U.S. Commerce Department Revokes TikTok, WeChat Prohibited Transaction List

The United States Department of Commerce said on Monday that it was cancelling a list of forbidden transactions with WeChat and TikTok. These bans were issued last year during the Trump administration; his administration sought to restrict new downloads of the aforementioned apps by Americans.

Last week, we reported that some Chinese apps may be forced out of the market if they fail to implement measures to protect the private information of people in the U.S as a result of President Joe Biden’s executive order. We also reported that the U.S. Department of Commerce might issue subpoenas to collect information about smartphones, tablets, and computer software applications that it finds suspicious, as part of the executive order, and according to sources, the U.S. Department of Commerce may negotiate conditions for the use of the aforementioned in the United States or these apps.

The withdrawals, approved by President Joe Biden, automatically put a stop to the Trump administration ban that put a restriction on downloads of these apps. The executive order ordered the Department of Commerce to review these apps in terms of security risks.

Under the Trump administration, the Department of Commerce also carried out actions that would have completely taken WeChat out of the U.S. market and pushed for similar restrictions against video-sharing app TikTok.

The current administration has ordered the Department of Commerce to review these tech apps and companies, weigh the security risks, and come up with recommendations within a period of three months. The main aim is safeguarding the private information of every American from being accessible by companies that may be working with the country’s foes.

WeChat is quite popular in the U.S. It has over 19 million downloads in the U.S. alone and is used for various services such as instant messaging, as a games platform, and also for making payments. TikTok, on the other hand, is very popular in the U.S. and globally. It is used to make creative videos that are shared on the platform and across other major platforms.

The executive order by President Joe Biden automatically revoked the Trump-issued bans that targeted WeChat and TikTok, as well as eight other Chinese communications and financial technology applications.

WeChat and TikTok are also some of these Chinese apps that may be forced out of the market if they fail to implement measures to protect the private information of people in the U.S as a result of President Joe Biden’s executive order.