TikTok is officially banned in United States, WeChat is getting banned soon (UPDATED)

[pm128]

TikTok has officially been banned in USA

Summary

TikTok has been banned in US, along with other chinese apps such as WeChat. Ban is getting effective and 12th November (for WeChat) and 20th September (for TikTok)

Image source: Wikimedia Commons

 

Quotes

Quote

TikTok declined to comment. Tencent and Oracle did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Mr. Ross, in an interview on Fox Business Network on Friday morning, said that the ban would initially have a much greater impact on WeChat. -NY times

Quote

TikTok is currently in talks to be aquired by the American software maker Oracle, and could announce a deal that assuages the administration’s national security concerns. In its announcement, the Commerce Department said that the president had given until Nov. 12 for TikTok’s national security concerns to be resolved, and if they were, the prohibitions in the order could be lifted.

My thoughts

Every app steals data, including TikTok. TikTok and Wechat have been banned mostly because of political opinions.

 

Sources

https://www.bbc.com/news/business-53660860  ,  https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/18/business/trump-tik-tok-wechat-ban.html

[pm128]

Tried to make it as shortest as possible.

[porina]

Didn't they just agree a deal with Oracle taking it over? Why the ban now, and not allow that transfer of ownership to take place?

[pm128]

Just now, porina said:

Didn't they just agree a deal with Oracle taking it over? Why the ban now, and not allow that transfer of ownership to take place?

i have no idea. Trump just decided to ban it

[ZuppaSalata]

4 minutes ago, pm128 said:

TikTok has officially been banned in USA

Summary

TikTok has been banned in US governent, along with other chinese apps such as WeChat.

 

Quotes

 

My thoughts

Every app steals data, including TikTok. TikTok and Wechat have been banned mostly because of political opinions

 

Sources

https://www.bbc.com/news/business-53660860  ,  https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/18/business/trump-tik-tok-wechat-ban.html

[Moonzy]

WeChat, huh

it's a very commonly used app where I'm at, mostly because a lot of SME deals with Chinese suppliers using it.

[AbydosOne]

2 minutes ago, porina said:

Didn't they just agree a deal with Oracle taking it over? Why the ban now, and not allow that transfer of ownership to take place?

Oracle isn't one of Trump's "buddies", if I had to guess.

 

Also, the Oracle deal wasn't a buy out, so maybe that wasn't good enough?

[shoutingsteve]

1 minute ago, pm128 said:

i have no idea. Trump just decided to ban it

Even though it is no worse of a data mine than any other app, and even though Oracle took it over, it is still banned for the sole reason of "I said I would ban it and now i am doing that."

[pm128]

Just now, ZuppaSalata said:

i guess you dont use tiktok

[Applefreak]

Seems more a political move than a concern for safety to me. If they worried about safety they would shut down facebook as well for selling domestic users data and accessing phone records. 

[Nayr438]

3 minutes ago, porina said:

Didn't they just agree a deal with Oracle taking it over? Why the ban now, and not allow that transfer of ownership to take place?

Probably due to this, https://www.cnbc.com/2020/09/11/china-would-rather-see-tiktok-us-close-than-a-forced-sale.html

[spartaman64]

lots of people are talking about the tiktok ban but I think the bigger news is the wechat ban. some people think its just a messaging app who cares but its way more than that in china. when people go out to buy groceries in china a lot of the time they dont take their wallet because they can just scan a QR code and pay in wechat. also when they need to pay utility bills etc the companies just request money from them in wechat. having wechat is a huge convenience booster in china and if trump forces apple to remove it from their app store then i expect a huge drop in iphone sales in china

[PlayStation 2]

5 minutes ago, spartaman64 said:

lots of people are talking about the tiktok ban but I think the bigger news is the wechat ban. some people think its just a messaging app who cares but its way more than that in china. when people go out to buy groceries in china a lot of the time they dont take their wallet because they can just scan a QR code and pay in wechat. also when they need to pay utility bills etc the companies just request money from them in wechat. having wechat is a huge convenience booster in china and if trump forces apple to remove it from their app store then i expect a huge drop in iphone sales in china

Would it be removed from international app stores, though? I strongly doubt that's what the President (or anyone, really) is intending to force out. 

