China lambasts US, asks it to cease 'wrongful actions' following TikTok ban

China, on September 19, accused the US of “bullying” and urged it to stop its ‘wrongful actions’. These remarks from Beijing come after Washington banned two major Chinese applications TikTok and WeShare citing threat to national security. The Commerce Department confirmed that the new order will prohibit any provision of service to distribute or maintain WeChat or TikTok, constituent code or application updates through an online mobile application store in the US. 

However, in a statement, the Chinese Ministry of Commerce said, “China urges the US to abandon bullying, cease its wrongful actions and earnestly maintain fair and transparent international rules and order”. In addition, it also warned that the US insisted "on going it's way” then China would take necessary measures to safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese companies.

Later, Bytedance, the company which owns TikTok asserted that they disagreed and were disappointed by the Trump administration's decision. "We disagree with the decision from the Commerce Department, and are disappointed that it stands to block new app downloads from Sunday and ban use of the TikTok app in the US from November 12, we will continue to challenge the unjust executive order," ByteDance said in a statement.

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US bans TkTok, WeChat

The US Department of Commerce, on September 18, announced prohibitions on transactions relating to Chinese apps WeChat and TikTok in a bid to safeguard the national security. The US officials believe that the threats posed by WeChat and TikTok are ‘not identical’, however, they are similar. Both the mobile applications are believed to collect ‘vast swaths of data’ from users, including network activity, location data, and browsing and search histories. The Department of Commerce said that the Chinese-owned apps is an ‘active participant in China’s civil-military fusion’ and is subject to ‘mandatory cooperation with the intelligence services of the CCP’. 

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