US President Donald Trump stated Friday he will ban fast-growing Chinese social media app TikTok from the United States as American authorities have increased concerns the service could be used by Chinese intelligence.
Speaking to journalists on Air Force One, Trump stated: “As far as TikTok is concerned, we’re banning them from the United States.”
Trump stated he could use emergency economic powers or executive order. It was not immediately clear what such an order would look like and what legal challenges it might face. “Well, I have that authority,” he said.
The app, which supports users to shoot film and share short videos of themselves along to accompanying music, is controlled by the Chinese company ByteDance. The relationship has caused the Trump administration, as well as lawmakers over both aisles, to accuse the app of being a security threat
Earlier on Friday, people operating on the issue within the Trump government assumed the President to sign an order to force ByteDance, the Chinese company that owns the social media TikTok platform, to sell the US operations of TikTok, according to a person familiar with the matter.
