The White House remains very concerned about the data risks of TikTok users, another administration official told reporters. The January Trump order directed officials to ban transactions with eight Chinese apps including Ant Group’s Alipay and Tencent Holdings Ltd’s QQ Wallet and WeChat pay; no bans have been issued to date. The Trump administration contended that WeChat and TikTok posed national security concerns because sensitive personal data of US users could be collected by China’s government. Both TikTok, which has over 100 million users in the United States, and WeChat have denied posing national security concerns. The Trump administration had appealed judicial orders blocking the bans on TikTok and WeChat, but after Biden took office in January, the U.S. Justice Department asked to pause the appeals.

Source: The Irish Times June 09, 2021 20:37 UTC