The order is set to be published at 8:45am EDT (12:45 GMT) on Friday, the officials said. In a statement to Reuters, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said: “… 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 US laws and regulations.”

China and the companies have denied US user data is collected for spying. That deadline expires on Sunday.Ĭommerce department officials said they were taking the extraordinary step because of the risks the apps’ data collection poses. The bans are in response to a pair of executive orders issued by Trump on August 6 that gave the Department of Commerce 45 days to determine what transactions to block from the apps he deemed pose a national security threat. The order will not bar transactions with WeChat owner Tencent Holdings’ other businesses, including its online gaming operations, and will not ban Apple, Google or others from offering TikTok or WeChat apps anywhere outside the US. The order will not ban US companies from doing businesses on WeChat outside the United States, which will be welcome news to US firms like Walmart and Starbucks that use WeChat’s embedded “mini-app” programs to facilitate transactions and engage consumers in China. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because the announcement had not yet been made public. The commerce department order will “deplatform” the two apps in the United States and bar Apple Inc’s app store, Alphabet Inc’s Google Play and others from offering the apps on any platform “that can be reached from within the United States,” a senior department official told Reuters.

ByteDance still needs Trump’s approval to stave off a US ban. Keep reading list of 4 items list 1 of 4 UK warns of Russia laying ‘sea mines’ to deter Black Sea cargo ships list 2 of 4 Poland’s PM tells Ukraine’s Zelenskyy to ‘never insult’ Polish people again list 3 of 4 Why is Mexico standing up to bigger neighbours US, Canada on corn? list 4 of 4 China sees ‘Cold War mentality’ in US-Vietnam pact, Vietnamese disagree end of listīyteDance has been in talks with Oracle Corp and others to create a new company, TikTok Global, that aims to address US concerns about the security of its users’ data.

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