Joe Biden Rescinds Donald Trump’s Executive Orders Banning TikTok, WeChat

Ted Johnson
·1 min read
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President Joe Biden has rescinded Donald Trump executive orders that would have effectively shut down the popular TikTok and WeChat apps in the U.S.

Instead, the White House announced its own review of potential national security concerns over apps that are controlled by China.

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Last summer, Trump issued an executive order that would have prohibited internet hosting services from enabling the TikTok and WeChat mobile applications. But a federal judge prevented the restrictions from taking effect, and delayed further review in the courts.

Biden’s executive order does call out the potential threat involved in to collection of personal data by apps controlled by China, but it wants a more extensive analysis.

Biden’s executive order calls for the federal government to “evaluate these threats through rigorous, evidence-based analysis and should address any unacceptable or undue risks consistent with overall national security, foreign policy, and economic objectives, including the preservation and demonstration of America’s core values and fundamental freedoms.”

The executive order recognizes that the data collection “threatens to provide foreign adversaries with access to that information. Foreign adversary access to large repositories of United States persons’ data also presents a significant risk.”

The Trump administration also had sought to force TikTok parent ByteDance to sell the popular app, in which Oracle and Walmart would have taken significant stakes in the company, but no deal was ever completed.

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