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Late on Thursday, President Trump issued executive orders threatening to ban the popular Chinese apps TikTok and WeChat in the U.S. in the next 45 days. While we have written lots of words
about what a TikTok ban (and rumored acquisition by Microsoft) would
mean, Trump’s attack on WeChat has a potentially more disruptive ripple
effect.
First, what is WeChat?
It’s a
messaging app with over 1 billion users owned by Tencent, one of the
largest companies in China. But, similar to other Chinese apps like Alipay,
WeChat has morphed into a “super app” crammed with all sorts of extra
features that allow users to transfer money and shop online, in addition
to sending messages.
- It’s also a popular way for users in the U.S. to communicate with friends and family back in China, given that other U.S. messaging apps are banned by the Chinese government.
Apple isn’t going bananas for a ban
The world’s
largest company does 20% of its iPhone sales in China, but the executive
order would force it to pull WeChat from its App Store. Here's the
problem: When Chinese consumers were asked if they would rather give up
their iPhones or WeChat, they voted to keep WeChat by a margin of 20-to-1, Bloomberg reports.
- If a ban goes through,
former iPhone users could turn to Chinese tech giant Huawei for their
next phone, benefitting another Chinese company President Trump has
tried to constrain.
Experts are still trying to decode the language of the order, which left many things open-ended. So we don't know yet the potential consequences for the many U.S. companies—along with Apple—that operate in China.
Bottom line: The Trump administration continues to warn of the security risks
posed by Chinese firms scraping data from American consumers. Banning
WeChat would be *cough* an unprecedented escalation of the U.S. and
China’s “tech cold war.”
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I AM A REPUBLICAN BORN AND BRED
IN AMERICA .I BELIEVE IN EQUALITY AND JUSTICE AND THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES.I SERVED IN THE UNITED STATES AIR FORCE
MAJORED IN GEOLOGY AND MUSIC AND WENT TO ANGELO STATE IN SAN ANGELO, TEXAS
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