US President Joe Biden has revoked three executive orders issued by his predecessor that sought to ban the use of TikTok, WeChat and eight other Chinese applications in the US due to security concerns. Biden issued a new order aimed at defining better the legal criteria the government can use to exclude malicious foreign software that may pose a security threat.
The Trump orders had proven vague, lacking the necessary motivation and due process to make them enforceable or stand up in court. The new government is hoping to establish more grounded criteria for prohibiting suspect apps. It upholds the original order issued by the previous administration in May 2019 that allows the government to ban foreign ICT companies considered a threat to national security.
The new framework will look at an app's ties to a foreign adversary's military or intelligence services, whether it has any involvement in cyber attacks or if it collects large amounts of sensitive personal data. China was given as an example of a foreign adversary in the White House's briefing notes on the order.
The Department of Commerce was ordered to recommend more detailed guidelines on protecting against mass data collection, as well as work out whether any further executive or legislative action is needed to address risks from foreign software. The DoC also will be the body that evaluates foreign software to see whether they meet the established criteria for a security risk.
