The Trump administration is looking to ban more Chinese apps that they claim are a national security threat. This, according to the White House chief of staff, Mark Meadows. He made the comments on Thursday, aboard Air Force One, according to reports.
However, he did not mention anything about the specific apps that they are planning to block. These remarks are in line with the ones he made last month when he said that the Trump administration was seriously considering banning apps.
The reasoning behind it is that they may pose a threat by collecting personal information and could pose a risk to national security.
Sanctions and executive orders
Washington has been leading a campaign aimed at Chinese technology giants like Bytedance and Huawei. The Trump administration says that Huawei and other Chinese tech companies can collect American user data for Beijing.
Several firms have denied the claim. Huawei makes networking equipment and consumer products that have been hurt by crippling sanctions, some of which threaten to prevent access to crucial semiconductors.
Last month, Trump targeted the companies Bytedance (the company that owns TikTok) and Tencent (they own WeChat). He signed executive orders, banning American transactions with the firms. He signed another order on August 14th, giving TikTok only 90 days to divest their U.S. operations.
Tensions escalate
Oracle, Walmart, and Microsoft are all in a bidding war to buy part of TikTok’s business. The deal could be worth $20-$30 billion and is expected to close soon.
However, this last Friday, China updated its list of technologies with export restrictions. Now, the list includes technologies where personalized information services are based on data analysis.
Also read: Oracle: stop, think and acquire something other than TikTok