TikTok, WeChat to be banned from US app stores starting Sunday

Posted By: Staff
September 18, 2020 @ 9:36 am
ABC Business

Anatoliy Sizov/iStock

Anatoliy Sizov/iStockBy WILLIAM MANSELL, ABC News

(NEW YORK) — Starting Sunday, downloads of the massively popular video app TikTok and the messaging app WeChat will be banned in the United States, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce.

The department said in a statement the move was necessary to “safeguard the national security of the United States.”

President Donald Trump issued twin executive orders in August, saying the apps would shut down by Sept. 20 if they were not sold to U.S. owners. The administration claimed the Chinese Communist Party was using data collected through these apps to “threaten the national security, foreign policy and the economy of the U.S.”

Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said in an interview on Fox Business News Friday morning that these new rules announced Friday morning were in connection with the executive orders issued in August and are “separate” from the ongoing negotiations between TikTok and tentative U.S. buyers including Oracle and Walmart.

Ross said that “for all practical purposes” WeChat will be shut down in the U.S. as of midnight Monday with the new Commerce Department ruling.

“TikTok is more complicated,” Ross added, saying that essentially a deadline for a deal with a U.S. buyer has been extended until Nov. 12. In the meantime, updates will be barred in the app.

“Basic TikTok will stay intact until November 12,” he said. “If there is not a deal by November 12 under the provisions of the old order then TikTok also will be, for all practical purposes, shut down.”

The ban announced this morning begins Sept. 20, and prohibits the download of TikTok or WeChat from app stores. It also bans the transfer of funds or processing payments within the U.S. for WeChat.

TikTok is especially popular among Gen Z-ers and has an estimated 65 million to 80 million users in the U.S.

WeChat, meanwhile, is especially popular among the Chinese American community, and has some 19 million users in the U.S. — a majority of them people of Chinese descent who use the app to connect with love ones or conduct business in China.

TikTok did not immediately respond to ABC News’ request for comment Friday morning. Spokespeople for Tencent, WeChat’s parent company, did not immediately respond to request for comment. ABC News has also reached out to Google and Apple for comment.