United States President, Donald Trump, has announced plans to ban Chinese-owned app TikTok.

The American leader disclosed that he could sign an executive order as early as Saturday.

The intelligence community had warned that the app, owned by Chinese firm ByteDance, could be used to collect the personal data of Americans.

“As far as TikTok is concerned, we’re banning them from the United States,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One.

The move will further heighten tensions between the U.S. and China.

TikTok has around 800 million active monthly users, most of whom are in the US and India.

India had blocked TikTok as well as other Chinese apps.

BBC reports that Australia, which has already banned Huawei and ZTE, is also considering banning TikTok.

DailyPost