This is the important part for me and the reason the order could actually be overturned and need to be redone.
The administration keeps doing these half-assed orders that would go through fine if they just did the process correctly, but for one reason or another they seem incapable of it.
You make it sound as if you did some investigations and found this out on your own, yet the statement is right there. In order for your comment to be meaningful it would need to include something more than just the excerpt, like an analysis or opinion.
Keep in mind Australia dropped Huawei over security concerns for their national broadband network back in 2012. China is a totalitarian regime that suppresses speech and is reeducating an entire ethnic group, possibly even forcing them into factory jobs.
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Censorship_of_Facebook#China
> In China, Facebook was blocked following the July 2009 Ürümqi riots because Xinjiang independence activists were using Facebook as part of their communications network, and Facebook denied giving the information of the activists.[12] Some Chinese users also believed that Facebook would not succeed in China after Google China's problems.[13] Renren (formerly Xiaonei) has many features similar to Facebook, and complies with PRC Government regulations regarding content filtering.
> As of 20 August 2013, there have been reports of Facebook being partially unblocked in China.[14] However, according to the "Blocked in China" website, Facebook is still blocked as of December 7, 2019.[15] Facebook is not blocked in the autonomous zones of Hong Kong and Macau, as well as the province of Taiwan. Facebook is currently working on a censorship project for China, where a third party would be allowed to regulate on Facebook and control popular stories that come around. This would be a huge attempt on Facebook to get back into China.[16]
This isn’t just a silly app being banned. This is a major blow against freedom of speech being pushed forwards with a silly cover excuse of “national security” all happening up to an election.
If I'm afraid China is taking my personal information, it's up to me, the consumer, to delete the app. It's up to Apple to design APIs to prevent real theft of such things as passwords left on your clipboard, or location data.
Many people will point to the fact that TikTok is controlled by a single party, the CCP, and may push various points of view. I don't see how that is different than Twitter whose employees give to the Democrats at a North Korean level of popular support [1] (99.8% of political gifts given to non GOP candidates). Twitter famously shadow ban conservatives, cause liberal ideas to "trend", and push a political agenda even if I'm there just for technology news.
Again, comparing TikTok to Twitter, when I load TikTok I see music videos and no politics. When I load Twitter I see riots, violence and people complaining about Trump (24/7 365). It's like looking into the depths of the abyss. Twitter provides a platform for countries to threaten one another, for example Iran threatens Israel on its platform. TikTok provides a platform to make music videos. How is again Twitter superior?
One other point, I wish to make is the way we are handling the transfer of TikTok to Microsoft. We are literally taking TikTok's business and giving it to Microsoft with a "Big fee" paid to the Federal Government. Considering China's history, this will offend them. What if they did the same thing to us? What if they did not trust Apple's business in China? What if they stole Apple's Chinese business, and gave it to Tencent with a fee paid to the CCP?
TikTok is a major accomplishment because it's the first US top rated social network not designed in the United States. This is something to be celebrated and a cause to inspire us to compete to make something even better. Taking it, transferring it or banning it is not the way to go.
[1] https://www.fec.gov/data/receipts/individual-contributions/?...
Whether you think it's right or wrong, legally, it has prescient.
In this case, the order bans any US citizen from doing business with ByteDance, and doesn't make a carve out for retaining a US lawyer, which is a violation of due process and means a judge could overturn the order.
If they just added that carve out, it would probably be entirely legally defensible. That one dumb mis-step could mean it gets overturned. This keeps happening with the Trump admin, it's the same reason the DACA repeal was overturned by the supreme court.
Trump does not seem to posses that ability. His strengths in in completely different areas.
We are really entering developing country territory here.
This effectively means that the app is not a national security threat but the ownership of it is.
And that threat was as determined by the executive without any charges.
I am opposed to such unilateral powers where the executive plays godfather and decides the rules of the game.
If trump forces trough this sale, the EU are bring morons if they don’t forcefully take over EU facebooks and LinkedIn business by Wednesday next week.
"On an average day how many kids under 13 do you think join TikTok without their parents knowledge?"
"On an average day, how many teens under 18 and preteens dance in a manner that would be considered provocative on your platform?"
You don't think he would do the same for TikTok, especially when all these underage and often preteen kids data is being sent to China?
Just today Facebook deleted the QAnon group. In a free speech society, such control of “what’s good for us” should not be necessary.
While China’s authoritarian government can certainly be abused, they often ban things under the same excuse of “promoting harmony” and to ensure the public does not have Access to misinformation (nor information harmful to the regime). We’re not much more different if we have powerful players who can arbitrarily ban things under the same goals, even if momentarily altruistic.
The difference right now between China and the US is that everybody knows China is monitoring everyone—even Chinese citizens.
Because surely one of the most popular social media platforms in the world, operated by the enemy, with access to troves of personal user data that can be used for election interference, blackmail, propaganda, etc. is a national security threat.
And yes, other social media platforms, including Facebook, pose national security threats as well, but it’s up to the elected officials to decide how significant the threat is, and when/if it’s necessary to take action. With regard to TikTok and WeChat, I’d say it’s long overdue, and I personally hope the list will be expanded to include all software and hardware operated by Chinese companies.
However, with an executive order as this one, the rules of "national security" will keep changing with the political desires of the president in charge. Maybe someday a President will come and ask you to divest your Tesla shares because the President at the time doesn't like Elon musk. This is too much power in the hands of one person, especially an erratic one as the current POTUS.
It absolutely is.
So the legal argument from ByteDance actually has merit in that respect, regardless of the political debate.
To counter the parent’s comment, this sounds like something a totalitarian state would do
Maybe we should just stop doing business with Saudi Arabia too, is that your point? No more Saudi Arabia oil for the U.S. or even all of the western world? In fact they're still treated as a U.S. ally.
The foreign aid of high income countries (US, EU, etc.) is always used to prop up autocratic governments for resource extractions. It's how high income states enforce autocratic policies outside their borders, in order to keep their citizens happy with cheap oil and cheap plastic crap.
Failing that, however, considering the two options for global social networks are precisely limited to
a) there are no global social networks b) there are global social networks but only ones that are directly controlled by the CCP
I'm pretty alright with a).