Bipartisan Bill Could Force ByteDance To Divest TikTok (bbc.com) 49
An anonymous reader quotes a report from the BBC: A group of US lawmakers has introduced a bill that would require Chinese tech giant ByteDance to sell off the popular video-sharing TikTok app within six months or face a ban. For years American officials have raised concerns that data from the app could fall into the hands of the Chinese government. A bipartisan set of 19 lawmakers introduced the legislation on Tuesday. TikTok called the bill a disguised "outright ban."
In a statement announcing the bill, the lawmakers said "applications like TikTok that are controlled by foreign adversaries pose an unacceptable risk to US national security." The bill would give ByteDance 165 days to divest, or it would be blocked from the app store and web hosting platforms in the US. TikTok has previously argued against divestment, saying a change in ownership would not impose new restrictions on data use. [...] The House Energy and Commerce Committee said it would consider the latest bill on Thursday. "This legislation will trample the First Amendment rights of 170 million Americans and deprive 5 million small businesses of a platform they rely on to grow and create jobs," TikTok said in a statement to the BBC.
Former President Donald Trump attempted to completely ban TikTok in 2020, but that was unsuccessful. More recently, a group of senators introduced legislation to block TikTok last year, but it was stalled due to lobbying from the company.
In a statement announcing the bill, the lawmakers said "applications like TikTok that are controlled by foreign adversaries pose an unacceptable risk to US national security." The bill would give ByteDance 165 days to divest, or it would be blocked from the app store and web hosting platforms in the US. TikTok has previously argued against divestment, saying a change in ownership would not impose new restrictions on data use. [...] The House Energy and Commerce Committee said it would consider the latest bill on Thursday. "This legislation will trample the First Amendment rights of 170 million Americans and deprive 5 million small businesses of a platform they rely on to grow and create jobs," TikTok said in a statement to the BBC.
Former President Donald Trump attempted to completely ban TikTok in 2020, but that was unsuccessful. More recently, a group of senators introduced legislation to block TikTok last year, but it was stalled due to lobbying from the company.
Facebook is American and data still goes to China (Score:3, Insightful)
I mean, you can force ByteDance to divest TikTok all you want, but it will do nothing to stop the data from landing in the hands of the Chinese government. Facebook sells (or gives) massive amounts of data to China, and TikTok will do the same even if it becomes a standalone Chinese company as opposed to a subsidiary of a Chinese company.
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Fake outrage. An election year.
Let's distract the general public that we do less than nothing to justify our existence as an elected officials by blaming all of societal ills on 'the other'.
Not that this is US specific. Any actual policy to benefit their constituents? Heck, it's all about riding the gravy train another 4 years.
Do I sound cynical?
"National Security"? (Score:4, Insightful)
That's a really weird way of spelling "American traded business interests" because if TikTok is a threat to national security, so is Facebook and The Service Formerly Known As Twitter.
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Can we ban Facebook while we're at it... (Score:3, Insightful)
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I know, why doesn't the US build a Great Firewall of America to prevent all these internet Companies they don't like from interfering with their Freedom(tm)? Surely that would be a great idea. They could let traffic from a website through only when it's been conclusively proven that it won't affect their Freedom(tm).
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TikTok isn't hosted in China.
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whoops, did I forget my sarcasm tags? Or alternatively did you leave your detector at home today?
Re: Can we ban Facebook while we're at it... (Score:4, Interesting)
Good grief. I wsn't suggesting this as a sensible option. Are you all so quick to allow your Government to remove your Rights in the name of National Security?
I was highlighting the disconnect people have when they condemn China for blocking access to things while accepting it of their own Government. Forcing a Company to sell their IP under threat of having it banned is no differernt in principle to the Great Firewall of China. Neither is a legitimate way for a Government to act.
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And Instagram and Snapchat
Neither of those is owned by a somewhat adversarial major foreign power who who are also very selective about how foreign companies can operate.
commie (Score:2)
Nationalization is pretty much what you expect from a communist regime, is USA a communist state?
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Each of the 10 planks of the Communist Manifesto is at least half implemented.
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Nationalization is ...
That's a reading fail: Nowhere did the bill demand the US government buy a foreign business.
The bill demands that ByteDance sell the personal history of 170 million US-ians to the NSA, sorry, that's US government, I mean, Facebook or X/Twitter or Microsoft.
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It could...but it won't (Score:5, Insightful)
This is simply a reminder that "campaign contributions" are coming due.
Once the wire transfer is confirmed, this bill will be silently tabled.
TikTok versus Facebook (Score:1)
TikTok is same as Facebook. Only simpler and more modern. ... no idea.
Why anyone thinks one is oki and the other one not
And outselling the TikTok department out of Bytedance into its own company: what actually does that change?
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They believe that TikTok's Heat Button is controlled by the CCP and weaponized against the American People.
The difference is that Facebook's Heat Button is controlled by the CIA and weaponized against the American People.
