President Trump Signs Order Banning TikTok In 45 Days If It Isn't Sold

President Donald Trump signed executive orders that would ban TikTok and WeChat in the United States unless they are sold by their Chinese-owned parent companies. The decision to ban the popular social media apps was made over concerns that the companies could be forced to hand over sensitive and personal information they have gathered about their users to the Chinese government. 

"This data collection threatens to allow the Chinese Communist Party access to Americans' personal and proprietary information — potentially allowing China to track the locations of Federal employees and contractors, build dossiers of personal information for blackmail, and conduct corporate espionage," the executive order reads.

ByteDance, which owns TikTok, blasted the executive order and threatened a sue the government. 

"We are shocked by the recent executive order, which was issued without any due process," the company said in a statement. "For nearly a year, we have sought to engage with the U.S. government in good faith to provide a constructive solution to the concerns that have been expressed."

Microsoft, Google, and Facebook have all expressed an interest in purchasing TikTok, which has about 80 million users in the United States and more than 800 million around the world.

Photo: Getty Images


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