'Rupture in digital world' as Trump orders ban on TikTok, WeChat in 45 days

Tiktok has come under fire from US lawmakers and the administration over national security concerning data collection

President Donald Trump announced Thursday sweeping bans on U.S. transactions with China's ByteDance, owner of video-sharing app TikTok, and Tencent, operator of the WeChat app, starting in 45 days, in a major escalation of tensions with Beijing that one analyst described as "rupture in the digital world".

The executive orders come as the Trump administration said this week it was stepping up efforts to purge "untrusted" Chinese apps from U.S. digital networks and called the Chinese-owned short-video app TikTok and messenger app WeChat "significant threats."

Tiktok, the hugely popular video-sharing app, has come under fire from U.S. lawmakers and the