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, 48637-48639 [2020-17699]

Agencies

• Executive Office of the President

[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 155 (Tuesday, August 11, 2020)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 48637-48639]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-17699]



[[Page 48635]]

Vol. 85

Tuesday,

No. 155

August 11, 2020

Part II





The President





-----------------------------------------------------------------------



Executive Order 13942--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 13943--Addressing the Threat Posed by WeChat, and 
Taking Additional Steps To Address the National Emergency With Respect 
to the Information and Communications Technology and Services Supply 
Chain


                        Presidential Documents 



Federal Register / Vol. 85, No. 155 / Tuesday, August 11, 2020 / 
Presidential Documents

___________________________________________________________________

Title 3--
The President

[[Page 48637]]

                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:

[[Page 48638]]

                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.

[[Page 48639]]

                    (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.

[FR Doc. 2020-17699
Filed 8-10-20; 11:15 am]
Billing code 3295-F0-P