Security News > 2020 > September > TikTok and WeChat to be banned from US app stores starting Sunday
Users in the US would be unable to download the two Chinese-owned apps from local app stores, according to the Department of Commerce.
On Friday, the Department of Commerce announced that both apps will be blocked as downloads across US app stores.
Based on an executive order signed by President Donald Trump on Aug. 6, 2020, the ban would prohibit any US app store from distributing or maintaining the WeChat or TikTok apps, codes, or updates.
These actions would effectively kill the use of the apps in the US. In an announcement released on Friday, Department of Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said that the Chinese Communist Party has shown the means and motivations to use these apps to threaten the national security, foreign policy, and economy of the US. Ross charged WeChat and TikTok with collecting vast amounts of data from users, including network activity, location data, and browsing and search histories.
Tencent's WeChat is a messaging and calling app though which people can stay in touch with friends, play games together, and send or receive mobile payments via the WeChat Pay feature.