US President Biden has revoked a number of decrees issued by his predecessor Donald Trump. They were aimed at Chinese apps such as TikTok and WeChat.
Biden does want an investigation into the security of users’ personal data by apps controlled by foreign actors such as China.
Trump said apps controlled by China posed a risk to US national security. According to him, the video service TikTok and the social medium WeChat collected confidential data that came into the hands of China. The companies behind those apps deny that.
To counter that, Trump wanted to limit the use of those apps, and he wanted to force the Chinese company ByteDance – the owner of TikTok – to sell the app to an American company, which has led to a legal battle.
Biden is now scrapping those measures but replacing them with others. For example, he wants a major investigation into the risks that TikTok, WeChat and other apps “controlled or operated by persons who support foreign secret or military activities, who are involved in cybercrime or who collect sensitive personal information.”
“A number of countries, including China, do not share our democratic values and want to collect technology and data that poses an unacceptable risk to national security while advocating authoritarian interests and controls.”
As in other dossiers, Biden does not weaken Trump’s anti-Chinese stance but replaces it with other measures.
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