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US Steps Up Campaign to Purge 'Untrusted' Chinese Apps

Reuters

   WASHINGTON - The Trump administration said on Wednesday it was stepping
   up efforts to purge "untrusted" Chinese apps from U.S. digital networks
   and called the Chinese-owned short-video app TikTok and messenger app
   WeChat "significant threats."

   U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said expanded U.S. efforts on a
   program it calls "Clean Network" would focus on five areas and include
   steps to prevent various Chinese apps, as well as Chinese telecoms
   companies, from accessing sensitive information on American citizens
   and businesses.

   Pompeo's announcement comes after U.S. President Donald Trump
   threatened to ban TikTok. The hugely popular video-sharing app has come
   under fire from U.S. lawmakers and the administration over national
   security concerns, amid intensified tensions between Washington and
   Beijing.

   "With parent companies based in China, apps like TikTok, WeChat and
   others are significant threats to personal data of American citizens,
   not to mention tools for CCP (Chinese Communist Party) content
   censorship," Pompeo said.

   TikTok currently faces a deadline of Sept. 15 to either sell its U.S.
   operations to Microsoft Corp or face an outright ban.

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