Biden drops ban on TikTok, other Chinese-owned apps, wants security review
US courts have successfully blocked the former administration's August 2020 order banning the apps
Unfilled key positions in Biden administration impacts TikTok deal: Gasparino
Sources tell FOX Business' Charlie Gasparino that the Biden administration still has not selected top economic positions to sign off on any TikTok deals.
President Biden on Wednesday dropped the former Trump administration's executive order blocking U.S. operations with TikTok and other Chinese-owned apps like WeChat and called for a security review of the apps.
U.S. courts have successfully blocked the former administration's August 2020 order banning the apps' U.S. operations. The order cited national security concerns due to a 2017 Chinese law that says any Chinese company must share data with the Chinese government upon request.
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"President Biden revoked and replaced three E.O.s 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 president's Wednesday executive order reads.
In their place, the Biden administration issued a new executive order directing "the use of a criteria-based decision framework and rigorous, evidence-based analysis to address the risks posed by [information and communications technology and services] transactions involving" Chinese-developed or Chinese-controlled apps "that may present an undue or unacceptable risk to the national security of the United States and the American people."
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TikTok is owned by Chinese tech giant ByteDance, though the social media app has repeatedly said it does not share any user information with the Chinese Communist Party.
The U.S. ban put pressure on the China-based company to sell the app’s U.S. platform to Oracle and Walmart under Trump, but the app ultimately decided in February not to sell its ownership.