Friday, August 7, 2020

White House Order Bans TikTok, WeChat

An order, issued by the Trump administration on Thursday evening, bans TikTok's parent company--ByteDance--from transactions with US companies beginning in 45 days, as well as banning US business transactions with WeChat and its parent company, Tencent. The executive order cited a "national emergency with respect to the information and communications technology and services supply chain". TikTok has 1500 U.S. employees, with its largest office in Culver City. The complete implications of the executive order are unclear, however, Tencent has a large presence and investments across Southern California's the US tech industry, including owning 100 percent of Los Angeles-based Riot Games, 40 percent of Epic Games, 5 percent of Los Angeles-based Activision Blizzard, not to mention having business deals with LA's LiveXLive, a partnership with The Trade Desk, and investment and partnership with ObEN, a joint development center in China is San Diego's Qualcomm, and many other transactions and business relationships.