President Biden is throwing out Trump-era bans on TikTok and WeChat after the former administration fought hard to prohibit the apps over national security concerns

President Joe Biden on Wednesday signed an executive order revoking former President Donald Trump's attempts to ban TikTok and WeChat in the US.

According to a press release shared with Insider, Biden's executive order calls for Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo to investigate apps with connections to foreign adversaries. The Associated Press and The New York Times also confirmed the news.

Biden was expected to abandon Trump's plans to ban TikTok when he took office, and Wednesday's executive order confirms as much.

"The administration is committed to promoting an open, interoperable, reliable, and secure internet and to protecting human rights online and offline, and to supporting a vibrant global digital economy," a White House official told The Verge, which first reported the news.

Trump in 2020 had targeted both apps and sought to ban them because of their ownership by Chinese companies. Crackdown on Chinese apps was a tenet of Trump's agenda, and his administration was concerned over Americans' user data being passed along to the Party. Judges previously halted the bans, though Biden's order rescinds them entirely.

Leave a Comment