US President Joe Biden signed an executive order on Wednesday that demarcates criteria for the government to assess the risk of apps related to foreign rivals, a move that might impact Chinese-owned applications like TikTok and WeChat.
Biden repealed and replaced the three executive orders by former President Donald Trump that wanted to abolish transactions with TikTok and WeChat by American businesses.
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One of the orders by Trump also sought to ban TikTok, leading to an extensive court battle.
However, TikTok is still accessible and popular in the U.S.
“Biden’s recent order will administer the Commerce Department to evaluate apps connected to foreign adversaries and lays out what it should consider an “unacceptable risk,” according to a White House fact sheet.
This involves criteria for assessing transactions with software applications joined to a foreign rival, which usually comes under the purview Committee for Foreign Investment in the U.S. or CFIUS.
The order would take into consideration the transactions that include a “heightened risk” when they indulge with apps owned, controlled or administered by people aiding foreign adversary military or intelligence service or when the applications gather sensitive private data.