It’s Official: Trump Is Banning TikTok And WeChat

Well....the time that we have been dreading has arrived.

Less than a day after the news regarding Oracle purchasing TikTok went public, President Trump announced that he would still be banning the Chinese-based applications WeChat and TikTok because of "security issues."

Starting this Sunday, WeChat will be banned all together.

However, TikTok's timeline is a little bit more complicated.

Also starting this Sunday, new downloads of the TikTok app will be blocked so if you don't have it yet and want to check it out before it is too late, I would download it like yesterday.

Then TikTok users -- there is over 100 million by the way -- will have a few more weeks to use the video-based app.

The overall banning of TikTok -- aka internet hosting and transit services -- will not banned until November 12th.

But....if I am reading this correctly, there may be a smidgen of hope.

"The real shut down would come after Nov. 12 in the event that there is not another transaction," Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said in an interview on the Fox Business Network. "So it’s very different how the two are being handled and that reflects the quantitative and the qualitative differences between the two apps."

"In the event that there is not another transaction," indicates ( at least to me) that if the ownership of TikTok changes through a business deal that is closed by November 12th, then the app may not be banned.

Plus, other industry professionals are worried that the upcoming TikTok ban will also hurt the other major social media networks.

"We agree that this type of ban would be bad for the industry," tweeted Vanessa Pappas, interim global chief of TikTok. "We invite Facebook and Instagram to publicly join our challenge and support our litigation. This is a moment to put aside our competition and focus on core principles like freedom of expression and due process of law."

It sounds like WeChat is done for but with TikTok, there may be a bit of hope.

Keep your fingers, toes, eyes and ears crossed until I let you know otherwise for good luck.

Take a look at the original sources for this article HERE and HERE.