Addressing the Threat Posed by TikTok, and Taking Additional Steps To Address the National Emergency With Respect to the Information and Communications Technology and Services Supply Chain

Executive Order 13942 of August 6, 2020

Addressing the Threat Posed by TikTok, and Taking
Additional Steps To Address the National Emergency With
Respect to the Information and Communications
Technology and Services Supply Chain

By the authority vested in me as President by the
Constitution and the laws of the United States of
America, including the International Emergency Economic
Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.) (IEEPA), the
National Emergencies Act (50 U.S.C. 1601 et seq.), and
section 301 of title 3, United States Code,

I, DONALD J. TRUMP, President of the United States of
America, find that additional steps must be taken to
deal with the national emergency with respect to the
information and communications technology and services
supply chain declared in Executive Order 13873 of May
15, 2019 (Securing the Information and Communications
Technology and Services Supply Chain). Specifically,
the spread in the United States of mobile applications
developed and owned by companies in the People's
Republic of China (China) continues to threaten the
national security, foreign policy, and economy of the
United States. At this time, action must be taken to
address the threat posed by one mobile application in
particular, TikTok.

TikTok, a video-sharing mobile application owned by the
Chinese company ByteDance Ltd., has reportedly been
downloaded over 175 million times in the United States
and over one billion times globally. TikTok
automatically captures vast swaths of information from
its users, including internet and other network
activity information such as location data and browsing
and search histories. This data collection threatens to
allow the Chinese Communist Party access to Americans'
personal and proprietary information--potentially
allowing China to track the locations of Federal
employees and contractors, build dossiers of personal
information for blackmail, and conduct corporate
espionage.

TikTok also reportedly censors content that the Chinese
Communist Party deems politically sensitive, such as
content concerning protests in Hong Kong and China's
treatment of Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities. This
mobile application may also be used for disinformation
campaigns that benefit the Chinese Communist Party,
such as when TikTok videos spread debunked conspiracy
theories about the origins of the 2019 Novel
Coronavirus.

These risks are real. The Department of Homeland
Security, Transportation Security Administration, and
the United States Armed Forces have already banned the
use of TikTok on Federal Government phones. The
Government of India recently banned the use of TikTok
and other Chinese mobile applications throughout the
country; in a statement, India's Ministry of
Electronics and Information Technology asserted that
they were “stealing and surreptitiously transmitting
users' data in an unauthorized manner to servers which
have locations outside India.” American companies and
organizations have begun banning TikTok on their
devices. The United States must take aggressive action
against the owners of TikTok to protect our national
security.

Accordingly, I hereby order:

Section 1. (a) The following actions shall be
prohibited beginning 45 days after the date of this
order, to the extent permitted under applicable law:

any transaction by any person, or with respect to any
property, subject to the jurisdiction of the United
States, with ByteDance Ltd. (a.k.a. Z[igrave]ji[eacute]
Ti[agrave]od[ograve]ng), Beijing, China, or its
subsidiaries, in which any such company has any
interest, as identified by the Secretary of Commerce
(Secretary) under section 1(c) of this order.

    (b) The prohibition in subsection (a) of this
section applies except to the extent provided by
statutes, or in regulations, orders, directives, or
licenses that may be issued pursuant to this order, and
notwithstanding any contract entered into or any
license or permit granted before the date of this
order.
    (c) 45 days after the date of this order, the
Secretary shall identify the transactions subject to
subsection (a) of this section.

Sec. 2. (a) Any transaction by a United States person
or within the United States that evades or avoids, has
the purpose of evading or avoiding, causes a violation
of, or attempts to violate the prohibition set forth in
this order is prohibited.

    (b) Any conspiracy formed to violate any of the
prohibitions set forth in this order is prohibited.

Sec. 3. For the purposes of this order:

    (a) the term “person” means an individual or
entity;
    (b) the term “entity” means a government or
instrumentality of such government, partnership,
association, trust, joint venture, corporation, group,
subgroup, or other organization, including an
international organization; and
    (c) the term “United States person” means any
United States citizen, permanent resident alien, entity
organized under the laws of the United States or any
jurisdiction within the United States (including
foreign branches), or any person in the United States.

Sec. 4. The Secretary is hereby authorized to take such
actions, including adopting rules and regulations, and
to employ all powers granted to me by IEEPA as may be
necessary to implement this order. The Secretary may,
consistent with applicable law, redelegate any of these
functions within the Department of Commerce. All
departments and agencies of the United States shall
take all appropriate measures within their authority to
implement this order.

Sec. 5. General Provisions. (a) Nothing in this order
shall be construed to impair or otherwise affect:

(i) the authority granted by law to an executive department, agency, or the
head thereof; or

(ii) the functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget
relating to budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals.

    (b) This order shall be implemented consistent with
applicable law and subject to the availability of
appropriations.

    (c) This order is not intended to, and does not,
create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural,
enforceable at law or in equity by any party against
the United States, its departments, agencies, or
entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any
other person.

    (Presidential Sig.)

THE WHITE HOUSE,

    August 6, 2020.