The new US president has lifted the provisions of the ban on his predecessor, but this still leaves a lack of confidence in the applications of the Far East.
This week, the White House pulled these after Donald Trump Provisions that would have made it completely impossible to use many Chinese apps, including the very popular TikTok and WeChat in the United States, for reasons of national security. In parallel, the new presidential administration has expanded the scope of the regulation on cyber security, which was also adopted in the previous period, to reduce cyber risks to supply chains and communication networks in the future.
Trump was forced to resign after his election defeat last November, and the Trump presidency as a whole was defined by crackdowns on China, which took the form of more and more action as the campaign drew closer. These include an initiative to ban TikTok, WeChat, and other Chinese apps. However, the ban on the community apps was lifted by a series of legal requests for both apps, while the sale deal demanded by the American side did not want to happen. At first, it seemed like Microsoft might be the runner-up, then this topic eventually came to a standstill, but instead, a group with Oracle and Walmart brand appeared. However, the last process could not be completed in the last year, and knowing the election results, it can be wrapped up that it will not become anything until Joe Biden not take office.
However, the new management made it clear from the start that they didn’t want to track past progress on everything (in light of this, TikTok owner ByteDance immediately danced out of the Oracle business). Rather than enforce the ban’s provisions, the Biden government is trying to look more closely at the issue, for example, ascertaining how much national security risk this actually poses to the operation of Chinese apps, and finding a possible way for these platforms to operate in the United States. Provide adequate safeguards with respect to the processing of personal data of US citizens.
This does not mean eternal friendship
However, the now-repealed regulations do not mean that applications and technological solutions from China and other countries considered potential competition in the eyes of the United States can be distributed in the country without restrictions. Under the aforementioned extended provisions, US Department of Commerce personnel must carefully examine all such solutions and ensure that they provide adequate security guarantees that they cannot be used for activities contrary to the interests of the United States and its residents, such as espionage.
Biden’s decree on the protection of Americans’ sensitive data is based on a similar document Trump issued in the spring of 2019, which sought to strengthen the protection of communications and information technologies and services. This is more than just a topical topic in light of more and more massive hacking campaigns that have emerged since then.
As a result of the increasingly problematic attacks from cyberspace, Biden issued a decree early in May that seeks significant improvements in the cyber defense capabilities of the government and businesses operating in the country. One of the first manifestations of this was the establishment of a central task force in Washington to collect information about cybercrime and take necessary action, and such attacks are practically treated on par with terrorism.
