As much as I want to do the exact opposite of Trump, I couldn’t care less if TikTok closes. Nothing of value will be lost.
Yeah, but I’m not a fan of the President making a unilateral decision to shut down, or force the sale, of a thriving business just because of a foreign tiff. Down that roads lies businesses accepting that bribery to the powers that be is a mandatory cost of doing business. It just normalizes an incredible amount of corruption if a head of state can essentially run a protection racket. "Nice business you’ve got that, it would be a shame if anything happened to it. . . "
I realize this Tik Tok shit is just a sideshow that Trump doesn’t really care about, he just wants people not to talk about that REALLY horrendous shit he has done, but it’s a terrible precedent in terms of normalizing behavior that leads to serious government corruption.
Totally fair, but it does seem to be in the President’s purview to address a state-level security risk if it exists. For example, what if the NSA had proof that TikTok was sending all their data to China, including messages, location tracking, and more? It doesn’t matter how thriving their business is if it’s putting American’s security at risk.
Then make the case. But don’t say you want a cut of the deal if it sold. Which he did.
I think the bigger concern with these apps is that the Chinese government is telling them which messages to promote and which to tamp down on
It also does make sense for the government or other organizations with sensitive data to require that their employees remove TikTok or other such apps from their phones. But I think the propaganda issue is an even bigger concern.
It’s truly one of those ‘a pox on both their houses’ type situations.
Trumps actions were nakedly corrupt, self serving, and almost certainly illegal. And if not illegal very much against the free market ethos supposedly so sacrosanct.
At the same time Tik Tok has a mass of privacy, censorship, and propaganda concerns that make their operations ceasing in the US a outcome I would not decry.
The only thing that could get TikTok on my phone is Trump banning them.
He’ll get around to banning it after he releases that comprehensive healthcare plan.
Lol
This is so disgusting. Our government is beyond corrupt and not even trying to hide it.
Seems fitting that tiktok would partner with the most evil of the technology giants.
Ding ding…
https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2020/09/18/tiktok-wechat-ban-trump/
The Trump administration said Friday that it is banning China’s TikTok and WeChat from mobile app stores beginning this Sunday, Sept.r20, in a move that will sharply raise tensions with Beijing.
The White House will take other action to curb WeChat’s use beginning Sunday, and will give TikTok until Nov. 12 until further bans kick in. Western companies and bankers are still wrangling with TikTok’s owner, the White House and Chinese authorities to try to arrange a sale of some of TikTok’s business.
“Today’s actions prove once again that President Trump will do everything in his power to guarantee our national security and protect Americans from the threats of the Chinese Communist Party,” U.S. Department of Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said in a statement. “At the President’s direction, we have taken significant action to combat China’s malicious collection of American citizens’ personal data, while promoting our national values, democratic rules-based norms, and aggressive enforcement of U.S. laws and regulations.”
I guess this is what wagging the dog looks like in 2020. At least it’s not a war…yet.
That’s cute. Wasn’t it Zuckerberg who reportedly pushed Trump hard on TikTok…?
I smell a Lincoln Project TikTok teamup.
Is this like when Lou Ferrigno asked Arnold Schwarzenegger for help on winning Mr Universe?
On one hand, Tiktok is bad. You should not use their service. Seriously, they are bad.
But on the other hand, the US Government shouldn’t be telling us what software to run.
Yeah. It should be Apple!
Why is WeChat being threatened. Surely it’s use is limited to Chinese Americans keeping in contact with family and friends in China. Even if the Chinese government is using it to gather data, is it that big of a deal to us?
I bet every American company with Chinese ties is sweating right now. There will be retaliation.
This is such a funny situation. ByteDance continually distances itself from China and the CCP, but today the CCP basically asserted ownership over the company and is refusing to allow the sale to go through.
They’re not exactly helping.