Ban Chinese social media applications
What the document says“Ban all Chinese social media apps such as TikTok and WeChat, which pose significant national security risks”
The essay says these applications expose American consumers to data and identity theft. It appears in the list of measures the essay asks the next President to adopt as a package.
What the document actually says“Ban all Chinese social media apps such as TikTok and WeChat, which pose significant national security risks”
Ban Chinese social apps like TikTok and WeChat. They are a security risk.
Some popular apps are owned by Chinese firms. This essay says they put data at risk. It says they should be banned.
This chapter contains the opposing case. 'The Case for Free Trade', by Kent Lassman, argues the reverse: that tariffs have backfired, that trade policy is the wrong tool for industrial goals, and that the next Administration should ignore what it calls populist ideologues seeking protection. Neither essay is presented as the chapter's conclusion.
Application of Protecting Americans From Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act to TikTok
2025-01-20 · 90 FR 8611
The proposal asks for a ban on Chinese social media applications including TikTok. Executive Order 14166 of January 20, 2025 goes the other way on the same application: it orders the Attorney General not to enforce the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act for 75 days, to impose no penalty for conduct during that period or before it, to write each provider a letter stating there was no violation, and to resist enforcement by states or private parties. What it does not do is repeal the statute: the ban remains law, the order is framed as time limited while the administration reviews intelligence and seeks a divestiture, and three later orders extended the delay. It also reaches only TikTok and other ByteDance applications, not WeChat or Chinese applications generally.
The book asked for a ban on Chinese social apps. This order goes the other way on one of them. It tells the Attorney General not to enforce the ban law for 75 days. He must also write the owner that no law was broken. The ban itself is still law, and later orders stretched the delay. The order reaches only that app and its owner, not other Chinese apps.