Is TikTok Being Banned? U.S. Delays Plan to Block Downloads With Deal Reached
September 20 2020 - 1:41PM
Dow Jones News
By Sarah E. Needleman
TikTok and WeChat users in the U.S. were granted a reprieve from
potential bans of the apps, but for different reasons.
TikTok, owned by Beijing-based ByteDance Ltd., will partner with
Oracle Corp. and Walmart Inc. to become a U.S.-based company, a
deal that received the blessing of President Trump. Officials in
China will also have to sign off on the transaction, though the
deal's structure of keeping TikTok's core algorithms in ByteDance's
hands improves its chances of receiving their blessing.
Separately, a federal judge in California temporarily blocked
the Trump administration's executive order curbing Americans' use
of WeChat, owned by Tencent Holdings Ltd. The ban would have
restricted U.S. users from downloading the app as well as engaging
in other functions on WeChat such as transferring money as of 11:59
p.m. Sunday.
The Trump administration had sought bans on both apps, citing
national-security and data-privacy concerns.
Here is more on what the latest developments mean for the future
of TikTok and WeChat in the U.S.:
Does the TikTok deal and the judge's WeChat decision mean the
apps will still be usable after Sunday night?
As of now, yes. In TikTok's case, the Commerce Department said
with the deal announcement it would temporarily delay a ban on
downloads and updates of the app. The ban is now set to take effect
Sept. 27 but could be further delayed or removed if the new
partnership goes forward as proposed.
With WeChat, the judge's ruling halts the effort to block U.S.
users' access to the app. Tencent said it was reviewing the
judgment and the U.S. government will have to decide how to respond
as well.
If a ban for either TikTok and WeChat were to proceed, U.S.
authorities also could force companies including Apple Inc. and
Google to remove the apps from their mobile app stores, preventing
new downloads and restricting current users from receiving software
updates. Over time, that could diminish usability of the apps.
How will people be able to access TikTok if it is banned after
all?
Americans might have to become more like Chinese internet users,
some of whom use virtual private networks and set their locations
outside the country to get around China's national internet
firewall, which blocks numerous websites, including Google and
Facebook. Similar VPN workarounds could be an option for U.S.
TikTok users.
But even if Apple and Google take TikTok off their marketplaces,
experts say users could still access TikTok and WeChat through
sideloaded apps, or ones that haven't gone through Google and
Apple's verification processes. This method, however, could
potentially expose users to security vulnerabilities and
malware.
What are Apple and Google planning?
Apple and Google owner Alphabet Inc. didn't respond to requests
for comment.
Avery Gardiner, general counsel at the Center for Democracy
& Technology, said earlier this month that Apple and Google
could fight a government ban by saying that it restricts access to
communication under the First Amendment. Such arguments have
prevailed in censorship cases involving book publishers and
newspapers, Ms. Gardiner said.
TikTok and a group representing WeChat users filed lawsuits in
August challenging President Trump's executive orders issued on
Aug. 6. In the filing, TikTok said it had taken vast measures to
protect the privacy and security of user data in the U.S. and
explained those efforts to the government in a security review. A
Tencent spokesperson has said that WeChat was designed to serve
international users outside of mainland China and has always
incorporated the highest standards of user privacy and data
security.
Has anything like this happened before?
The executive orders against TikTok and WeChat bar people in the
U.S. or subject to U.S. jurisdiction from transactions on those two
platforms. The president used a similar strategy last year in an
executive order that effectively barred U.S. companies from buying
telecommunications network gear and services from Huawei
Technologies Co., the Chinese firm that makes phones, tablets and
5G equipment. As with TikTok and WeChat, the government cited
national-security concerns. Experts say the U.S. case against
Huawei was more easily understood because Huawei's transactions
involve physical hardware and other equipment.
The forced sale of TikTok's U.S. operations is unusual because
it appears to make it necessary for ByteDance to separate some
pieces of the app's business geographically, presenting an
unusually thorny technical challenge. For now, TikTokers may have
to keep dancing to save their favorite app. Vanessa Pappas, who
became the interim head of TikTok last month after Chief Executive
Kevin Mayer abruptly resigned, told The Wall Street Journal she
aims to keep the platform open, inclusive and a place for
self-expression and community.
Sebastian Herrera contributed to this article
Write to Sarah E. Needleman at sarah.needleman@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
September 20, 2020 13:26 ET (17:26 GMT)
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