[UPDATED 8/7] Trump signs executive order, future of gaming industry in question

Updated 8/7: LA Times reporter, Sam Dean, tweeted that a White House Official clarified that the ban would not affect any games companies, that the order would "only block transactions related to WeChat." He clarifies that Riot Games, Epic Games, etc. are safe from the ban, but also notes there may be future updates that could change the final functionality of the executive order. That update can be seen in the LA Times report.

United States President Donald Trump signed Friday a pair of executive orders (EO), banning mobile app TikTok and parent company Bytedance, as well as transactions to Tencent Holding's chat app WeChat. The orders go into effect in 45 days, counted from August 6.

In regards to TikTok, Trump's EO expresses concern over the app's data collection of personal information which "threatens to allow the Chinese Communist Party access to Americans' personal and proprietary information -- potentially allowing China to track the locations of Federal employees and contractors, build dossiers of personal information for blackmail, and conduct corporate espionage". The EO also addresses TikTok's reported censorship of politically sensitive content and its potential use of "disinformation campaigns that benefit the Chinese Communist Party", pointing out that "these risks are real"

Trump's concerns expressed in the WeChat EO are similar, but although it's likely meant to specifically target WeChat for being the same danger to the United States as TikTok, the language in this EO also prohibits "any transaction that is related to WeChat by any person, or with respect to any property, subject to the jurisdiction of the United States, with Tencent Holding Ltd. [...], or any subsidiary of that entity".

Apart from WeChat, Tencent's subsidiaries in gaming especially are plenty, as the mega-corporation fully or partly owns several game developers, including Riot Games, Blizzard, and Epic Games. If the effects of the EO do extend to cover these entities, it could lead to ramifications for some of the most played games in the world, including League of Legends, Fortnite, World of Warcraft, Overwatch, Clash Royale, and Arena of Valor.

The story is developing.

Disclaimer: The original version of this story included language that potentially misrepresented the intent of the WeChat Executive Order. It's been since redacted for clarity.

For more LoL Esports news and content, head over to our dedicated League of Legends section!

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NEWS ESPORTS HEADLINE MOBILE PC ONLINE AOV ARENA OF VALOR BAN BLIZZARD CLASH ROYALE EPIC GAMES EXECUTIVE ORDER FORTNITE GEARS OF WAR HEARTHSTONE LEAGUE OF LEGENDS LOL ESPORT OVERWATCH PROJECT A RIOT GAMES SC2 SUPERCELL TENCENT TRANSACTION TRUMP VALORANT WOW League of Legends Hearthstone StarCraft II: Legacy of the Void World of Warcraft Fortnite Rainbow Six Siege Clash Royale Gears of War Arena of Valor Valorant

: Parkes Ousley; Email : parkes@invenglobal.com

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Comments :4

1

level 1 Jklein

Aug 7, 2020

3

This is the first time I've ever commented on an article. But I had to because of how poorly of a job was done on this story.

First you copy/paste the exact same potentially intentionally misleading articles that all the trash mainstream outlets regurgitate to each other.

Second, you figure out the facts about this story and put a tiny little update comment that completely contridicts the whole copy/pasted article. While still keeping the false, click bait title for the article and all the false information in the article.

Journalism is dying because of online rat races for who gets info out first(even if it's false) and complete lack of morals when intentionally trying to mislead the reader.
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  level 11 RadoslavKolev
  
  Aug 7, 2020
  
  @Jklein Let me address this quickly, because believe it or not, I actually do appreciate such comments.
  
  First of all, we only linked one article: the one from LA Times, shedding light on the intent of the EO. The only other links are the Tweet embeds of the Executive Order texts.
  
  Second, the wording of the EO is very unclear, which is why the White House needed to elaborate it in the first place. The EO itself states that in the next 45 days, the Secretary will "will identify the transactions subject to this prohibition 45 days after the date of the order", meaning it's not even clear what exactly will end up being prohibited, even if it's obviously NOT League of Legends, as the updated article states.
  
  As an outlet, we have to and did take responsibility for misinterpreting the language of the EO, but please understand that while obviously a slip in reporting, this is not a precedent. Many respectable outlets and senior journalists also misread the wording. We have since redacted the original story and added a disclaimer. The author of the piece has also been explained good and poor journalistic practices when it comes to reporting on stories with complicated legalese where implications are uncertain or difficult to comprehend.
  
  Lastly, please have in mind that for some of our Inven reporters, this is uncharted territory and yes, they need experience and guidance in how to best work them. One day, they are interviewing League of Legends players, and the next day they are reading POTUS executive orders of potentially critical influence over their industry. This is not an easy jump to make and can be intimidating to young writers. Our job is to educate them to do better, which we have and are continuously to do so.
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  level 1 Patrick_z
  
  Aug 7, 2020
  
  @RadoslavKolev Jklien is right though ! There's no reason anyone would click this article if not for how you presented your main picture of the article saying league of legends with a banned stamp .
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  level 11 RadoslavKolev
  
  Aug 7, 2020
  
  @Patrick_z I agree, this was done in very poor judgement, it has since been taken down, and the author has been reprimanded about his choice of thumbnail.
  
  I despise the term "clickbait" because it's very often misunderstood and misused, but I agree with you that the original thumbnail easily invited such comments. We've made edits to the article the moment a senior editor was available and, as I said, the author has been thoroughly educated on good/bad journalistic practices.
  
  I'm not saying you aren't allowed to criticize someone for slipping on their reporting. I'm saying that a mistake did happen, we have explained it, and we've gone through the necessary procedure to ensure the author's future reports are ironclad solid, to the betterment of him as a journalist.
  
  As for no reason to click the story: I would disagree with you here. Although the EO specifically targets personal data apps like WeChat and TikTok, and excludes subsidiaries like Riot and Epic, the convoluted legalese towards WeChat remains and, as a reminder, there's integration between it and games like Arena of Valor that are not products of subsidiaries, but of Tencent's own divisions.