TikTok, the social media app, is one of the most popular social media platforms, having over 2.3 billion downloads, and 100 million U.S. users. Additionally, rising stars on the app such as the D’Amelio sisters show how prevalent the app has become amongst America’s youth.
However, on Aug. 6th, President Trump issued an executive order which stated that ByteDance, TikTok’s parent company, had 45 days to sell TikTok to an American company. If the company does not make a deal by Sept. 15, the app will be banned in the U.S.A. This date is fast approaching.
“The spread in the United States of mobile applications developed and owned by companies in the People’s Republic of China (China) continues to threaten the national security, foreign policy, and economy of the United States,” President Trump’s executive order states. TikTok debunked concerns regarding the security risks that the administration claims comes with the app. In a statement shared with USA Today, they state: “‘US user data is stored in the US, with strict controls on employee access’ and the company's "biggest investors come from the US.’” CNN’s Nikki Carvajal and Caroline Kelly claim that evidence suggesting TikTok’s safety is unclear. “While TikTok could become a clear threat to US security under certain scenarios... The danger is currently largely hypothetical or indirect,” they stated.
With four days left, TikTok’s sale seems highly unlikely. President Trump has stated that he won't change the requirements for the sale stated in his executive order.
9 comments:
India has already banned TikTok among 60 other Chinese apps by order of the Ministry of Information. TikTok is required by the Chinese Government to turn in any data should they be asked, its not crazy that another country would consider banning such an app. American consumers make up quite the TikTok population, it would be detrimental if the US banned the app. I think its fair that the US is giving TikTok the option to keep its US customer base. It seems evident that ByteDance won't be selling it, but if they were to, I don't see why it has to be an American buyer. A large reason to why Trump is only now acting against this company now is because China has an affiliation to his upcoming reelection. Having the company under an American buyer will only stress the China-America ties even further.
As far as I know of, the U.S. has never banned an app before (and if they did, it was definitely not as widespread and popular as TikTok). For this reason, I think it is hard to fully understand and contemplate the implications of doing such a thing. Wouldn't a ban go against our American values of freedom? Is this sort of mass censorship even constitutional? Personally I am looking forward to seeing what happens and how people will react. I can definitely see users of the app becoming frustrated with Trump if he actually bans it. It seems like an unpopular choice, especially because there is no strong / concrete evidence that the app provides data to the Chinese government (it seems to all be speculative, but you can probably correct me on that). Tiktok itself has firmly denied these allegations as well, claiming that even if they were asked to give data to the Chinese government, they would refuse. (I'm not saying that the app doesn't track user data because virtually all apps do (Instagram, Facebook, etc). I'm just saying that there's no evidence it goes to the Chinese government).
https://www.forbes.com/sites/zakdoffman/2020/07/11/tiktok-seriously-dangerous-warning-delete-app-trump-ban/#5516555b2b0e
Interestingly, like Tim has mentioned before, India has also recently banned over 118 chinese-related apps in the name of sovereignty and security. For example, PUBG, one of the most played mobile apps in India, has been banned due to its affiliation with Tencent, reportedly costing Tencent over $34 billion in profits. It has been said that this ban was due to the killing of an indian soldier at a disputed border. And so, in addition to what Tim and Pariya have said, this may be entirely a political move for Trump. In the name of purging tech/information-stealing chinese apps, he may well be setting himself up for taking the credit for improving the country’s security and safety, removing any affiliations with countries that opponents may use against him (like Tim mentioned), striking indirectly on China’s economy just like how India has done, and perhaps another motive. When it comes to the ban, I think there’s a fine line between censorship and values of freedom that has yet to be looked upon by the US government. It’s definitely time for the US government to become more well-versed in what the implications and opportunities that technology can truly bring (It reminds me of the Congressional testimony Mark Zuckerberg had 2 years ago where the US senators had zero understanding of what Facebook is and how it earned money).
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/02/world/asia/india-bans-china-apps.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=stXgn2iZAAY
Many of you are questioning the legality of Trumps actions, so I will share what I know about that. There is a rule in law called CFIUS. It's a legal committee that reviews transactions involving foreign investment in the US. It allows the government to declare what a company does as a national security risk. They have the right to ban the company from operating in the US or forcing them to sell to American investors. This rule has benefits in war time as well. For example, airlines that operate in the US have to be a certain amount American. The reason being, so that if the government had to, they could commender airliner airplanes. This is why there are different Airlines in different countries, or why America has Boeing and Europe has Airbus. It is also why we don't have universal banks. In the case with TikTok, Trump claims that they share its data with the Chinese government. He doesn't want the Chinese government to hold our youth's private data. So yes, it is legal.
I heard a while ago when the news first broke out about Tik-Tok that microsoft was going to buy the application. It seem deal did go through with microsoft. I don't known the reason why the deal stop. I could assume Bytedance might have be offered less money that they wanted from the app's sale. I have learned that Oracle instead to buy the application in order to keep it up within the US. Oracle deal will allow the US data to be monitored within the US and avoid the chinese government from gain information about Americans.
Here is a link about the possible deal - https://theweek.com/speedreads/938134/cheers-jerry-harris-arrested-child-pornography-charge
This is a huge thing especially since Americans make up a vast majority of the app, as viewers and as creators. People have gotten careers out of the. app, found new friends and so much more however, our government is extremely concerned with the information going to the Chinese government.Other countries have already banned the app and the US feels they need to do so in order to keep the security in the US safe. This decision has been getting a lot of backlash, mainly from kids and teenages who are using the app. There have been a lot of different opinions on it, and depending on who you ask, there could be other ways to handle it. I heard recently, that a new company could take over and the app wouldn't be banned, but what is the likelihood of that at the moment?
I think if Trump were to ban this app it would go against American citizens freedom, who use and enjoy the app. I do not see any harm in the app, as it is a way of freedom of speech and is a kids app that brings humor and many other positives. I do not thunk this app violates the security of the US, but I think since other countries, like India have banned the app, the US wants to take precautions and follow suit. I recently learned that TikTok is not going to get banned, because Oracle has bought it in order to keep the app in the US, so now it is no longer a security threat and the US will have access to all the data opposed to the security threat of it all where China used to have access to certain aspects of it.
Many Tiktok users have speculated that part of the reason Trump wants to shut down the popular app is because many of its more liberal users have banded together to troll the current president of the United States. They have registered for his rallies from all around the world, making him think hundreds upon thousands of people would be showing up, then leaving him with much less amd very disappointed. On the other hand, Tiktok is very confident that they will not be banned from the U.S., and on top of that, writing this in the future, they have indeed been bought by Oracle and Walmart.
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