If you haven’t downloaded TikTok or WeChat yet, you might want to do so quickly. This is because according to an announcement by the US Department of Commerce, both TikTok and WeChat will be banned and removed from app stores in the US starting this Sunday, and will also see the ban of US companies hosting these services.According to the announcement by the Department of Commerce, “In response to President Trump’s Executive Orders signed August 6, 2020, the Department of Commerce (Commerce) today announced prohibitions on transactions relating to mobile applications (apps) WeChat and TikTok to safeguard the national security of the United States.”
It was previously thought that TikTok could be “saved” when it was revealed that Oracle would help manage TikTok’s operations, thus potentially alleviating any national security concerns. However, a report from Bloomberg revealed that US President Donald Trump had stated that he did not like that deal and would not be signing off on it.
Note that this only affects TikTok and WeChat’s operations in the US. Both apps will continue to function perfectly fine and normal in other countries that it operates in. The ban also spells bad news for companies such as Apple, where an earlier survey suggested that users in China would rather give up their iPhones than lose access to WeChat.
Filed in . Read more about Android, Apps, China, iOS, Legal, Tiktok and Wechat. Source: commerce.gov