U.S. President Donald Trump has signed two executive orders that would officially ban any U.S. transactions with the Chinese companies that own TikTok and WeChat, in an escalation of the ongoing technological cold war between the two countries.
The executive orders would prohibit "any transaction by any person, or with respect to any property, subject to the jurisdiction of the United States," with ByteDance and Tencent, beginning in 45 days. TikTok said it was "shocked" by the executive order and that it will respond in court, if necessary.
TikTok has come under increasing scrutiny by the U.S. government due to security concerns. TikTok is owned by Chinese company ByteDance, which can theoretically be compelled by Chinese law to hand over all collected user data. TikTok gathers a large amount of user data, and has raised concerns related to censorship and privacy.
Trump earlier this week said that TikTok must sell off its U.S. operations in 45 days and that the deal must include a substantial payment to
