Unexpectedly, today President Trump signed an order banning eight Chinese apps in the United States, on the premise that they are a threat to national security and can capture sensitive information from the user’s device. And that user can also be a US federal employee.
The applications in question are Tencent QQ, CamScanner, SHAREit, VMate, Alipay, QQ Wallet, WeChat Pay and WPS Office. They will no longer be available on the U.S. Google Play Store after 45 days.
The US government fears that these companies have ties to the Chinese government and may be extracting confidential data. Almost the same accusations that the Trump administration has against TikTok and Huawei.
Keep in mind, however, that the executive order will take effect after Trump leaves the presidential position, so we can see a quick turn in events as soon as Joe Biden takes his place. But we would not count on seeing how Biden is not very determined to end the trade war with China. At least for a while.
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