Could President Trump stop you from playing Fortnite or League of Legends? That spectre arose when Trump unexpectedly added Tencent Holdings to the list of Chinese companies being targeted by recent executive orders. Tencent, however, believes it’s safe.Â
Trump’s probably not trying to ruin your fun, at least not explicitly. But by roping in Tencent he’s potentially affecting a huge swath of holdings that the Chinese conglomerate owns or invests in.
The latest order actually targets WeChat, a popular messaging application owned by Tencent. The language and restrictions closely follow the wording of Trump’s first executive order extending his previous ban on TikTok, basically stating that the United States would ban the video-sharing service outright if an acquisition by Microsoft or another company were not completed in 45 days.Â