U.S. Targets Eight Additional Mainland Chinese Apps

An executive order issued on 5 January adds eight apps to the list of U.S.-banned smartphone apps based in mainland China. President Trump signed two EOs on 6 August 2020 aimed at addressing the threat posed by TikTok and Wechat, and the new EO directs the U.S. Secretary of Commerce to also ban Alipay, CamScanner, QQ Wallet, SHAREit, Tencent QQ, VMate, WeChat Pay and WPS Office, although the EO provides 45 days advance notice of any enforcement of the new ban. The new EO argues that software developed or controlled by persons in mainland China, including Hong Kong and Macao, continues to “threaten the national security, foreign policy, and economy of the United States.”

The EO instructs the Secretary of Commerce to determine which specific transactions should be prohibited based on concerns that the apps collect “personally identifiable information” about Americans that could be forwarded to the government in Beijing. It also directs the Secretary of Commerce to evaluate software applications that may pose an unacceptable risk to the national security, foreign policy or economy of the United States, requiring the Commerce Department to take appropriate action against any additional apps found to constitute a threat. The Secretary of Commerce must prepare a report in the next 45 days, in consultation with the Attorney General and the Director of National Intelligence, with recommendations to prevent the export of user data to foreign adversaries. The report would recommend regulations and policies to identify, control and licence the export of such data.

The TikTok and WeChat bans have not gone into effect as a result of court decisions in favour of the apps, their parent companies and their users. DOC officials discussing the new EO insist that these additional bans will be found to be valid, although their implementation will be left to the incoming Biden administration’s Commerce Secretary. If Gina Raimondo, governor of Rhode Island and a former venture capitalist, becomes the new Secretary of Commerce as announced, this will be one of many issues she will need to address. EOs can be rescinded by any new administration and their implementation can also be changed.