- After a lot of controversy and debate,
the U.S. government is
essentially banning TikTok and WeChat.
CBN News National Security Correspondent
Eric Phillips joins us now.
Eric, the bans are gonna effect tens
of millions of users here in the U.S.
- John, it is,
and it's a move that's beenexpected for some time to come.
Now that it's finally happening,
experts expect it to makethe tense relationship
between the U.S. and Chinathat much more strained.
- It's a sign of rising tensions
between these two countries.
It's a new form of espionage.
It's in our pockets.
- [Eric] Nathaniel Bradley says
that's why the U.S. government
has taken such a hard lineagainst TikTok and WeChat.
He says TikTok's growth remains strong,
with 19 million new users daily.
- We're literally taking
the Chinese government into our homes,
and we are allowing themaccess to our children,
and access to our data
in an unprecedented way with these apps.
- [Eric] Back in July, President Trump
declared TikTok's owners, theChinese company, ByteDance,
had to sell to an American company
or the app would no longer beavailable in the U.S. market.
That deadline is Sunday.
Author and political scientist
Elizabeth Larus explains the threat.
- It collects user data, searches.
It also can use an artificial intelligence
to record the shape of people's mouths
and faces to do facial recognition,
to do mouth recognition.
All of that goes, of course,
it doesn't just stay at TikTok,
it goes back to ByteDance.
And then again, if the Chinese government
deems that it wantsinformation from ByteDance,
ByteDance has no choice,
it must hand it over.
- [Eric] WeChat is widelyused by Chinese Americans
to connect with thosein their home country.
- The problem from the U.S. side
is that WeChat is not encrypted.
So, the Chinese government can read all
of the messages thatpeople type on WeChat.
- [Eric] Bradley saysAmericans need to learn
the worth of their data
when it comes to companies,
both foreign and domestic.
- If you looked at your bank account today
and you saw savings and checking,
you could see anotheraccount that would be data.
And we're getting our pocket picked a lot
as consumers in this marketplace.
- TikTok can still avoid this ban
if it reaches an agreement by Sunday.
An agreement to sell that is
acceptable to the U.S. government.
But if it does not,
and if this ban goes into place,
what does that mean for consumers?
Well, for those who areusing TikTok right now,
they can continue using the app,
but they won't be ableto get any upgrades.
Where WeChat is concerned,
they will face, users there will face
more extensive restrictions,
banning any use of the app whatsoever.
No use that will be transmitted
over the internet will be permitted
where WeChat...
