TikTok will probably stay, WeChat will go away, in US

 

 

Americans staying in the USA can’t download WeChat and TikTok from Sunday (September 20) onward.

“In response to President Trump’s Executive Orders signed on August 6, 2020, the Department of Commerce today announced prohibitions on transactions relating to mobile applications (apps) WeChat and TikTok to safeguard the national security of the United States,” mentions a press release issued by the US Department of Commerce.

“The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has demonstrated the means and motives to use these apps to threaten the national security, foreign policy, and the economy of the U.S.,” says the press release.

“For WeChat it means you won’t be able to use it. You won’t be able to do business through WeChat,” says Nick Thompson, editor-in-chief of Wired magazine during a PBS NewsHour. “But for people who use TikTok, the changes won’t be as dramatic. “You just won’t be able to download a new version after Sunday and you won’t be able to download an app and you won’t be able to download to a new phone,” he added “But it won’t be until November that a real ban would come into effect. And my guess is a deal or compromise gets worked out before.”

Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump, on Saturday, said that he has given his “blessing” to a proposed deal so that TikTok will be able to partner with Oracle and Walmart and form a company in the US.

Trump said “I have given the deal my blessing. If they get it done that is great. If they don’t that is ok too.”

Trump said that this new company will hire 25,000 people make $5 billion contribution to a fund for education in America. He said that he has been asking this contribution from TikTok.

 

Source: PBS, AP news, Techcrunch, US department of Commerce