The Commerce Department has issued an initial set of data security recommendations under an executive order signed by U.S. President Joe Biden.
Last June, Biden withdrew a series of Trump-era executive orders aimed at banning new downloads of WeChat and TikTok and ordered a review by the Commerce Department of the security concerns raised by the apps, ordering the agency to review U.S. data and make recommendations to protect data acquired by companies controlled by foreign adversaries.
The Trump presidency claimed WeChat and TikTok posed national security concerns because sensitive personal data of U.S. users could be obtained by the Chinese government.
U.S. courts blocked those orders, which were never implemented.
TikTok has more than 100 million users in the U.S., and Republican Senator Mark Rubio questioned the steps Commerce is “taking to ensure such personal information does not end up in Beijing’s possession.”
Another review of TikTok, launched by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. is still underway, a White House official said in June.
Biden’s executive order repealed the WeChat and TikTok orders Trump issued in August 2020, including another order scheduled for January 2022 targeting eight other applications of communications and financial technology software.