US banning use of WeChat, TikTok citing national security

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. will ban the use of the Chinese app WeChat on Sunday citing national security concerns.

Downloads of the app TikTok, owned by the same company, will be banned at the same time, and use of that platform will be banned in the U.S. by Nov. 12. But Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said early Friday on Fox Business News that access to that app may be possible if certain safeguards are in place.

“At the President’s direction, we have taken significant action to combat China’s malicious collection of American citizens' personal data, while promoting our national values, democratic rules-based norms, and aggressive enforcement of U.S. laws and regulations,” Ross said in a prepared statement.

The government said its order, previously announced by President Donald Trump in August, will “combat China’s malicious collection of American citizens' personal data.”

Some security experts have raised concerns that ByteDance Ltd., the Chinese company that owns TikTok, would maintain access to information on the 100 million TikTok users in the United States, creating a security risk.

“It’s allegedly a private company owned in China but they are worried about the Chinese government demanding that information so the private information is out there with the company but then the government would come in and take that information,” Kevin Powers, founder and director, Cyber Security Programs at BC told Boston 25 News reporter Evan White.

Like most social networks, TikTok collects user data and moderates users' posts. It grabs users' locations and messages and tracks what they watch to figure out how best to target ads to them.

“I’d definitely look at it differently now that I look at this information,” said Jalynn Siryon of Brockton.

Similar concerns apply to U.S.-based social networks such as Facebook and Twitter, but Chinese ownership adds an extra wrinkle because the Chinese government could order companies to help it gather intelligence.

TikTok says it does not store U.S. user data in China and that it would not give user data to the government. But experts say the Chinese government can get any information it wants from companies there.

“You shouldn’t just be worried about the Chinese companies, you should be worried about the American companies,” said Powers.

The action is the Trump administration’s latest attempt to weaken influence from China, a rising economic superpower. Since taking office in 2017, Trump has waged a trade war with China, blocked mergers involving Chinese companies and stifled the business of Chinese firms like Huawei, a maker of phones and telecom equipment. China-backed hackers, meanwhile, have been blamed for data breaches of U.S. federal databases and the credit agency Equifax, and the Chinese government strictly limits what U.S. tech companies can do in China.

Republican and Democratic lawmaker concerns about TikTok include its vulnerability to censorship and misinformation campaigns, and the safety of user data and children’s privacy. But the administration has provided no specific evidence that TikTok has made U.S. users' data available to the Chinese government.

Officials point to the hypothetical threat that lies in the Chinese government’s ability to demand cooperation from Chinese companies.

Emerson student Xu Jialin said WeChat is very important to her. The 19-year-old uses it to contact her family and friends in China.

“Once the WeChat is banned, it means that I am going to lose all connections with people on the other side of the world. Instagram and Facebook are banned in China,” said Jialin. “VPN, the app enables Chinese people to log in those social media is now under strict regulation, not to mention that it is illegal.”

Jialin, who calls her family using WeChat twice a day, says the app is the only way for her to get in touch with the people she loves.

“I cannot imagine life when it is banned.”

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This is a developing story and will be updated.

Cox Media Group