President Donald Trump threatens to ban Tik Tok from operating in the US.
He also rejected a potential deal for a possible purchase of the app by Microsoft from its Chinese-owned parent company. His decision comes amid heightened tensions between the US and China.
Speaking to reporters while on board Airforce One on Friday night, Trump said he could use emergency economic powers or an executive order.
In his words, “as far as Tik Tok is concerned, we’re banning them from the United States.” It is not yet known how the president will apply the executive order or what form the order would take. Equally uncertain, are the legal challenges the ban may face.
The American President added added the app posed a security threat to the country as it could be used to gather sensitive data for Chine.
CEO of Tik Tok has denied any espionage intentions or activities.
Reports also say that Trump is enraged with the way the app handled its June 20th Tulsa, Oklahoma rally. In the days leading up to the even, a coordinated effort was made on Tik Tok to encourage people to register online for the free event and not to attend.
Oblivious of the mischief, elaborate arrangements were made only to discover after the scantily attended rally that under-aged persons were mainly those who registered.
Trump was visibly embarrassed as he had boasted of over one million attendees only to face 19,000 at at the rally.
Tik Tok hit the US and gained massive popularity with at least 100 million users in the US, many of whom are teens. The youth use it to express themselves and connect with each other.
It is reported to be a get-away from the boredom and idleness brought on by the covid19 lockdowns. Many people have created a means of livelihood from the app building following, creating videos, earning money from live-streaming, promoting music and sponsored content deals.
As Trump threatens to ban Tik Tok, in addition to losing all the above, the app’s users may lose their hard earned communities and face the tough job of looking for equally dynamic apps.
The app is Chinese video-sharing social networking service owned by ByteDance, a Beijing-based internet technology company founded in 2012 by Zhang Yiming.
The company currently has over 1,400 employees with plans to engage thousands more.
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