All that Trump seems to want to do is kick out WeChat and TikTok for privacy concerns. Which is, to say, WeChat is not really much of a thing here. I have some objections to it all but to keep it related to this specific topic, I don't particularly see the President forcing Apple to remove WeChat from international app stores rather than just removing it from the American app store.

Unless Apple absolutely must comply with removing it from other countries, in which I really wouldn't necessarily want to happen.

[PorkishPig]

6 hours ago, spartaman64 said:

if trump forces apple to remove it from their app store then i expect a huge drop in iphone sales in china

The ban is unlikely to affect China's usage of WeChat. The App Store in China is entirely independent of the App Store in the US.

https://apps.apple.com/cn/app/微信/id414478124

Edited September 18, 2020 by PorkishPig
Bad URL, Rewording

[williamcll]

Gonna be seeing an increase of inbound VPNs to China lmao.

[PlayStation 2]

It should also be noted that TikTok's merger is a consideration in withholding the ban until November 12th, to let the government see progress in its American chain being merged into Oracle, basically. For now, it'll not be eligible to download in the US subject until further notice.

[Ashley MLP Fangirl]

laughs in europe with no banning

[NumLock21]

Just now, spartaman64 said:

lots of people are talking about the tiktok ban but I think the bigger news is the wechat ban. some people think its just a messaging app who cares but its way more than that in china. when people go out to buy groceries in china a lot of the time they dont take their wallet because they can just scan a QR code and pay in wechat. also when they need to pay utility bills etc the companies just request money from them in wechat. having wechat is a huge convenience booster in china and if trump forces apple to remove it from their app store then i expect a huge drop in iphone sales in china

Along with what WeChat is used for, their send voice as a recording is really good, it's like as if you're using a walkie talkie, and its built in translator feature is awesome.

[Deli]

Wonder if the ban will be reversed next year if the election in the US this fall goes the other way.

[Guest willies leg]

2 hours ago, AbydosOne said:

Oracle isn't one of Trump's "buddies", if I had to guess.

 

Also, the Oracle deal wasn't a buy out, so maybe that wasn't good enough?

 

Actually Oracle is one of Trump's "buddies"

Larry Ellison was the one who gave Trump the Hydroxychloroquine advice, Larry's well connected. Not Vitamin D, that advise was Falsi, he came out with it a few days ago.

Anyway, my guess is Tik Tok sucks up way too much data, and they needed to just shut it down.

I remember an early interview with Zuckerberg, he said he couldn't believe people posted such personal stuff on a stupid web site, and he was glad to have it. Remember, they can do a select * from anything, permissions mean nothing to those who have the data.

 

[Delicieuxz]

The block commences September 20 for TikTok, November 12 for WeChat.

 

I think only delivering the app through the official Google and Apple stores is being blocked in the US, while people could still download it from elsewhere and use it. That is to say, using the app and connecting to the service isn't prohibited, just its download being hosted by US companies for US audiences is. While countries other than the US aren't affected by the US download block.

 

In contradiction of the NYT article's claim, other news reports said Oracle wasn't acquiring TikTok, but was only partnering with them to handle their US operation which would presumably remain owned by ByteDance.

 

US government to review deal between TikTok and Oracle

Quote

The Washington Post reported that Oracle had been chosen by ByteDance as a “technology partner” to allay US concerns, and Reuters quoted a source saying it would be a restructuring rather than a sale, with Oracle handling TikTok’s US user data. The source did not disclose how much of TikTok’s US operations ByteDance and its investors would continue to own.

 

 

TikTok Sale: ByteDance Partners With Oracle

Quote

According to the source, Oracle is being brought on board as a tech partner and not as an outright buyer of TikTok's U.S. business. It's unclear whether Oracle will acquire a share in TikTok as a result of the partnership.

