By Zhaoyin Feng, BBC News Chinese, Washington D.C.
The TikTok ban is hardly a surprise, as the app has faced scrutiny in the US for months. But the almost identical ban on WeChat is more of a bombshell.
Immediately after President Trump’s executive order was announced, I received a flood of messages on my WeChat. Friends in America and their loved ones in China were in an absolute panic.
They are thousands of miles apart but asking the same question: How are we supposed to keep in touch after WeChat is banned in the US?
It’s nearly impossible to avoid WeChat for those who have any connections to China. The billion-user app is like WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram, PayPal, Uber, and even Tinder, all in one ecosystem.
America’s move to block WeChat, a prominent example of China’s tech innovation, will be seen as an attack on its culture, its people and the state. It’ll enhance the popular view in China that Washington is unreasonably suppressing its biggest competitor in technology.
If the ban is fully enforced, it’d be a disaster for anyone who has families, friends or a business in China.
While tit-for-tat has become the new normal in US-China relations, this move will cut off virtually all people-to-people communication between the world’s two most influential countries.
What is the background?
Mr Trump has been waging a trade war against China since taking office. The US government took action last year against two Chinese communications companies, Huawei and ZTE, including locking them out of government contracts.
Most recently, he has blamed the country for the global coronavirus pandemic, which has crippled the US economy. Meanwhile, many of the biggest US platforms – Google, Twitter and Facebook – are banned inside China.
TikTok – which has up to 80 million active monthly users in the US – has exploded in popularity in recent years, mostly with people under 20.
The app is reported to have around 800 million active monthly users, with its biggest markets having grown in the US and India. India has, however, already blocked TikTok, as well as other Chinese apps.
Australia, which has already banned Huawei and ZTE, is also considering banning TikTok. WeChat is very popular among those users who have connections to China, where major social networking platforms – such as WhatsApp and Facebook – are blocked.
It is also viewed as being a key instrument in China’s internal surveillance apparatus – requiring local users who have been accused of spreading malicious rumours to register a facial scan and voice print.
A seminar held earlier this year by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute think tank discussed how groups within the app would be used to recommend holiday destinations, restaurants and the like on a day-to-day basis, but then switch to spreading political messages in line with Beijing’s thinking at critical times.
Source: bbc.com
