US Announces Bans Against TikTok, WeChat Downloads, Updates

Chinese-owned apps TikTok and WeChat will be banned from U.S. app stores starting Sunday, the Commerce Department announced Friday, citing national security concerns (see 2008240047). “The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has demonstrated the means and motives to use these apps to threaten the national security, foreign policy, and the economy of the U.S.”

The announcement was in keeping with executive orders President Donald Trump signed Aug. 6 banning U.S. transactions with ByteDance and Tencent, parent companies of TikTok and WeChat, respectively. The bans apply to new downloads and updates of the apps. “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,” Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said.

Mobile payments for WeChat will also be banned starting Sunday. Use of the TikTok app in the U.S. will be banned starting Nov. 12, Commerce said: “The President has provided until November 12 for the national security concerns posed by TikTok to be resolved.”

TikTok disagrees and is disappointed with Commerce’s decision, the 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 U.S. of a significant platform for both a voice and livelihoods.” TikTok sued the Trump administration in August.

The ban will be bad for industry, TikTok interim head Vanessa Pappas tweeted. The company invited Facebook and Instagram to “publicly join our challenge and support our litigation,” she said. “This is a moment to put aside our competition and focus on core principles like freedom of expression and due process of law.”

Since the Aug. 6 EO, Tencent has engaged in “extensive discussions” with U.S. officials and “put forward a comprehensive proposal to address” concerns about WeChat, a company spokesperson emailed. The company called Friday’s announcement “unfortunate,” and it will “continue to discuss with the government and other stakeholders in the U.S. ways to achieve a long-term solution.” WeChat was “designed to serve international users outside of mainland China and has always incorporated the highest standards of user privacy and data security,” it said.

The FTC doesn't have a big hand in the TikTok issue because it's not an antitrust or privacy matter, Commissioner Noah Phillips told C-SPAN’s The Communicators (see 2009180024), scheduled to have been televised this weekend. The Council on Foreign Investment in the U.S. evaluation is more primary given the national security concerns, he added.

The administration hasn’t provided evidence this action is necessary, said Information Technology and Innovation Foundation Vice President Daniel Castro: The decision puts “consumers at risk by cutting them off from software updates, including necessary security updates.” If the administration “decides to ban these apps altogether, it should explicitly prohibit these companies from operating in the United States while following due process,” he said.

Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., called the bans the “right move,” saying the U.S. should “ratchet up the pressure on Beijing, protect Americans.” Trump’s actions violate the First Amendment by restricting Americans’ “ability to communicate and conduct important transactions on the two social media platforms,” said Hina Shamsi, American Civil Liberties Union national security project director. “The order also harms the privacy and security of millions of existing TikTok and WeChat users in the United States by blocking software updates.”

Friday’s decision is an “unprecedented geofencing of access to online services used by millions of Americans and American companies with overseas operations,” ACT|The App Association said. “This ban on transactions will have the opposite of its intended effect on consumer privacy by restricting access to security updates and patches needed to keep the apps secure and safe.”