TikTok threatens legal action against Donald Trump's executive order

Video sharing social media app, TikTok, has threatened legal action against the United States after president Donald Trump asked companies to stop doing deals with its parent company within 45 days.

The order issued bu Trump stated that Americans and U.S. companies are prohibited from conducting any transactions with Beijing based firm ByteDance. In a separate order, he has issued same guide lines fro WeChat, another app owned by a Chinese firm. The bans will come into force from September 20.

The spread in the United States of mobile applications developed and owned by companies in the People's Republic of China (China) continues to threaten the national security, foreign policy, and economy of the United States,” Trump said in the order. “At this time, action must be taken to address the threat posed by one mobile application in particular, TikTok.”

Reacting to the order issued by the US president, TikTok said it was "shocked" by an executive order from the US President outlining the ban.

TikTok said it would "pursue all remedies available" to "ensure the rule of law is not discarded".

"We will pursue all remedies available to us in order to ensure that the rule of law is not discarded and that our company and our users are treated fairly — if not by the Administration, then by the U.S. courts," the company said.

Tencent, which owns WeChat, said that it is "reviewing the executive order to get a full understanding."

Meanwhile, Washington based Microsoft is in talks with ByteDance to takeover TikTok's US operations, a deal that will allow TikTok to operate in the United States without facing any bar. Microsoft is looking forward to close the deal by September 15.

Trump has earlier said that it would bar TikTok if it doesn't seal the deal with Microsoft or any other company till September 15.

TikTok enjoys a huge customer base in the US. Specially among teenagers and young adults, it has become a cultural sensation. However, it has been alleged of using personal data of users that can be handed over to China. ByteDance has rubbished the allegations, saying TikTok neither stores user information in China or shares data with officials in Beijing.