A change in administration in the United States has given a brief reprieve to TikTok and WeChat, two Chinese apps targeted in a series of Executive Orders by former President Trump, but questions about the national security, privacy and censorship implications of these popular apps are set to persist in 2021.

At this webinar, ASPI analyst Fergus Ryan was joined by Lindsay Gorman from the German Marshall Fund’s Alliance for Securing Democracy; Jordan Schneider, host of the ChinaTalk podcast; Joanna Chiu, journalist and Dr Christopher Parsons from the Munk School's Citizen Lab, to examine and debate the challenges and threats posed by apps like TikTok and WeChat. Panellists discussed the policy options available to lawmakers, both in the United States and around the world, that go beyond blanket bans.