Trump takes action to restrict TikTok and WeChat

We knew already that President Donald Trump said TikTok must sell its US operations by 15 September or risk a ban - even though there is no clue as to how a ban could even be fully enforced.

But Trump has now signed an executive order to reinforce the point, banning any "transactions with TikTok's parent company ByteDance. The order comes into effect in 45 days.

A similar order has been made against WeChat, but that is stranger still given that its owner Tencent has its fingers in numerous games, social and music companies and removing them from US business is surely unrealistic.

There are also questions about what it means for, example, Apple and Google who carry these apps on their app stores. 

According to Bloomberg, Trump said earlier this month: "I don’t mind whether it’s Microsoft or someone else, a big company, a secure company, a very American company buys it.

"It’ll close down on 15 September unless Microsoft or somebody else is able to buy it and work out a deal, an appropriate deal, so the Treasury of the United States gets a lot of money." 

Quite how a large payment to the Treasury would work is anyone's guess. 

Over the weekend, Microsoft said in a blog post it was aiming to buy TikTok’s US operations in the as well as those in Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

In the post, Microsoft reinforced the point that it "fully appreciates the importance of addressing the President’s concerns. It is committed to acquiring TikTok subject to a complete security review and providing proper economic benefits to the United States."

Naturally, the latest statement from Trump is softer than his bombastic initial approach. According to several reports, Trump told reporters during an Air Force One flight on 31 July that he would ban the app. "As far as TikTok is concerned we’re banning them from the United States. I have that authority. I can do it with an executive order or that."

And furthermore, according to CNBC News, Trump indicated during that flight that he didn’t support Microsoft buying TikTok. 

TikTok is used to create and share videos. Creators can leverage the app's vast catalogue of sound effects, music, and filters to record short clips of themselves dancing and lip-syncing. There's an untold number of videos to discover, all on varying topics. 

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