Bad news for Tick Tock and WeChat users.
The United States government is bringing down the hammer and banning the Chinese owned apps from being downloaded and US app stores as of Sunday.
But will the app still work?
That part's complicated.
Let's break it down.
On Friday, the US Commerce Department issued a ban on Chinese own social networking apps Tick Tock and WeChat.
Citing national security and data privacy concerns.
We'll get to those security issues in a minute.
But for right now, it means you will not be able to download either app from Apple's App Store or the Google Play Store starting Sunday.
Now if you already have either app on your phone.
It means you will not be able to download any new updates.
And there's another layer of prohibitions that kick in Sunday for WeChat.
The app cannot host data or use servers in the US, so don't expect the app to run smoothly anymore.
There are about 19 million daily active users in the US Who use WeChat as a way to talk to family and friends and conduct business.
This could cut off folks from communicating on the platform effectively, but that seems service cut off won't happen for tik tok.
That is until November 12, just after the US election Trump administration is giving tic tocs owner by tedance time to make a deal to sell tic toc to an American company.
So yes, the app and the ability to make and share short videos will still work for a while.
But for it to keep working well and get security updates, the US and Chinese government would need to approve a sale.
Tik Tok expressed disappointment in an email statement, saying in our proposal to the US administration, we've already committed to unprecedented levels of additional transparency and accountability well beyond what other apps are willing to do, including third party audits verification of code security.
An US government oversight of us data security.
Further, an American technology provider will be responsible for maintaining and operating the tick tock network in the US, which would include all services and data serving us consumers.
This all comes after weeks of drama between us and Chinese authorities to come to an agreement that would allow the apps to continue operating.
The Trump administration is currently reviewing a deal between Oracle and bytedance.
To make the US company the quote trusted technology provider in the US for Tick Tock ads in order to address the security concerns.
The big security concern that the US has is that these apps could be forced to give up data about Americans to the Chinese government.
China has a national security law that require Acquires tech companies to cooperate with its investigations.
Tick Tock says it keeps user data in the US, with a backup in Singapore and it would not give data to the Chinese government if asked.
In a press briefing on Friday, US Commerce Department officials declined to provide.
Any examples of TikTok or WeChat, being used to spy on Americans or share data about Americans.
Rather, the argument is since the Chinese government can use the apps for surveillance in China, that same could be done to users in the US.
So if you boil it down, the reason it's not secure is because of their alleged connections to the Chinese government.
And that's where things stand.
As I record this on Friday afternoon, things are changing fast and this soap opera with a lot of moving parts.
And depending on how this plays out, it certainly impacts tensions between the US and China.
