On September 18, 2020, the US Department of Commerce announced that TikTok and WeChat would be banned from all US.app stores, affecting 100 million users. The move followed an August 2020 Executive Order issued by President Trump that used the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) to compel the parent companies of TikTok and WeChat to divest of their US assets. Citing the storage and collection of data of US-based users in a non-US territory as a threat to national security, the US government moved swiftly to address these concerns. 

What legal recourse has TikTok undertaken in response to the ban? What are the data privacy implications for the US? How does this fuel the ongoing tensions about IP protections between the US and China?

Guest speakers:
Professor Anupam Chander
Professor of Law, Georgetown University

Professor Eric Goldman
Professor of Law, Santa Clara University School of Law