U.S. President Donald Trump late Thursday issued an executive order blocking all "transactions" with the parent company of video-sharing app TikTok, ByteDance. Last week Trump said he could – and would – take action.
The order will take effect in 45 days – beyond the Sept. 15 deadline that Microsoft Corp. announced for its negotiations to acquire the China group.
Also Thursday the U.S. Senate unanimously voted to approve a bill banning federal personnel from using TikTok on government-issued gadgets after the White House threats to bar the company. At the same time Trump issued an executive order imposing the same restrictions for WeChat and its parent company Tencent Holdings Ltd.
The executive orders issued late Thursday will restrict "any transaction by any person, or with respect to any property, subject to the jurisdiction of the U.S.," with the companies, starting in 45 days, Maanvi Singh of The Guardian quoted a portion of the order saying.
The action will effectively ban TikTok in the U.S. unless Microsoft or some other company can acquire the social media company's operations in the U.S. by mid-September.
TikTok is under fire from U.S. legislators and the Trump administration over national security worries because China's ByteDance owns its technology. TikTok has said it never has and never will give out any information to the China government. According to sources, ByteDance executives value all of TikTok at more than $50 billion.
Sponsored by Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO), the No TikTok on Government Devices Act passed the Senate unanimously. The State Department, Defense, Homeland Security and TSA have already banned the app from government-issued devices.
The Senate vote followed a unanimous vote two weeks ago by the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee that approved the legislation, which was introduced in March by Hawley. An identical version was passed in July by the House of Representatives.
WeChat, the other app targeted by Trump's ban orders, is used around the world for payments and chatting. It is an important mode of communication between China and the U.S. The platform's parent company has invested in a number of American companies like Tesla, Spotify and Reddit.
