President Joe Biden signed an executive order that rescinded executive orders by former President Donald Trump intended to ban TikTok, WeChat and other Chinese-owned apps.
“President Biden revoked and replaced three E.O.s that aimed to prohibit transactions with TikTok, WeChat, and eight other communications and financial technology software applications,” a White House Fact Sheet said.
The Fact Sheet added Biden’s new order “directs the use of a criteria-based decision framework and rigorous, evidence-based analysis to address the risks posed by ICTS transactions involving software applications that are designed, developed, manufactured, or supplied by persons that are owned or controlled by, or subject to the jurisdiction of a foreign adversary, including the People’s Republic of China, that may present an undue or unacceptable risk to the national security of the United States and the American people.”
The popular video-sharing app TikTok came under scrutiny when Trump sought to ban it from American app stores. The company is owned by Chinese-owned ByteDance, allowing a Chinese company access to wide-scale American personal data.
The Washington Examiner said, “A federal court injunction had blocked Trump’s order meant to ban TikTok and another Chinese social media app called WeChat.”
Though loved by many young Americans, TikTok’s Chinese ownership opens many security risks. Unlike American owned social media providers, the U.S. holds no jurisdiction over how user data is used.
China has been known to use photo identification in its own country to track dissidents, a practice spoken against widely by democratic nations.
Biden’s rollback of a Trump executive order should not be surprising. He has picked up the moniker China Joe for a reason.
The president’s China influence has far-reaching connections. And it’s not just the president. His son, Hunter Biden, is under ongoing investigation for his international business connections, including in China.
A 2017 email included a $10 million annual fee to Hunter Biden’s company from a Chinese billionaire. Another email included business dealings connecting Hunter, his dad and China’s largest energy firm.
Much is still unknown about the details involving the president, Hunter Biden and China, but one 2013 report confirmed Hunter flew on Air Force II with his father, who was then vice president, to Beijing where they met an investment banker named Jonathan Li. Twelve days later, a major business deal was approved involving Li and Hunter Biden.
Now the president wants to rescind Trump’s executive orders and replace them with his own to better provide cyber security. Isn’t this the guy who just approved a Russian oil pipeline after Russians shut down an American oil pipeline?
TikTok may be the least of our nation’s worries under the Biden administration. The CCP won’t have to sneak around to get better access to American data. All they need is Biden to stay in the White House and let them get away with whatever they want.
