President Joe Biden’s executive order to protect Americans’ sensitive data may require Chinese app developers to beef up security measures or face expulsion from the U.S. tech market, according to sources who briefed Reuters.
Officials say the goal is to prevent foreign adversaries like Russia and China from obtaining large caches of information about United States citizens or corporations.
Biden’s order supplants the Trump-era directive from 2020 that attempted to ban WeChat and TikTok but was blocked in court.
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The Commerce Department could subpoena app-makers to gather details about their proprietary technology. The agency would broker agreements with security stipulations developers must meet to continue operating in the U.S., said Reuters’ sources.
Eight Chinese apps highlighted by the Trump administration -- including WeChat and TikTok -- face scrutiny, Reuters first reported. But Biden’s June 9 executive order may encompass even more apps than Trump initially targeted.
Officials still share many of the same concerns brought up during the Trump administration, said Reuters, including the fear China could collect GPS and other data of federal employees to use as blackmail. Some of the apps have serious security pitfalls.
The U.S. is also enlisting help from its allies, according to the report, hoping that other countries would share similar concerns and enact identical bans.