President Trump says he will ban TikTok in the US today

According to the reports, President Trump has told journalists he’s preparing to ban TikTok from working in the United States. “As far as TikTok is concerned, we’re banning them from the United States,” Trump told newsmen aboard Air Force One on Friday night. According to Bloomberg, Trump indicated he’s ready to sign a paper to order the ban as early as today, either via administrative order or emergency economic powers.

“I will sign the document tomorrow,” said Trump on Friday night, indicating that a ban could take effect “essentially immediately.”

The menace of a TikTok prohibition has been lingering since Secretary of State Mike Pompeo hinted the possibility on July 7th, saying it was “something we’re looking at.” TikTok is a subsidiary of Beijing-based ByteDance, and experts have called out its privacy measures and potential ties to the Chinese government. Pompeo also associated TikTok to Huawei and ZTE, two Chinese tech giants that have been assigned as threats to United States national security.