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"We may ban TikTok," President Trump told reporters, saying the announcement might come as soon as the weekend.
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TikTok how the United States will block the Chinese application
"We may ban TikTok," President Trump told reporters, saying the announcement might come as soon as the weekend.
He added that there are other options - but how can the ban work?
One obvious starting point will be Apple and Google ordered to remove the app from their online stores.
This can be done by adding the owner of TikTok owner Bytedance to the list of Commerce Department entities, and preventing U.S. companies from working with them - a similar tactic has been used to stop Google from introducing its apps to Huawei.
This will prevent new users from downloading the application.
Existing users will be prevented from receiving notifications and installing updates, although they still have the app on their devices.
One way to address this is to tell Apple and Google to use the "pause key" facility that they both own, allowing them to erase or prevent blacklisted apps from running.
A Brazilian judge once threatened to compel the two companies to use power in 2014 but eventually retreated.
Apple and Google are likely to hate controlling users' smartphones in this way and may resist such a demand.
So the easiest alternative might be to force local internet service providers to block access to TikTok servers.
This would have the added advantage of preventing TikTok videos from showing on its website.
India took such action when it banned TikTok and dozens of other Chinese apps. Users have reported an inability to circumvent the ban with a virtual private network (VPN).
But it is not clear how Trump will impose such an order.
A less severe way to ban TikTok from being installed on federal employees ’work phones.
Congress has already voted in favor of the idea and is still being considered by the Senate. But this would be a much less dramatic move than what Trump seems to suggest.
Trump says he may ban the Chinese video application in the United States
TikTok: How the app collided with the United States and China
Another possibility is that the U.S.
ical.ly, whose users were migrated to TikTok in 2018. TikTok has been banned
Musical.ly was owned by another Chinese company.
But Ficus can review acquisitions that are likely to pose a threat to national security. Because Bytedance did not request an acquisition permit at the time, the commission was able to launch a post-deal investigation last year.
If Cifus refuses the acquisition, Bytedance may order the closure of service in the United States.
The question is whether the excluded TikTok will be allowed to continue under different ownership as an alternative, perhaps even as the brand changes.
Microsoft is said to be in talks to acquire the business - and some online brands have already suggested that it might be called Microsoft Teens (a game in the company's Teams service).
The US tech giant is supposed to be seen as the most reliable guardian of the data the app collects, and it is feared that China may still reach its records in one way or another.
When asked about the possibility of such a deal, Microsoft declined to comment.
What does TikTok say?
The largest TikTok investor comes from the United States.
s and meaningful professions of those who create our platform."
March 2012: Bytedance Founded in China, Nathan Duanzi Launched - An App to Help Chinese Users Share Memes
September 2016: Bytedance launches Douyin short video app in China
August 2017: An international version of Douyin under the TikTok brand was launched in some parts of the world, but not the United States at this time banning TikTok
November 2017 Bytedance purchased the Music app Musicaly
May 2018: TikTok announced the world's most downloaded non-iOS app for the first three months of the year, by market research firm Sensor Tower
August 2018: Bytedance announced it would shut down Musical.ly and move users to TikTok
February 2019: TikTok was fined in the U.S. for Musical.ly handling data for children under 13 years old
October 2019: Mark Zuckerberg publicly criticized TikTok for accusing him of monitoring protests
November 2019: Sifos opens national security investigation at TikTok
May 2020: TikTok appoints Disney CEO Kevin Meyer to become division chief and chief operating officer of Bytedance
July 2020: US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, then President Trump, said that TikTok might be banned
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