President Biden Revokes Trump’s
Attempted Ban on TikTok and WeChat.
President Joe Biden has revoked a series of executive
orders signed by Donald Trump during his time in office. .
Trump and his administration made efforts to ban TikTok,
WeChat and other Chinese apps in the United States. .
Instead of an outright ban, President Biden issued
his own executive order calling for “foreign adversary
connected software applications” to be evaluated. .
This includes applications with ties to China,
which the order describes as posing
“unacceptable national security risks.”.
The Biden Administration is committed
to promoting an open, interoperable, reliable
and secure Internet; protecting human rights
online and offline; and supporting a vibrant,
global digital economy, White House, via statement.
Certain countries, including the People’s Republic
of China (PRC), do not share these values and
seek to leverage digital technologies and
Americans’ data in ways that present unacceptable
national security risks while advancing
authoritarian controls and interests. , White House, via statement.
The Commerce Department
will assess these apps
using a “criteria-based
decision framework.” .
Their evaluations will be “evidence-based,” with
“appropriate” actions to be taken and “recommendations” to
be given based on their subsequent findings. .
This E.O. directs the Department of Commerce,
in consultation with other U.S. departments and
agencies, to make recommendations to protect against harm from the sale, transfer of, or access to sensitive personal data, including personally identifiable information and genetic information, White House, via statement
