Trump Plans to Ban TikTok From the U.S.

President Trump plans to ban TikTok from the United States.

Aboard Air Force One on Friday night, Trump reportedly stated “As far as TikTok is concerned we’re banning them from the United States.” He described the motion as a “severance” and stated that a government order implementing the ban may very well be signed as soon as today. “I have that authority,” he stated.

In the latest weeks, the White House has more and more raised concerns over the popular short-form video app due to its ownership by ByteDance, TikTok’s Chinese owner. Chinese regulation can compel any domestic firm to hand overall collected consumer information. TikTok tracks consumer location data and consumer metadata, and has aroused concerns about privacy and censorship.

TikTok has repeatedly claimed that it’s unbiased, not subject to Chinese authority’s information requests or under the Chinese effect, however, on Wednesday a spokesperson for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Wang Wenbin, suggested China views TikTok as a domestic firm.

A TikTok spokesperson stated that its largest investors come from the U.S. and the platform is a job creator dedicated to the privateness and safety of its 100 million American customers.

“We’ve hired nearly 1,000 people to our US team this year alone, and are proud to be hiring another 10,000 employees into great paying jobs across the U.S.,” the spokesperson stated. “Our $1 billion creator fund supports U.S. creators who are building livelihoods from our platform… TikTok U.S. user data is stored in the U.S., with strict controls on employee access.”

It has been rumored that Microsoft is in talks to amass the app from ByteDance. Though ByteDance is in talks with quite a lot of firms for a possible sale, Microsoft appears to be the main candidate. Trump stated he doesn’t support a deal between ByteDance and Microsoft. ByteDance is reportedly seeking to retain a small stake in TikTok in any deal.

Earlier this month, Larry Kudlow, Trump’s top financial adviser, stated he had been informed the eventual buyer of TikTok “will be a one hundred percent American company.” The American Civil Liberties Union said Trump’s plan to ban the app was “a danger to free expression.”