President Donald J. Trump issued two new Executive Orders on August 6th in relation to social media platforms TikTok, and WeChat. Banning the use of the apps, and United States based transactions with the platforms in 45 days unless sold by their Chinese parent companies ByteDance and TenCent (1), with Microsoft already showing interest in TikTok (2). For what reason does the President look to ban these apps, what was placed in the Executive Order, and what are the arguments against it?
With US / Chinese relations being at such a low point currently, President Trump in his Executive order worries the apps may be a security concern to the United States, “the spread in the United States of mobile applications developed and owned by companies in the People’s Republic of China (China) continues to threaten the national security, foreign policy, and economy of the United States.” (3)
The security concern itself is addressed shortly after, with the Executive Order reading, “TikTok automatically captures vast swaths of information from its users, including Internet and other network activity information such as location data and browsing and search histories. This data collection threatens to allow the Chinese Communist Party access to Americans’ personal and proprietary information — potentially allowing China to track the locations of Federal employees and contractors, build dossiers of personal information for blackmail, and conduct corporate espionage.”(4)
WeChats order reads very similar to that of TikToks, with an added section on the capability of WeChat to track Chinese Nationals who visit the United States and to censor content deemed incorrect by the Chinese Communist Party. It also mentions the fact that other countries namely Australia, and India, have also begun to restrict or ban the apps use (5). It seems the main concern with the social media apps is the control and information they hand over direct to the Chinese Communist Party, President Trump seeing it as a National security threat.
However, President Trumps Executive Orders have come under question by First Amendment lawyers and free speech activists. “Kyle Langvardt, a law professor at the University of Nebraska Lincoln, told Business Insider that Trump’s orders, “are likely to have First Amendment problems. The reason is that they discriminate based on the identity of the speaker (Bytedance, Tencent), and also, arguably, based on the ‘content’ of their speech,”” Langvardt said.” (6)
TikTok themselves also released a statement firing back at the Executive Order, pointing out that this “sets a dangerous precedent for the concept of free expression and open markets”, and that the order, “risks undermining global businesses’ trust in the United States’ commitment to the rule of law, which has served as a magnet for investment and spurred decades of American economic growth.” (7)
WeChats parent company TenCent are large investors in computer games internationally, also owning some outright. There was a worry initially that the Executive Order would affect these popular games. However, the White House clarified to the Los Angeles Times that the Order will only affect transactions with WeChat.(8)
With 45-days until the ban goes into place, time will tell whether or not either app will be sold by their Chinese parent companies and whether or not they will be allowed to stay open for use. To get a complete understanding of the Executive Orders, links will be provided below.
-Trent Naz
Executive Order on Addressing the Threat Posed by TikTok.
https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/executive-order-addressing-threat-posed-tiktok/
Executive Order on Addressing the Threat Posed by WeChat.
https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/executive-order-addressing-threat-posed-wechat/
(1) Shu, C. and Liao, R., 2020. Trump Signs Orders Banning US Business With Tiktok Owner Bytedance And Tencent’S Wechat. [online] Techcrunch.com. Available at: <https://techcrunch.com/2020/08/06/trump-signs-executive-orders-banning-transactions-with-tiktok-and-wechat/> [Accessed 8 August 2020].
(2) The Official Microsoft Blog. 2020. Microsoft To Continue Discussions On Potential Tiktok Purchase In The United States — The Official Microsoft Blog. [online] Available at: <https://blogs.microsoft.com/blog/2020/08/02/microsoft-to-continue-discussions-on-potential-tiktok-purchase-in-the-united-states/> [Accessed 8 August 2020].
(3) Trump, D., 2020. Executive Order On Addressing The Threat Posed By Tiktok | The White House. [online] The White House. Available at: <https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/executive-order-addressing-threat-posed-tiktok/> [Accessed 8 August 2020].
(4) Trump, D., 2020. Executive Order On Addressing The Threat Posed By Tiktok | The White House. [online] The White House. Available at: <https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/executive-order-addressing-threat-posed-tiktok/> [Accessed 8 August 2020].
(5) Trump, D., 2020. Executive Order On Addressing The Threat Posed By Wechat | The White House. [online] The White House. Available at: <https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/executive-order-addressing-threat-posed-wechat/> [Accessed 8 August 2020].
(6) Sonnemaker, T. and Leskin, P., 2020. Trump’s Attempt To Ban Tiktok And Wechat Could Face Legal Trouble For Infringing On Free Speech, According To A First Amendment Expert. [online] Business Insider Australia. Available at: <https://www.businessinsider.com.au/trumps-tiktok-and-wechat-bans-could-violate-first-amendment-expert-2020-8?r=US&IR=T> [Accessed 9 August 2020].
(7) Newsroom.tiktok.com. 2020. Statement On The Administration’s Executive Order. [online] Available at: <https://newsroom.tiktok.com/en-us/tiktok-responds> [Accessed 9 August 2020].
(8) Lee, W. and Dean, S., 2020. Trump Signs Executive Order To Ban Tiktok, Wechat. [online] Los Angeles Times. Available at: <https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2020-08-06/trump-signs-executive-order-to-ban-tiktok> [Accessed 10 August 2020].
