A TikTok Ban May Be Just the Beginning

A TikTok ban isn’t hypothetical: In 2020, president Trump signed an executive order restricting Americans’ use of WeChat, leading to pushback from corporations and individuals that use the app to conduct business or stay in touch with family.

Hannah Kelley, a research assistant at Washington, D.C. think-tank Center for a New American Security, says she thinks that should something like the Restrict Act pass, it could lead to reviews of a range of other Chinese apps. “The reality is that the end of the day it’s the same man behind the curtain, and there’s cause for concern about that man,” she adds.

Tencent, parent company of WeChat, and Shein both declined to comment for this story. Temu and Ant Financial, which owns AliPay, did not respond to requests for comment.

In his testimony before Congress Thursday, TikTok’s Mr. Chew repeated his company’s assertions that it has never, nor would ever share data with the Chinese government. “Our approach has never been to dismiss or trivialize any of these concerns,” he added. “We have addressed them with real action. We have to earn your trust.”

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