Trump issues order barring US transactions with TikTok

Donald Trump has issued a pair of executive orders imposing new limits on TikTok and WeChat, escalating tensions with Beijing.

Donald Trump tours the Whirlpool factory in Clyde, Ohio, on Friday. Picture: AFP

President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Thursday (Friday AEST) that effectively sets a 45-day deadline for an American company to purchase the US operations of TikTok, calling the Chinese-owned video-sharing app a national and economic security threat.

Once that period is up, the order bars people in America or subject to US jurisdiction from making any transaction with Beijing-based ByteDance, TikTok’s parent. The order formalises Mr Trump’s earlier calls for shutting down TikTok should Microsoft fail to complete a deal within 45 days.

Microsoft has said it hopes to acquire TikTok’s business in the US and three other countries. The company said on Sunday it aimed to complete the takeover discussions no later than September 15.

US officials have expressed concern that TikTok would let China’s authoritarian government have access to the data TikTok collects from Americans and other users. TikTok has said it would never hand over such data.

“TikTok automatically captures vast swaths of information from its users, including internet and other network activity information such as location data and browsing and search histories,” the executive order says.

“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.”

Mr Trump said earlier this week he was prepared to approve a purchase of TikTok’s US operations, but he said a “very substantial portion” of the sale price should go to the US government. The President signed a similar executive order imposing restrictions on transactions between individuals in the US and Tencent Holdings, which operates the Chinese social media app WeChat.

Though lower-profile in the US, WeChat is a do-everything app that is deeply integrated into the lives of more than a billion people in China, as well as in the Chinese diaspora. In addition to messaging, it also processes transactions and other functions. WeChat has 19 million daily active users in the US, compared with the 100 million users that TikTok says it has in the country.

The executive order comes hours after the Senate unanimously passed a bill prohibiting federal employees from using TikTok on government-issued devices as national security concerns mount. The measure passed through an expedited procedure that avoided a roll-call vote.

The White House has been pushing for a sale of TikTok to US owners, citing national-security risks amid fears that the Chinese government could exploit the personal data of users.

“In light of all we know, it is unthinkable to me that we should continue to permit federal employees, those workers entrusted with sensitive government data, to access this app on their work phones and computers,” said Republican Senator Josh Hawley, the sponsor of the measure.

“If I have anything to say about it, we won’t be stopping here.”

The House of Representatives has already approved a similar measure as part of a measure to authorise military spending. Mr Trump has threatened to veto that broader legislation over his opposition to provisions renaming military bases named after Confederate generals.

The Senate bill also bans on government-issued devices any successor application developed by ByteDance or entity it owns.

The Wall Street Journal