Story and photo by Kristi Jones / Contributing Writer
The Trump Administrations announced that it will begin banning the Chinese-owned apps TikTok and WeChat after national-security concerns. WeChat will be prohibited indefinitely and users will not be allowed to download or update TikTok.
TikTok is a social network for sharing user-generated videos, mostly of people lip-synching to popular songs. WeChat is another Chinese messaging app with over 1 billion users.
The executive order to ban both apps began in August under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, which gives Trump the authority to regulate international commerce to address unusual or extraordinary threats. TikTok let out a statement saying that it has not given information to the Chinese government. TikTok stores its data in Virginia and is backed up in Singapore.
However, there is documentation that WeChat conversations have been looked at by the Chinese government. Experts are concerned that if TikTok users can not update their app, the same information will be easily exploited and used. TikTok was going to face the same fate as WeChat on November 12 if there was no deal created with oracle or another company to make TikTok a U.S. owned company partially.
Trump said that he has given his blessing to a deal where Oracle and Walmart will partner with U.S. Tik Tok. Oracle Corporation is an American multinational computer technology corporation. The company sells database software and technology, cloud engineered systems and enterprise software products.
Oracle is going to be TikTok’s cloud provider and an investor. Oracle and Walmart are going to have a combined 20 percent of TikTok and Walmart’s CEO will serve as a board member for the new company. The U.S. Commerce Department announced the prohibition of TikTok until Sept. 27.
Several TikTok creators have created an account on another app called Triller. Triller is a social network and entertainment platform first released in July of 2015. The app follows a similar style to that of TikTok. The app has over 120 million downloads as a result of TikTok’s ban in India. The number is on the rise as the U.S. ban becomes closer to date.
Kids and young adults are upset that their favorite addictive app is possibly going to be banned. In a survey conducted by Sidelines of over 80 college students, it showed that 75 percent said that they do not know what they will do without being able to access their favorite app.
While 51 percent of the survey said that they were on the app a great deal, only one person from the survey said that they used the sister app WeChat. Students said that if they do not have access to TikTok, they will work on school more or find another alternative social media app.
The survey showed that 73 percent of students thought that the ban will be lifted. More will be released whether the Walmart deal will be the norm of the future of the app or if it will be banned from the U.S.
To contact News Editor Toriana Williams, email newseditor@mtsusidelines.com.
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