TIK OFF
Trump announces TikTok to be BANNED from the US as president insists he ‘has authority’ to outlaw Chinese-owned app
PRESIDENT Donald Trump says he plans to officially ban TikTok in the US — and might act as soon as Saturday.
made the announcement on Air Force One on Friday night as he returned from a trip to .
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“As far as is concerned, we’re banning them from the ,” the president told reporters.
Trump said he could use emergency economic powers or an executive order to enforce the action.
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“I have that authority," he said aboard the presidential plane.
TikTok is a video app that's become popular among Americans in the last two years or so.
Users on the app create, watch, and engage with videos that range from fun dance trends to beekeepers rescuing honeybees.
It was the world’s second most downloaded app in the third quarter of 2019, with an estimated 176 million downloads.
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TikTok lets users create and share short videos with music and camera effects.
It is owned by Beijing-based ByteDance, founded by the entrepreneur Zhang Yiming.
The $75billion conglomerate acquired the Musical.ly app in 2017 and merged it with TikTok, bringing millions of new users.
It is the world’s most downloaded iPhone app — with nearly 800 million downloads across the globe, according to data from mobile research firm Sensor Tower.
Facebook has taken notice of TikTok's rising popularity, and launched a competitor app called Lasso in November last year.
TikTok and hundreds of millions of users worldwide.
But while it's considered fun by users, US lawmakers about the company’s ownership.
TikTok has denied allegations that it shares user data with the Chinese government.
Trump's announcement on Friday came after reports claimed .
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It was also .
In response to reports on Friday, TikTok said in a statement: "While we do not comment on rumors or speculation, we are confident in the long-term success of TikTok.”
TikTok recently backed away from making the its global headquarters amid rising tensions between Britain and China.
Earlier in the week, Trump had warned he was considering banning TikTok from the country, but said his administration was "looking at a lot of alternatives with respect to TikTok."
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Talks of banning the app came about earlier this month when Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the US was “certainly looking at” banning Chinese social media apps, including TikTok, but offered no further details.
"With respect to Chinese apps on people's cell phones, I can assure you the United States will get this one right," Pompeo said during an interview on Fox News, when he was asked about a possible US ban.
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Pompeo explained that Americans should only use the app if they want their "private information in the hands of the Chinese Communist Party."
Other have criticized the social media app.
Senator Josh Hawley, a Missouri Republican, by the US Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.
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