US President Joe Biden has canceled the decrees of his predecessor, Donald Trump, to restrict the operation of Tiktok, WeChat and other Chinese technology companies. The American leader also instructed the relevant departments to check for threats to the security of the country and the data of Americans when using Chinese applications, the press service of the White House said.
“President Biden has withdrawn and replaced three decrees that banned TikTok, WeChat and eight other communications and fintech applications,” it said. It notes that two of the decrees signed by Trump are already the subject of legal proceedings.
At the same time, the White House continues to insist that China “does not share the values” of an open and secure Internet and “seeks to use digital technology and American data in ways that pose unacceptable risks to national security.” “The new decree aims to make decisions based on criteria and evidence-based analysis to eliminate risks in transactions with applications developed, controlled by or under the jurisdiction of a foreign adversary, including the People’s Republic of China,” it said.
To do this, Biden instructed the Department of Commerce to assess the danger of each application related to China, identify those that pose an “unacceptable risk” to the American state and its citizens, and develop options for protecting data from their actions.
On August 3, 2020, Trump threatened to ban TikTok from operating in the country if it was not sold to a US company by September 15. He later signed two decrees prohibiting US citizens from entering into deals and transactions with Chinese companies ByteDance and Tencent, as well as their subsidiaries. In the US, it is believed that their applications can transmit information about users to Chinese intelligence services.
To avoid blocking, ByteDance first appointed a former top manager of Walt Disney, American Kevin Mayer, as CEO of TikTok, and then began to consider the possibility of selling the American segment of the social network to US investors. Initially, negotiations were held with ByteDance shareholders – American funds Sequoia Capital and General Atlantic. Then Microsoft was called a potential buyer. The consortium of Oracle and Walmart also became a contender for the purchase.
However, in February 2021, after Trump’s departure from the presidency and joining the Biden White House, the South China Morning Post, citing sources, reported that ByteDance may refuse to sell the American part of the business to the Oracle and Walmart consortium. At the same time, The Wall Street Journal, citing sources, reported that Trump’s plan to forcibly sell American TikTok was postponed indefinitely.
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