The USA banned the use of Tiktok and Wechat on September 20

Starting September 20, TikTok and WeChat should be removed from the AppStore, Google Play, and other app marketplaces in the United States.

The ban is made for reasons of national security. This follows from the press release of the US Department of Commerce distributed on Friday.

“Since September 20, the following activities have been banned: any provision of services for the distribution or maintenance

[of operation] of the WeChat and TikTok applications through the online application store in the United States,” it said. Apple and Google app stores will not be able to offer apps for installation on any platform that might be available from the US.

US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross told the publication that the ban on downloading TikTok and WeChat is related to the fight

against the collection of personal data of American users by China. “We have taken significant action to combat China’s malicious collection of personal data from American citizens while advancing our national values and democratic norms,” Ross said.

In August, it became known that TikTok was collecting unique identifiers from millions of Android devices,

violating Google’s privacy policies. The information collected allowed the application to track users online.

At the end of August, TikTok owners filed a lawsuit against the US presidential administration. TikTok also accused Facebook of trying to use the policy to harm the service. According to TikTok representatives, the Chinese authorities do not have access to the data of American users, since it is

stored on servers in the United States and Singapore, and is also separated from the information that is collected

by other services developed by ByteDance.