The U.S. will ban some transactions over the Chinese-owned WeChat app while freezing TikTok’s app starting Sunday, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said.
Ross said Friday that the U.S. will prohibit U.S.-to-U.S. transactions related to WeChat and its parent company Tencent Holdings Ltd. but that will not impact activity in China. Transactions prohibited as of Sept. 20 including distribution, maintenance and updates of WeChat or TikTok through app store in the U.S.
The Commerce Department in a release Friday said the president has provided until Nov. 12 for national security concerns posed by ByteDance Ltd.’s TikTok to be resolved. If they are, the prohibitions in this order may be lifted.
In August, President Donald Trump issued executive orders prohibiting U.S. residents and firms from doing business with Tencent’s WeChat and ByteDance’s TikTok.