Huge difference, right?
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Yes, huge difference.
The CIA will happily set up a muslim/jewish/arabic/african/igure underground group in China, that is deposing the current regime, and when in power makes everything worth.
The Chinese are not really interested in America. They are "navel belly lookers"
lol (Score:1)
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They transact for American advertising as their means of profit.
The whole reason BRICS+ is growing is weaponization of USD for political ends.
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Correct. Tik Tok can say "Screw you, we're not selling." And the US government can say, "Fine. It is now illegal for you to operate in the US."
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Perhaps it's time to relook at Copyright and bring the terms back to realistic while we are at it.
This will all be even MORE true if Trumpty Dumpty gets in again.
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Considering that the US has the more Tik Tok users than any other country, I bet they very much *will* care.
Still not seeing how this is constitutional (Score:2)
I understand and on some levels agree with the fears of Chinese data harvesting. But singling out one company won't pass muster. However our bought and paid for representatives won't push for a blanket foreign ban because such a thing would displease their corporate overlords by cutting off that sweet sweet FDI (Foreign Direct Investment).
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The data concerns are at least actionable from a Constitutional perspective. You mention media concerns. Which equates to government regulation and prior restraint of speech. Trying to legislate on these grounds raises all manner of 1st amendment barriers and is subject to "strict scrutiny" from the courts. Hell even during the Cold War the U.S. didn't prevent USSR ownership of domestic media outlets. Granted they had to register as foreign owned and as foreign agents. But they were still allowed to o
Old people power! (Score:2)
Government of, by and for corporations (Score:5, Insightful)
"More recently, a group of senators introduced legislation to block TikTok last year, but it was stalled due to lobbying from the company."
I can't recall who came up with it, but whoever said, "America has the best government money can buy", absolutely nailed it.
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"America has the best government money can buy"
Mark Twain
easy to change region on app store (Score:1)
Bill of Attainder (Score:2)
It will be interesting to see how the bill is written, since it can not legally name either TikTok or ByteDance, as to do so would make it a Bill of Attainder, which is expressly forbidden by the Constitution.
Not that Congress seems to care about that any more.
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...as to do so would make it a Bill of Attainder....
Congress has the Constitutional right to regulate interstate and international commerce. You are misunderstanding what a Bill of Attainder is. Congress saying that TikTok is violating U.S. commercial laws is not the same as saying that TikTok has committed a criminal offense that will be punished without judicial review.
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Yes, but they are not allowed to say, "Company X may not do business in the US". They can say, "A company with parameters X, Y and Z may not do business in the US".
They can also say, "The US Government may not buy from company X", but they can't say "Nobody in the US can buy from Company X".
reruns (Score:2)
Haven't we seen this movie before?
LOL (Score:2)
A Chinese company using first amendment rights as an argument to justify its existence. The Pooh is strong with this one.
A Look at Motivations (Score:2)
2. Employees of the executive branch want easy access to the troves of data ByteDance collects to find evidence of crimes.
3. U.S. legislators want bribes, sorry - donations, from U.S. companies who want the data for Reason 1.
Please note that the omission of national security from this list is not a mistake because it's a rationalization and not a true motivation.
Not gonna work (Score:1)
Already China blocked IP transfer in case of sale 4years ago, so a buyer isn't really buying anything.
Young people will stay defiant and keep using tiktok in other ways, e.g. sideloading (and using cheap chinese Android phones instead of overly expensive iPhone). The rest of the world generates enormous content, it's the same as if you cut off Turkey from Facebook, people will not appreciate it and accuse government from being totalitarian.
Does Biden want this in election year? Absolutely not.
misspelled advertising companies (Score:2)
"applications like TikTok that are controlled by foreign adversaries pose an unacceptable risk to US national security."
It seems they inadvertently misspelled advertising companies as "national security."
Kids are dancing - it must be spying (Score:1)
I bet Meta is really behind this legislation... (Score:2)
They want to shut down Chinese data collection in order to force China to buy data on US citizens directly from Meta (or X, etc...).
(I'm only half kidding).
Still no concern on the part of congress about federal investigative agencies (as well as local law enforcement) that get information on US citizens by buying it from social media companies. This lets them get reams of data on people without bothering to get a search warrant.
Lobbying (Score:1)
I find it completely infuriating, but at the same time interesting, that a non-US entity can lobby the US government.
Remind our elected officials they are 'representatives' and that they are not representing. Vote the incumbents out!
Hypocrisy At It's Finest (Score:2)
When we wanted Net Neutrality, the GOP stood up and said "BUT MAH FIRST AMENDMENT!" saying the ISP had the right, under the first amendment, to operate how they wished. That blocking, limiting, or censoring traffic was their ultimate right.
Oh...but now they want to take some of those same companies that they disagree with and FORCE them, by law, to abide by the first.
Do they still want ISP's to censor content? Yes. Do they still want companies to fire people for expressing themselves? Only if they're not co