microsoft is in talks to purchase the operations of TikTok in the U.S., Canada, Australia and New Zealand, a deal that Trump says he would support after initially expressing disapproval, and the two sides are hoping to complete a deal by September 15, which is before the 45-day deadline.
The Trump administration had been threatening such a move for weeks over national security concerns, and on Friday the president told reporters on Air Force One he would “ban” TikTok from the U.S.
In the order, the president accused the companies of providing the Chinese government with access to Americans’ data and personal information, “allowing China to track the locations of Federal employees and contractors, build dossiers of personal information for blackmail, and conduct corporate espionage.”
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Tencent, the parent company of WeChat, has investments in American companies such as Epic Games, the maker of Fortnite, and Reddit, though it’s not clear if Trump’s order would force the company to divest from those companies as well.
CRUCIAL QUOTE
“The spread in the United States of mobile applications developed and owned by companies in the People’s Republic of China continues to threaten the national security, foreign policy, and economy of the United States,” the president wrote.
WHAT TO WATCH FOR
On Sunday, Microsoft said it would “move quickly” to finish a deal with TikTok’s parent company ByteDance “in a matter of weeks.”
TANGENT
The Senate voted unanimously on Thursday to ban TikTok from use on government devices.
KEY BACKGROUND
TikTok had moved to distance itself from its Beijing-based owners, ByteDance, as it fell into the Trump administration’s crosshairs, hiring an American CEO and launching a U.S.-based job initiative. “We’re not planning on going anywhere,” the company said in a statement after Trump announced the coming “ban” on Friday.
FURTHER READING
TikTok Responds To Trump: ‘We’re Not Planning On Going Anywhere’ (Forbes)
Is This The Real Reason Why Trump Wants To Ban TikTok? (Forbes)Follow me on Twitter or LinkedIn. Check out my website. Send me a secure tip. Jack Brewster
I cover national politics for Forbes. Previously, I’ve written for TIME, Newsweek, the New York Daily News and VICE News. I also launched my own startup, Newsreel, a politics news platform for a young audience
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