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Donald Trump Signs Executive Order As He Tries To Ban TikTok From US

Donald Trump Signs Executive Order As He Tries To Ban TikTok From US

The US President says the ban is necessary because the social media app is a threat against 'national security'.

Stewart Perrie

Stewart Perrie

US President Donald Trump has signed an Executive Order in his fight to ban social media app TikTok from the United States.

The ruling says America 'must take aggressive action against the owners of TikTok to protect our national security'.

The Executive Order gives 45 days for someone to successfully purchase the rights to the app from China-owned parent company ByteDance. Any purchase attempt made after the 45 days will be prohibited.

It states that 'additional steps must be taken to deal with the national emergency with respect to the information and communications technology and services supply chain'.

PA

It continues: "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."

"[The app] 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."

PA

TikTok has denied any allegations that users' data could fed back to China or used for anything nefarious.

A spokesperson for the company said in a statement to The Verge last month: "We have no higher priority than promoting a safe and secure app experience for our users.

"We have never provided user data to the Chinese government, nor would we do so if asked."

Microsoft has been in talks with TikTok to purchase the American rights to the app and those discussions are ongoing. If the sale were to go through, it would also encompass rights to Australia, Canada and New Zealand, according to 9News.

The US President said the American government should get a slice of the deal.

Donald Trump said: "Whether it's Microsoft or somebody else, or if it's the Chinese - what the price is, the United States could - should get a very large percentage of that price. Because we're making it possible."

Featured Image Credit: PA

Topics: News, Donald Trump, Technology, tiktok