The president of the United States, Donald Trump is really pushing hard to ban the popular short video-sharing app, TikTok, in the country. He threatened that he would opt executive order to ban TikTok’s operation in early August, and now he has reportedly signed the executive order to permanently ban TikTok in the US.
Trump wants to ban the Chinese-owned video-sharing platform from the US after reports emerged that the app is sharing the data of the US citizens to the Chinese government. The president previously threatened TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance to divest the US operations. If the company doesn’t comply then the president would use his emergency economic powers to ban TikTok’s US operation.
Now, he has already signed the executive order, the action has pressured the Chinese-based tech company to divest TikTok’s US operation. The order reportedly becomes effective in 45 days and after that, any transactions between the Chinese tech company and the US citizens would be outlawed. No American companies will run TikTok’s advertisement and they would be removed from Google Play Store and Apple App Store.
However, if ByteDance finds the US buyer in during a 45-days time frame then TikTok’s US operation will resume in the country. Now, TikTok is planning to take legal action against Trump’s executive order. TikTok alleged that the president tried to enter in the negotiations between two private companies without paying attention to the facts. TikTok is shocked by sudden sanction that has been used against the Chinese-owned social media platform.
TikTok reported that they are currently reviewing the executive order and would get help from US courts so that the more than 100 million American users are treated fairly. On the other hand, experts believe that such action may threaten the right of free speech. Several tech experts who studied TiTok’s operation claimed that they couldn’t find a way to verify that the Government of China has been collecting the data.
Trump also sanctioned executive order against another Chinese-owned app, WeChat. Tencent reported that they are studying and understanding the executive orders, for now.
The removal of TikTok isn’t entirely up to President Donald Trump. Apple and Google have to comply with the administration and enforce a ban. Some reports claim that if the administration cannot remove the app from people’s devices, then they would create a hostile business environment for the company to give up and divest US operations. Facebook recently introduced a new feature on Instagram, called Reels, which closely resembles TikTok.
Microsoft is on the line to acquire the short-video-sharing platform. However, later it was reported that Microsoft paused the negotiations with ByteDance and would move forward with the negotiations after Microsoft’s CEO Satya Nadella’s conversation with Donald Trump. ByteDance has now a deadline – 15 September – to divest TikTok’s operation or otherwise face permanent ban in the US.
