Will Trump Ban TikTok in the U.S.?

President Donald Trump will announce new action “in the coming days” related to Chinese software companies that his administration views as a threat to U.S. national security, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Sunday.  Pompeo said on Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures” that Trump would make an announcement on the matter “shortly.”

This came on the heels of the President’s announcement Friday night that he will ban the popular short-form video app TikTok from operating in the United States, rejecting a potential deal for Microsoft to buy the app from its Chinese-owned parent company. “As far as TikTok is concerned, we’re banning them from the United States,” Trump said to reporters while aboard Air Force One.

Trump said he could use emergency economic powers or an executive order. It was not immediately clear what such an order would look like and what legal challenges it might face. “Well, I have that authority,” he said.

Earlier on Friday, people working on the issue within the Trump administration expected the President to sign an order to force ByteDance, the Chinese company that owns the social media platform, to sell the US operations of TikTok, according to a person familiar with the matter. The move was aimed at resolving policymakers’ concerns that the foreign-owned TikTok may be a “national security risk,” publicly expressing worry that the Chinese-owned company will share user data with the Chinese government.

The US government is conducting a national security review of TikTok and is preparing to make a policy recommendation to Trump, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin told reporters this week at the White House. ByteDance has been considering changes to its corporate structure and had reportedly already been looking into the possibility of selling a majority stake in TikTok.

Meanwhile, Microsoft is apparently still in talks to acquire TikTok, according to the New York Times, citing a person with knowledge of the discussions. Microsoft declined to comment to CNN Business. Trump firmly rejected the idea of a potential spin off deal satisfying national security concerns.

The app has exploded in popularity in the US and other western countries, becoming the first Chinese social media platform to gain significant traction with users outside of its home country. It was downloaded 315 million times in the first three months of this year, more quarterly downloads than any other app in history, according to analytics company Sensor Tower.

Critics of TikTok worry that the data it collects on its US users could end up in the hands of the Chinese government, though TikTok has said it stores its data outside of China and that it would resist any attempts by Beijing to seize the information. “TikTok US user data is stored in the US, with strict controls on employee access. TikTok’s biggest investors come from the US. We are committed to protecting our users’ privacy and safety as we continue working to bring joy to families and meaningful careers to those who create on our platform,” TikTok spokesperson Hilary McQuaide told CNN Business Saturday.

However, it should be noted that cybersecurity experts have said TikTok’s potential risk to national security is largely theoretical and that there is no evidence to suggest that TikTok’s user data has been compromised by Chinese intelligence.

Forbes.com reports that another theory has been floating around the TikTok community since rumors of the ban first surfaced a few weeks ago: What if this has nothing to do with China, nothing to do with national security? What if this does have everything to do with Trump’s rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in June? The event was supposed to mark a return to the campaign assemblies that the president covets, a comeback show of force with nearly 20,000 people in attendance after months of Covid 19 lockdown. And it was totally ruined for him by TikTokers and other young people online who coordinated a campaign to register for tickets to the event and never show up. So, what if the ban on TikTok is retaliation for that?

It’s a theory. And surely no one other than Trump and perhaps a few other White House denizens understand the president’s true motivations for the ban. But as a hypothesis, it has a compelling timeline.  Right now, there’s nothing more to do than wait and see if the threatened ban becomes a reality.  In the meantime, TikTokers, you’d better get your TikTok on while you still can.

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Photo Credit:  DANIEL CONSTANTE / Shutterstock.com