The additional ban of WeChat is the more interesting portion of the order. WeChat is not as popular as Tik Tok on App Stores or even among internet users in United States generally. It’s ban looks like opening move more than endgame.
The Commerce Department order will “de-platform” the two apps in the U.S. and bar Apple Inc’s app store, Alphabet Inc’s Google Play and others from offering the apps on any platform “that can be reached from within the United States,” a senior Commerce official told Reuters.
The order will not ban U.S. companies from doing business on WeChat outside the United States, which will be welcome news to U.S. firms like Walmart and Starbucks that use WeChat’s embedded “mini-app” programs to facilitate transactions and engage consumers in China, officials said.
The order will not bar transactions with WeChat-owner Tencent Holdings’ other businesses, including its online gaming operations, and will not prohibit Apple, Google or others from offering TikTok or WeChat apps anywhere outside the United
States.
Source: CBC
