Trump just issued an executive order banning TikTok from operating within the United States unless ByteDance sells the app 45 days:
JUST IN: President Trump issues executive order banning TikTok from operating in 45 days if it's not sold by Chinese parent company https://t.co/fxfcLsU4Yj pic.twitter.com/o1JFPrQ9Aq
— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) August 7, 2020
Here’s more:
President Donald Trump on Thursday issued an executive order that would ban the social media app TikTok from operating in the US in 45 days if it is not sold by its Chinese parent company ByteDance.
The order alleges that 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. 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.”
It also claims that the platform censors “content that the Chinese Communist Party deems politically sensitive” and “may also be used for disinformation campaigns that benefit the Chinese Communist Party, such as when TikTok videos spread debunked conspiracy theories about the origins of the 2019 Novel Coronavirus.”
The order states, “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. Zìjié Tiàodòng), Beijing, China, or its subsidiaries, in which any such company has any interest, as identified by the Secretary of Commerce (Secretary) under section 1(c) of this order.”
Earlier today the Senate unanimously banned TikTok from being used by federal employees on government-owned devices. They can’t provide relief to Americans, but they can at least agree to ban Commie apps on federal devices.