Trump issues order to ban transactions with TikTok’s Chinese owner – Times of India

WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump on Thursday issued an executive order banning any transactions with ByteDance, the Chinese company that owns the video-sharing app TikTok, starting in 45 days.
The app may be used for disinformation campaigns that benefit the Chinese Communist Party and the United States “must take aggressive action against the owners of TikTok to protect our national security,” Trump said in the order.

Earlier, the US Senate on Thursday unanimously voted to approve a bill banning federal employees from using video-sharing app TikTok on government-issued devices, amid threats from the White House to ban the company.
The app has come under fire from US lawmakers and the Trump administration over national security concerns because China’s ByteDance owns the technology. The company currently faces a deadline of September 15 either to sell its US operations to Microsoft Corp or another US firm or face an outright ban.
Sources previously told Reuters that ByteDance executives value all of TikTok at more than $50 billion.
Under a Chinese law introduced in 2017, companies have an obligation to support and cooperate with the country’s national intelligence work.

“I’m encouraged by the bipartisan support we have seen in this body to hold the Chinese Communist Party accountable and that includes … holding accountable those corporations who would just do China’s bidding,” Senator Josh Hawley, who sponsored the bill, said in a statement.
“And, if I have anything to say about it, we won’t be stopping here,” the Republican senator added.
Last month, the House of Representatives voted to bar federal employees from downloading the app on government-issued devices as part of a proposal offered by Representative Ken Buck.