How the U.S. Could Ban TikTok in 7 Not-So-Easy Steps

Trump’s order would have immediately prohibited app stores from distributing TikTok, and nearly two months later would have barred cloud providers and internet infrastructure services from doing business with the company. People or companies caught dodging the order could have faced fines or prison sentences. “We wanted to start at the root, where it comes into the US, and extract it that way,” says Ivan Kanapathy, who was China director for Trump’s National Security Council and is now vice president at policy consultancy Beacon Global Strategies.

Individual users would not have faced penalties for staying on TikTok, and internet service providers like Comcast and Verizon would not have been covered under the order unless they had any kind of business deal with TikTok. “The trigger is really a transaction,” says Pablo Chavez, a longtime tech policy executive at Microsoft and Google who is now an adjunct senior fellow with the Center for a New American Security.

Read the full article from Wired.