Washington, September 18: After the Trump administration on Friday announced that Americans won't be able to download TikTok from September 20 onwards, the Chinese company's General Manager Vanessa Pappas urged Facebook and Instagram to publicly join the campaign against the ban. Acting on US President Donald Trump's executive order, the Department of Commerce announced to ban TikTok and WeChat. TikTok Ban in US Prompts Funny Memes and Jokes Online Poking Fun at Users Missing The Chinese Video-Making App Already!

Reacting to the development, Vanessa Pappas tweeted: "We agree that this type of ban would be bad for the industry. We invite Facebook and Instagram to publicly join our challenge and support our litigation. This is a moment to put aside our competition and focus on core principles like freedom of expression and due process of law." President Trump had signed executive orders stating that TikTok would be banned if the Chinese company finds a US buyer before September 20. Chingari, Homegrown Short Video-Sharing Platform, Inks Music Licensing Deal With T-Series After TikTok Banned in India.

TikTok General Manager Vanessa Pappas Reacts to Ban in US:

Trump had also banned any "transaction" with WeChat in the US and set the September 20 deadline for the US Commerce Department to draw up measures to implement the orders. Ahead of the deadline, the US Department of Commerce said the two applications will be removed from all app stores in the country. It essentially means people in America won't be able to download TikTok and WeChat from September 20 onwards.

Here it may be noted that it is not an outright ban on TikTok. President Trump has given ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok, until November 12 to divest its interests in the application in the US. Therefore, those who already have TikTok could be able to use it. The application would be completely banned if the Chinese firm doesn't find a US buyer. ByteDance in talks with cloud major Oracle for disinvestment.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Sep 18, 2020 08:42 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).