WASHINGTON D.C. (CelebrityAccess) On Thursday, U.S. President Donald Trump issued an executive order that would impose broad sanctions against short form video service TikTok in a move that seems designed to force parent company ByteDance to sell its assets to an American tech company.
The order, which takes effect in 45 days, bars American companies or individuals from making any transactions ByteDance unless the transaction was part of a contract entered into or any license or permit granted prior to the order.
The move likely spells the end of American companies advertising on TikTok and may see the service pulled from Apple and Google’s app stores.
In his order, President Trump cited TikTok’s alleged censoring of politically sensitive content such as rotests in Hong Kong and China’s treatment of Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities.
Trump also claimed that the service has been used for disinformation campaigns that benefit the Chinese Communist Party, such as when TikTok videos spread debunked conspiracy theories about the origins of the 2019 Novel Coronavirus.
However, American tech companies also reportedly censor such information in China on behalf of the Chinese government and President Trump has spread debunked conspiracy theories related to coronavirus via his own Twitter feed.
In a statement, TikTok said it was “shocked” by the executive order and claimed it was issued without due process.
“We will pursue all remedies available to us in order to ensure that the rule of law is not discarded and that our company and our users are treated fairly — if not by the Administration, then by the US courts,” TikTok’s statement said, adding that the order “risks undermining global businesses’ trust in the United States’ commitment to the rule of law.”
Along with TikTok, the President’s order also targeted Tencent’s wildly popular mobile app WeChat. The social app, which has more than a billion active users, includes messaging, mobile payments, and social media tooks.
However, user activity on WeChat is analyzed, tracked and shared with Chinese authorities upon request, and the service also censors politically sensitive topics, including the comparison of Chinese President Xi Jinping to popular fictional children’s character Winnie The Pooh.
