The new decree orders the Commerce Department to begin a “rigorous, evidence-based” review of apps that collect personal information from users and whose technologies have ties to China.
“Some countries, including China, are seeking to use US digital technologies and data that pose unacceptable national security risks, while aiding authoritarian controls and interests,” the White House said.
Specifically, the US government targets applications that are “owned, controlled, or operated by persons who support a foreign military adversary or intelligence activities, engage in malicious cyber activities, or store sensitive personal data.”
Trump’s orders, dated August 2020, are still prohibited by court order. The former president went so far as to ask the company that owns TikTok, the Chinese company ByteDance, to sell business in the country to US companies.
Biden’s decision was issued on the same day the president began his first international trip since arriving at the White House. The Democrat will attend the UK’s G7 summit, meetings with European partners in Brussels, and his first meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Just before ascending, Biden said the goal of the trip to Europe was to “strengthen the alliance” and “make clear to Russia and China that ‘the United States and Europe are together.
