President Biden revokes Trump executive orders against TikTok, WeChat

The U.S. President Joe Biden on Wednesday revoked a series of executive orders signed during the Donald Trump administration targeting TikTok, WeChat and other Chinese apps, and replaced them with a new executive order addressing apps linked to foreign adversaries. /Xinhua

The U.S. President Joe Biden on Wednesday revoked a series of executive orders signed during the Donald Trump administration targeting TikTok, WeChat and other Chinese apps, and replaced them with a new executive order addressing apps linked to foreign adversaries.

Wednesday's order is aimed at protecting Americans' personal data, according to a White House news release, and orders the Commerce Department to develop criteria for assessing potential national security risks associated with apps that are "owned, controlled, or managed by persons that support foreign adversary military or intelligence activities, or are involved in malicious cyber activities, or involve applications that collect sensitive personal data."

The order also instructs the Commerce Department to draft a report with recommendations on how to safeguard Americans' personal data, including their genetic data, as well as a second report containing additional policy proposals.

The short-form video app TikTok's parent company, Bytedance, is based in China. Last year, the Trump administration sought to force Bytedance to spin off TikTok into a new company owned primarily by US investors.