TikTok & WeChat to Be Banned in U.S. App Stores as of Sunday

In an interview with Fox Business News this morning, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross announced new regulations surrounding the download of the popular apps TikTok and WeChat, as they have posed national security concerns.

“At the President’s direction, we have taken significant action to combat China’s malicious collection of American citizens’ personal data, while promoting our national values, democratic rules-based norms, and aggressive enforcement of U.S. laws and regulations,” he said in a statement.

The Trump administration will be banning the Chinese-owned payment and messaging app WeChat in the U.S.  as of Sunday, and blocking all new downloads of the user-generated video app TikTok, effective the same day.

An official ban of TikTok has been postponed until November 12th, as the details of the takeover of its U.S. operations are still being worked out.

Commerce Secretary Ross explained that WeChat will be shut down as of midnight on Monday “for all practical purposes.”

“TikTok is more complicated,” said Ross, who shared that the deadline for a deal with a U.S. buyer has been set for November. Updates in the app will be disabled in the meantime.

“Basic TikTok will stay intact until November 12,” added Ross. “If there is not a deal by November 12 under the provisions of the old order, then TikTok also will be, for all practical purposes, shut down.”