US President Joe Biden has revoked and replaced the three executive orders prohibiting transactions with TikTok, WeChat and eight other apps. The executive offer was signed by the 45th US President Donald Trump.
“President Biden revoked and replaced three E.O.s (executive orders) that aimed to prohibit transactions with TikTok, WeChat, and eight other communications and financial technology software applications; two of these E.O.s are subject to litigation,” the White House said in a fact sheet released on Wednesday.
The new order replacing the three E.O.s states that the US Commerce Department will evaluate all software applications connected with “foreign adversaries” under recent US supply-chain security rules. It will then take the appropriate actions. Apart from this, the order also states that the US Commerce Department will draft a report with recommendations on how to safeguard Americans’ personal data, including their genetic data, as well as a second report containing additional policy proposals.
Why were TikTok, WeChat and more banned in the US?
Donald Trump during his tenure as the US President implemented three executive orders outright banning TikTok, WeChat and eight other Chinese apps in the US stating that apps were a threat to the security of the country and to the privacy of its citizens.
The American Civil Liberties Union has welcomed Biden’s move to replace Trump’s E.O.s, stating that the old E.O.s “blatantly violated the First Amendment rights of TikTok and WeChat users in the US.”
Not all of Trump’s orders have been opposed by the Biden administration. To recall, the Biden administration earlier this week banned 59 Chinese military and surveillance firms from acquiring US investors or investments. This expands the original list of 44 Chinese companies targeted by Trump in a November executive order.
