Trump signs executive order on banning transactions with TikTok’s developer

Sputnik news agency and radio 2:15 GMT 07.08.2020

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) – US President Donald Trump signed on Thursday an executive order banning any transactions with TikTok’s developer ByteDance Ltd. beginning 45 days after the document’s signing.

“The following actions shall be prohibited beginning 45 days after the date of this order, to the extent permitted under applicable law: any transaction by any person, or with respect to any property, subject to the jurisdiction of the United States, with ByteDance Ltd. (a.k.a. Zijie Tiaodong), Beijing, China, or its subsidiaries, in which any such company has any interest”, the order said.

“The spread in the United States of mobile applications developed and owned by companies in the People's Republic of China (China) continues to threaten the national security, foreign policy, and economy of the United States. At this time, action must be taken to address the threat posed by one mobile application, in particular, TikTok”, the document read.

Trump also signed an executive order that bans any transactions related to China’s WeChat mobile application 45 days after the document’s signing.

“The following actions shall be prohibited beginning 45 days after the date of this order, to the extent permitted under applicable law: any transaction that is related to WeChat by any person, or with respect to any property, subject to the jurisdiction of the United States, with Tencent Holdings Ltd. (a.k.a. Tengxun Konggu Youxian Gongsi), Shenzhen, China, or any subsidiary of that entity”, the order said on late Thursday.

“WeChat, a messaging, social media, and electronic payment application owned by the Chinese company Tencent Holdings Ltd., reportedly has over one billion users worldwide, including users in the United States. Like TikTok, WeChat automatically captures vast swaths of information from its users. This data collection threatens to allow the Chinese Communist Party access to Americans' personal and proprietary information”, the document added.

Tencent shares fell more than 4 percent following Trump's order to ban WeChat-related transactions.

Trump has targeted TikTok over its Chinese ownership. On Monday, the president said that he has set a deadline of 15 September for the application to be bought by US owners. Should this deadline pass, Trump has pledged to ban the app in the United States.