TikTok, WeChat Actions by Trump Targeting China Revoked by Biden

President Biden on Wednesday revoked executive orders targeting the Chinese-owned TikTok and WeChat apps signed by former President Donald Trump, and signed a new order requiring security reviews of these and other apps in the jurisdiction of foreign adversaries.

The new order directs the Commerce Department to instead evaluate software applications connected with foreign adversaries under recent U.S. supply-chain security rules “and take action, as appropriate,” according to a fact sheet.

The Commerce Department will be required to review apps “involving software applications that are designed, developed, manufactured, or supplied by persons that are owned or controlled by, or subject to the jurisdiction of a foreign adversary, including the People’s Republic of China, that may present an undue or unacceptable risk to the national security of the United States and the American people,” according to the White House fact sheet.

The order also provides criteria for identifying and evaluating apps that may pose an unacceptable risk to U.S. national security and Americans’ data security.

This includes apps that “may present a heightened risk when the transactions involve applications that are owned, controlled, or managed by persons that support foreign adversary military or intelligence activities, or are involved in malicious cyber activities, or involve applications that collect sensitive personal data.”

The Trump administration’s executive orders targeting the TikTok app owned by Beijing-based ByteDance Ltd. and the WeChat app owned by Shenzhen-based Tencent Holdings Ltd. had been blocked by federal court injunctions. In the case of TikTok, Mr. Trump sought to force a sale of the company to U.S. owners.