 

Representatives for TikTok and ByteDance declined to comment. A spokesperson for Oracle did not respond to a request for comment.

 

 

TikTok is still suing the US government, I presume. And, from what I've read, it's unclear whether Trump has reviewed the proposed ByteDance / Oracle partnership yet.

 

Trump will ban US downloads of Chinese apps TikTok & WeChat starting September 20

Quote

The prohibitions against TikTok could be lifted if “national security concerns” are resolved by November 12, the statement added.

...

In an executive order from August, US Donald Trump gave parent company ByteDance until September 20 to sell TikTok’s US operations or face a nationwide ban. In response, ByteDance sued the US government last month over the proposed ban, arguing that Washington had failed to provide compelling evidence that TikTok posed a national security threat.

 

The company has repeatedly stressed that US user data is stored domestically, with a backup in Singapore, and that it has no ties to the Chinese government. For its part, Beijing has strenuously denied any nefarious relationship with the apps, slamming the proposed ban as a way to prevent Chinese firms from competing in US markets.

 

According to reports, ByteDance has tentatively agreed to work with its US partner, Oracle, in order to keep operations running in the United States. However, Trump has yet to sign off on the deal.

 

[Delicieuxz]

2 hours ago, spartaman64 said:

lots of people are talking about the tiktok ban but I think the bigger news is the wechat ban. some people think its just a messaging app who cares but its way more than that in china. when people go out to buy groceries in china a lot of the time they dont take their wallet because they can just scan a QR code and pay in wechat. also when they need to pay utility bills etc the companies just request money from them in wechat. having wechat is a huge convenience booster in china and if trump forces apple to remove it from their app store then i expect a huge drop in iphone sales in china

 

2 hours ago, handymanshandle said:

Would it be removed from international app stores, though? I strongly doubt that's what the President (or anyone, really) is intending to force out.

 

Reportedly, China and any country that isn't the US isn't affected by the block. Google and Apple can still offer the TikTok app for download to other countries.

 

https://www.rt.com/news/501038-trump-us-ban-tiktok-wechat/

Quote

The US will not force current [US] users to stop using the apps, but would instead prevent them from installing updates, Reuters reported.

 

Washington will also order Apple, Google and other firms to make the apps unavailable on their platforms within the United States. However, the commerce department will not prevent these companies from offering the Chinese apps to users outside the US.

 

[PlayStation 2]

51 minutes ago, Delicieuxz said:

Reportedly, China and any country that isn't the US isn't affected by the block. Google and Apple can still offer the TikTok app for download to other countries.

 

https://www.rt.com/news/501038-trump-us-ban-tiktok-wechat/

And that's what I was figuring, I don't particularly think that any country (the US included, of course) could really force an app off of an app store's international form without a major fight with other countries or an agreement on an app's suspicions between multiple countries. 

[pm128]

4 hours ago, pm128 said:

TikTok is officially getting banned in USA

Summary

TikTok has been banned in US governent, along with other chinese apps such as WeChat. Ban is getting effective and 12th November (for WeChat) and 20th September (for TikTok)

 

Quotes

My thoughts

Every app steals data, including TikTok. TikTok and Wechat have been banned mostly because of political opinions.

 

Sources

https://www.bbc.com/news/business-53660860  ,  https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/18/business/trump-tik-tok-wechat-ban.html

I think ban will be on a national level. Hongkong doesn't have access to TikTok, and it's not just in a form of not having app, but littearly not being able to access it (according to internet, I live in Serbia). Also forgot to mention, you can still access TikTok from browser.

[BuckGup]

Wow what a brilliant idea. Let's ban the app in the US forcing everyone to use VPNs which are all just owned by giant chinese companies that are harvesting your data. But this time now ALL your data is directly going to China opposed from hollow threats with no evidence. Oh yeah and the whole paranoia was started by Mark Zuckerberg as Tik Tok was eating into Facebooks revenue.