Donald Trump Orders a Ban on WeChat and TikTok
Donald Trump's recent plans to ban the use of TikToka are soon to be reflected in law.
For some time now, the President of the United States has been thinking about banning applications with links to the Chinese government. As we wrote earlier, TikTok may have huge problems because the USA is a huge market for active users and its popularity is constantly growing there. It turned out that the threats and plans were not the end, because President Trump issued two executive regulations that prohibit any transactions between American companies and ByteDance (the company behind TikTok) and WeChat (the largest Chinese instant messenger - equivalent to WhatsApp or Messeger). The regulations will come into force in 45 days.
The TikTok regulation says that the data collected by the app enables the Chinese Communist Party to access personal information of many Americans, which could potentially allow the Chinese to track the location of government employees and even create 'folders' of information for blackmail.
In response, TikTok representatives stated that all data concerning the USA is stored in the USA and Singapore, not in China. The Minister of Foreign Affairs of China, Mr. Wang Wenbin, stated that such actions against the Chinese company are an expression of monopolistic behavior, which is contrary to the principles of free market.
It seems that the only way for TikTok to avoid sanctions would be to forcefully sell part of the shares to a US company, and it is said that after the fall of Mixer, Microsoft is interested in this option.
Even more interesting is the case of the second regulation, concerning the ban on transactions with WeChat. This name may not tell you much, but it is an app for sending messages like WhatsApp and it is installed on more than one billion devices, including almost 99% of smartphones in China. It's also the only way to communicate between people living in China and those outside the country, as most other communicators are banned there. As Wall Street Journal reporter Liza Lin notes, there are a lot of Chinese families in the US who would lose their only way of communicating with their loved ones, which seems to be a more serious problem than the inability to record a funny video on TikTok.
It is no secret that WeChat is owned by Tencent, a company that owns shares of a lot of gaming companies. However, according to LA Times reporter Sam Dean, all other entities, whose shares Tencent owns are safe. The biggest and most famous companies, in which the Chinese giant has shares, are Epic Games and Riot Games, well known for games such as Fortnite, League of Legends and Valorant.
Donald Trump's actions on the subject of app with Chinese origin are the subject of much discussion, as many people agree with his views on espionage and the fact that with the help of potentially harmless programs a lot of key information can be collected and used for illegal purposes. In turn, opponents of such a policy are also heard, who believe that in the age of globalization it does not matter who is behind which company, and such bans will only make our data leak somewhere else.
