Tech

President Trump Is ‘Looking at’ Banning TikTok

MAJOR

Speculation about a ban on the Chinese-owned app has heightened in recent days.

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Narinder Nanu/AFP via Getty

Asked on Wednesday if he was nearing a decision about banning TikTok, President Trump told reporters, “We’re looking at TikTok, we’re thinking about making a decision.” The Trump administration has recently ramped up threats to ban the Chinese-owned social network, which has been downloaded 2 billion times. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said he’s taking the perceived security threat from TikTok seriously and the Trump campaign has run ads on Facebook calling for a ban. Critics say the app, owned by Beijing-based tech company ByteDance, can access material stored on users’ clipboards and poses a national security threat. Wells Fargo said on Monday it would ban the app on employees phones. Amazon did the same but later walked back the directive.

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