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U.S. will ban WeChat and TikTok downloads beginning on Sunday. Here’s what that means for you

Commerce Department will ban TikTok downloads, which puts your app in danger of never updating.

By Herb Scribner Herb Scribnerhscribner@deseretnews.com
SHARE U.S. will ban WeChat and TikTok downloads beginning on Sunday. Here’s what that means for you
This Tuesday, Feb. 25, 2020 photo shows the icon for TikTok taken in New York. From the perspective of teens flooding onto TikTok, the Chinese-owned online video app is a major new outlet for self-expression, one proudly home to the silly, the loud and the weird. To others, though, the service is an unnerving black box that could be sharing information with the Chinese government, facilitating espionage, or just promoting videos and songs some parents consider lewd. (AP Photo)

This Tuesday, Feb. 25, 2020, photo shows the icon for TikTok taken in New York. From the perspective of teens flooding onto TikTok, the Chinese-owned online video app is a major new outlet for self-expression, one proudly home to the silly, the loud and the weird. To others, though, the service is an unnerving black box that could be sharing information with the Chinese government, facilitating espionage, or just promoting videos and songs some parents consider lewd. (AP Photo)

Associated Press

The U.S Commerce Department will ban downloads of TikTok and WeChat on Sunday as the Trump administration’s new executive order begins to take shape.

  • Apple and Google app stores will not be allowed to maintain either WeChat and TikTok within the app store.

What it means:

Don’t worry — this doesn’t mean TikTok will disappear from your phone.

Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross told Fox Business on Friday:

  • “The only real change as of Sunday night will be (TikTok users) won’t have access to improved apps, updated apps, upgraded apps or maintenance.”
Related

People who have downloaded WeChat and TikTok can still use the apps. They just can’t update them through app updates, according to the Commerce Department.

WeChat users won’t be allowed to host or transfer internet traffic associated with the app, though. That rule goes into effect for TikTok on Nov. 12.

Hope for Tiktok

President Donald Trump is still reviewing a proposal for Oracle and ByteDance to be tech partners in keeping TikTok in the United States, which I wrote about for Deseret.com. The deadline for that decision is Nov. 12.