⁍ TikTok users, on the other hand, will see little change until Nov. 12 when a ban on some technical transactions will kick in, affecting its functionality.

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⁍ The ban on new U.S. downloads of the widely popular app could still be rescinded by President Donald Trump before it takes effect if ByteDance seals a deal with Oracle that addresses concerns about the security of its users’ data.

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⁍ The Trump administration has ramped up efforts to purge ‘untrusted’ Chinese apps from U.S. digital networks amid escalating tensions with Beijing.

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– Americans can no longer download the popular Chinese social media apps TikTok and WeChat starting Sunday night, the Trump administration announced Friday. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross says the two apps “pose a national security threat” because they contain China’s “malicious collection of American citizens’ personal data,” Reuters reports. According to the AP, WeChat is an all-in-one messaging, social media, and electronic payment app used by more than 1 billion people worldwide. It’s popular among Chinese students, ex-pats, and some Americans who have personal or business relationships in China. TikTok is a popular video-sharing app that has 100 million users in the US. Ross says the Commerce Department has “taken significant action to combat China’s malicious collection of American citizens’ personal data, while promoting our national values, democratic rules-based norms, and aggressive enforcement of US laws and regulations.” The Trump administration has been trying to get rid of “untrusted” Chinese apps in the US since August, when the president issued two executive orders banning US companies from doing business with WeChat and TikTok. Apple, Google, and others can’t offer the apps on any platform “that can be reached from within the United States.” TikTok’s parent group, ByteDance, is trying to buy out Oracle so it can continue to operate in the US.