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TikTok to be BANNED in US in 45 days as Trump signs executive order deeming app a ‘national security threat’
TikTok will be banned in the United States in 45 days after President Donald Trump signed an executive order classifying the popular app a "national security threat."
The executive order released on Thursday claims the video and music-based social media app poses "real" risks to citizens.
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President has insisted the US "must take aggressive action against the owners of to protect our national security."
The will be banned on September 20 if its parent company ByteDance doesn't sell its American operations.
Also on the chopping block is , a multi-purpose messaging and mobile payment app launched in 2011 by Chinese developer Tencent.
"At this time, action must be taken to address the threat posed by one mobile app in particular, TikTok," the order says.
"TikTok automatically captures vast swaths of information from its users, including internet and other network activity information such as location data and browsing and search histories.
"This data threatens to allow the Chinese Communist Party access to Americans' personal and proprietary information, potentially allowing China to track the locations of Federal employees and contractors, build dossiers of personal information for blackmail, and conduct corporate espionage."
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According to a issued by the on Thursday, Trump said: "These risks are real."
"The Department of Homeland Security, Transportation Security Administration, and the United States Armed Forces have already banned the use of TikTok on Federal Government phones," the statement continued.
"The United States must take aggressive action against the owners of TikTok to protect our national security."
Trump also signed another executive order banning the mobile app WeChat because it posed a "similar threat."
The orders, which use similar language, don't state that a certain amount of money from the sale needs to be sent to the US Treasury Department - something Trump has insisted on for several days, according to .
is the only app other than TikTok to be named by the US as a national security risk.
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It's a social media app of sorts that lets users message one another, organize events, send payments and get the news.
For both apps, an unspecified ban on "transactions" will be enforced in 45 days.
Microsoft said on Sunday , and the company could strike a $30billion deal to buy the app in a matter of days.
The tech giant is currently racing against a September deadline to finalize a buy-out of the hugely popular app.
The September 15 deadline is being imposed by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, which regulates international deals based on security risks.
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Meanwhile, Trump has demanded that any potential deal would need to result in a .
Purchasing the app could be a huge coup for Microsoft and the US, as TikTok serves more than 100million American users.
It would give Microsoft a better chance of competing with major social media rivals, in particular Facebook.
TikTok thanks everyone for support and discusses future of company in posted video
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