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United States President Donald Trump has said he’s banning TikTok in the US.
The popular platform sees users sharing short-form videos and has over 80 million users in the US. Launched by ByteDance in 2017, the service had over two billion downloads in April.
Speaking to reporters on Air Force One, President Trump said: “As far as TikTok is concerned, we’re banning them from the United States.”
It comes amid US fears for data-security at the Chinese-owned platform at a time when US-China relations continue to deteriorate.
Whilst he did not specific how he would achieve what he described as a “severance”, he did say the ban could come into force as early as this weekend.
“Well, I have that authority. I can do it with an executive order or that,” he added.
“As far as TikTok is concerned we’re banning them from the United States,” said @POTUS.
— Steve Herman (@W7VOA) August 1, 2020
ABOARD AIR FORCE ONE (AP) — Trump says he’ll act as soon as Saturday to ban Chinese-owned video app TikTok from US on security fears.
— Jonathan Lemire (@JonLemire) August 1, 2020
ABOARD AF1 – Potus says he plans to terminate the social media platform Tik-Tok in the US using presidential authority.
— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) August 1, 2020
Damn trump really doesn’t care about the youth vote at ALL https://t.co/6bVUsHUaXY
— FINNEAS (@finneas) August 1, 2020
RIP TikTok, Vine, Mixer, Vessel, DailyBooth, Yik Yak, MySpace and all of the over social media’s that ain’t survived lol
— KSI (@KSI) August 1, 2020
America really said delete tiktok and buy a gun
— mac kahey (@MacDoesIt) August 1, 2020
I can only imagine the lengths American TikTok teens will now go to in order to bring down Donald Trump. Off you go, kids. #TikTokUSban
— Emma Kennedy (@EmmaKennedy) August 1, 2020
If Tik-Tok goes away I hope for a socially distancing nationwide style dance for one last Tik-Tok to say goodbye. #TikTok pic.twitter.com/lHssiGXwrl
— Sebastian Danzig (@SebastianDanzig) August 1, 2020
As reported in The Washington Post, Trump’s announcement comes after he signed an order forcing Beijing-based owner ByteDance to sell the US portion of social network TikTok “due to national security concerns.”
US firm Microsoft is set to be in line to acquire the platform’s US service although there has been no official comment as yet.
A statement from TikTok said: “While we do not comment on rumours or speculation, we are confident in the long-term success of TikTok.”
Yesterday (July 31) The Weeknd shared details of a new live event on TikTok, with the social media platform describing the show as their “first-ever in-app cross reality experience”.
‘The Weeknd Experience’ will showcase the Grammy-winning artist – real name Abel Tesfaye – performing songs from his new album ‘After Hours’ as a digital avatar, as part of TikTok’s partnership with virtual entertainment company Wave.
A press release from the popular app promised fans will “have the chance to interact with The Weeknd throughout as he takes viewers on an epic ‘After Hours’ journey” through 3D renderings of the artist.
As with other live streams on the app, viewers will also be able to interact in real time during the broadcast.
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