Security News > 2020 > August > Trump administration labels WeChat, TikTok ‘threats’ to national security, bans transactions with both

Trump administration labels WeChat, TikTok ‘threats’ to national security, bans transactions with both
2020-08-07 03:32

United States president Donald Trump has issued two executive orders banning Chinese messaging service WeChat and made-in-China-but-only-operating-abroad social network TikTok, and labelling the two a "Threat".

Which is five days after the September 15 deadline president Trump has given Microsoft to do a deal to buy some of TikTok.

Which brings us to the way the Trump administration goes about its business and works with business, because on Sunday the president was willing to assist Microsoft do a deal to buy some of TikTok's operations.

Four days later, Trump has told the American public that TikTok is toxic and made it plain that Microsoft only has one shot at buying the social network.

Yup, you read that right: Parscale says the Trump campaign has a massive data weapon that links "Data, digital, TV, political, surrogates, coalitions, etc." Meaning that what's good for the Trump campaign is not good for the Communist Party, a position that is at least more traditional policy because Trump plans to use his Death Star in a democratic election while China's democracy is a thin veneer for Party control.


News URL

https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2020/08/07/us_wechat_tiktok_national_security_threats/