The Limited Times

Now you can see non-English news...

Tencent is facing a US ban, if the ban on WeChat implicates a wide range of other businesses to avoid a disaster?

2020-08-07T05:28:20.232Z


The United States has announced the expansion of the "Clean Network" plan for Chinese technet companies, claiming to be aimed at protecting citizens' privacy and sensitive company information. President Trump (Donald Trump) signed on August 6


Instant International

Written by: Liang Kaiyi

2020-08-07 13:17

Last update date: 2020-08-07 13:19

The United States has announced the expansion of the "Clean Network" plan for Chinese technet companies, claiming to be aimed at protecting citizens' privacy and sensitive company information. President Trump (Donald Trump) signed an executive order on August 6 to block ByteDance, and even Tencent could not avoid "doom".

Washington’s threat of banning the overseas version of TikTok, the overseas version of ByteDance’s mobile app Douyin, has been brewing for a long time. The “exposure rate” of the communication software WeChat parent company Tencent is relatively low, but if WeChat is completely banned, the implications may be more widespread.

The ban is pending interpretation or request to remove the app

According to the executive order, Washington will prohibit individuals or companies from conducting any WeChat-related transactions with Tencent or its subsidiaries. As for which transactions are banned, it is left to Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross to decide. The wording of the command is vague, and the actual execution form is to be translated by Washington.

The Associated Press quoted Eurasia Group analyst Paul Triolo as describing the unprecedented use of Presidential power by Trump. He believes that the executive order has an opportunity to require Apple or Google mobile app stores to remove TikTok or WeChat from the US.

Expert: Disable WeChat to cut off Sino-US communications

Although the actual scope of the ban is currently unknown, it is estimated that the impact of the ban on WeChat will be greater. Americans seldom use WeChat, but WeChat is the main communication tool for Chinese people. It replaces email and SMS, and the payment function even replaces cash transactions. As Facebook's Whatsapp and other communication software are banned in China, WeChat is an important channel for people living in China to communicate with relatives and friends overseas. The Nikkei Asian Review reported that some Chinese who have moved to the United States have already switched to LINE in Japan. In the future, even the business communication between the two countries may also have an impact.

Graham Webster, a Chinese digital economist at the think tank New America, believes that banning WeChat will have consequences because it will actually cut off communications between the United States and China. He admitted that there are indeed data, privacy and security concerns, but they are not limited to TikTok and WeChat. The executive order only confines the real problems to the political arena.

Tencent's other businesses have temporarily escaped

India, which has also recently taken action against China's science and technology companies, has blocked a number of Chinese mobile apps. In addition to TikTok and WeChat, Tencent Games’ PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG, or “Chicken Eater”) is also on the consideration list. Washington took the lead in attacking WeChat, and one can't help but wonder whether other Tencent businesses will be implicated.

Tencent holds shares in a number of companies in the United States, such as music streaming platform Spotify, social media Snapchat Snap, social platform Reddit and automobile company Tesla, as well as US-listed JD.com, Sogou and Bilibili. The company has also invested in a number of American technology and game start-ups, including "Fortnite" (Fortnite) game developer Epic Games and "League of Legends" (League of Legends) game developer Riot Games. However, this time the executive order states that it is only for WeChat, and US media reports say that it is temporarily believed that other businesses will not be affected.

Trump signs executive order to prohibit transactions with TikTok parent company and Tencent coming into force after 45 days

The U.S. Senate unanimously bans the use of TikTok on government equipment

US media: Microsoft intends to purchase an agreement with TikTok within 3 weeks, the price is undetermined at most or 30 billion US dollars

Bill Gates: Microsoft ensures that TikTok US data security will not be hostile

Tencent WeChat China-US Relations

Source: hk1

All news articles on 2020-08-07

You may like

Business 2024-03-08T22:07:48.309Z

Trends 24h

News/Politics 2024-03-28T06:04:53.137Z

Latest

© Communities 2019 - Privacy

The information on this site is from external sources that are not under our control.
The inclusion of any links does not necessarily imply a recommendation or endorse the views expressed within them.