March 29, 2024
Time running out on Tik Tok, U.S. to start blocking app downloads
WASHINGTON - The U.S. will begin blocking the distribution of the Chinese apps TikTok and WeChat on Sunday, the Department of Commerce said Friday.

Commerce said in a news release that U.S. mobile platforms will be prohibited from distributing the apps, meaning new downloads will be blocked.

But TikTok will not disappear entirely on Sunday. The app will still work for at least a few more weeks. Commerce said that crucial services that TikTok relies on, such as internet hosting and transit services, will not be prohibited until Nov. 12, pushing the deadline to after the election.

WeChat, however, faces the full ban on Sunday, which could render the app almost useless.

The statement gives TikTok a reprieve as it continues to negotiate a deal in hopes of staving off the full ban.

"The real shut down would come after Nov. 12 in the event that there is not another transaction," Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said in an interview on the Fox Business Network. "So it’s very different how the two are being handled and that reflects the quantitative and the qualitative differences between the two apps."

A TikTok spokesperson said in an emailed statement that the company is "disappointed" with the decision.

"We will continue to challenge the unjust executive order, which was enacted without due process and threatens to deprive the American people and small businesses across the U.S. of a significant platform for both a voice and livelihoods," the company said.

On Twitter, Vanessa Pappas, interim global chief of TikTok, responded to Instagram head Adam Mosseri, who tweeted that a ban on TikTok would be bad for "Instagram, Facebook, and the internet more broadly."

"We agree that this type of ban would be bad for the industry," Pappas tweeted. "We invite Facebook and Instagram to publicly join our challenge and support our litigation. This is a moment to put aside our competition and focus on core principles like freedom of expression and due process of law."

TikTok has amassed about 100 million monthly U.S. users, making it one of the only rivals to social media giants Facebook, Twitter and Snapchat. The app provides an easy way for people to record short snippets of video and put music or sounds to them. The app's popularity, particularly among younger Americans, has already spurred its own generation of celebrities.

But its ownership by a Chinese tech company has been a point of contention among U.S. politicians who have expressed concern that China's government could demand the user data of millions of Americans. That data could then be used for espionage purposes, but security experts have warned that data security is a problem that goes well beyond TikTok or apps that are owned by Chinese companies.

TikTok and WeChat bans could come back to haunt U.S. companies, experts warn

The Trump administration's decision to ban TikTok and WeChat could set a dangerous precedent that adversely affects U.S. tech companies and accelerates the balkanization of the internet, tech executives, public policy officials and other experts warn.

The bans mark a rare instance in which the executive branch is dictating what messaging and social media apps are available to American consumers.

In the short term, the bans could benefit TikTok competitors like Facebook, YouTube and Snapchat, but in the long-term they could embolden other countries to implement similar bans on those companies, experts say.

"I do believe anytime a nation-state renders judgment on which applications can or cannot run 'in country' ... then it provides 'air cover' for countries to impose what I would describe as 'nontariff' trade barriers," Aneesh Chopra, who served as the first chief technology officer of the United States under President Barack Obama, said in an email.

The WeChat ban is unlikely to be overturned. TikTok's ultimate fate is yet to be determined. Trump said at a news conference Friday that the White House could still approve a deal.

Still, U.S. tech executives are already sounding the alarm.

"If you play it out, there’s a real risk more and more countries start to demand concessions or ban apps that we and other U.S. companies build," Adam Mosseri, the head of Instagram, which is owned by Facebook, said.

"Over the next five to 10 years, [that] seems much worse than any benefit we get from weakening one competitor now," Mosseri said. "Remember, most of our users, and even more of our potential growth, are outside the United States."

Eric Schmidt, the former CEO and chairman of Google, has long said that the internet was splitting into two: a U.S. internet and a Chinese internet.

Last month, in an interview with CNBC, Schmidt warned that Trump's move to ban TikTok's U.S. business could set a precedent for other countries to take similar actions against U.S. tech firms.

"What I worry about is the U.S. taking a data sovereignty position, which ... sets the precedent that this will now be done against American firms that have global presence," he said. "It seems appealing, but then it sets in motion a whole bunch of things that can affect American dominance." (Source: NBC News)
Story Date: September 19, 2020
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