It’s been nearly a month since Donald Trump decided he was going to ban the extremely popular social media video app TikTok on the grounds that it’s owned by a Chinese company (you might argue that this has something to do with the allegations that TikTok secretly collects user data, but nobody in the government gave a shit when Facebook was doing that so…), and also a couple of weeks since Trump issued one of his “I do what I want!” executive orders giving TikTok owner ByteDance and absurdly massive media company Tencent 45 days until they’re banned from doing business in the United States. Now, TikTok has finally decided that it should probably do something about all of this, confirming this weekend (via Reuters) that it’s going to take Trump to court over his claims that the app poses a threat to “the national security, foreign policy, and economy” of this country.
In a statement (via Variety), TikTok says that it disagrees with the Trump administration’s concerns that it could be a scam to funnel information to the Chinese government, but it has still spent “nearly a year” engaging “in good faith to provide a constructive solution.” However, and brace yourself for this absolute jaw-dropper, what TikTok got was “a lack of due process as the administration paid no attention to facts and tried to insert itself into negotiations between private businesses.” What? The Trump administration? Since when has it ever done any of those things? TikTok adds that it now has “no choice but to challenge the executive order through the judicial system”
This is all happening at the same time that several American companies are considering buying TikTok, specifically Microsoft and software company Oracle (which is apparently led by a Trumper named Larry Ellison). Meanwhile, Trump has inexplicably decided that the U.S. government should get a “substantial portion” of any money made from selling TikTok, even though that doesn’t make any sense. Is it possible that, as King Of America, he thinks everything just has to go through him personally and he gets to make up whatever rules and take whatever money he wants? Ha ha ha, no. Of course not. Why ever would we think that? How silly.
No word on when this all might start to move forward, but as noted up above, we’re only a few weeks into Trump’s 45-day pre-ban headstart. TikTok has some time.
27 Comments
I loathe Donald Trump. I love the First Amendment. (Black lives matter! Arrest the cops that murdered Breonna Taylor!)But as a high school teacher…please don’t tell anyone but I guess I sort of wouldn’t mind if TikTok disappeared forever.
Will this be on the test?
Look, I know it’s not a progressive opinion. I just wish my students could walk from their desk to the pencil sharpener without shaking their arms like they’re transforming into an American werewolf in London.
Do they even get that reference? And when did we get old, man? We used to be cool. We were! Our collars were the biggest, and we had the bellbottomest bellbottoms in town! We were groovy, you dig?
Truly, in the fight between Trump and TikTok, whoever wins we all lose.
it’s OK, you can say the quiet part out loud…like me, you fucking hate TikTok. And that’s OK. I’m a parent of a high schooler (and an old) and thus am deeply entrenched in the TikTok generation so I’d be overjoyed if TikTok disappeared forever without a ripple. Maybe some glorious compromise will present itself where it and Dipshit both disappear forever…
So, I needed lighthearted entertainment the other day and was reading a couple Buzzfeed listicles. One of them, every single one was a TikTok video. After three of them, I had to quit. It was just so annoying!
Jesus, you’re actually taking the side of a an app that hands over personal info to a government that commits horrific crimes against humanity. Facebook doesn’t do anything that bad, don’t even try and compare the two. All that, simply because you don’t want it to look like you might be on the same side as Trump. Don’t be afraid of nuance—you can take issue with TikTok without being pro-Trump, you coward.
“government that commits horrific crimes against humanity.”You mean the US?
I mean, probably 3/4 of all governments in the world commit horrific crimes against humanity. You could “whatabout” all day.
Yes that would be my point
Yes but it is the US President pointing the finger, not Putin, Bolsonaro, Tayyip, Duterte, etc. etc. Pot and kettle both being black and all that.
Okay twinkletits.
But how exactly does TikTok collecting user data help the Chinese government commit genocide against the Uighurs? I mean, maybe in the sense that since TikTok is owned by the government its profits go towards materially aiding the regime, but the same can be said of literally every business entity in China. Their government controls it all. Are you really ready to boycott ALL chinese goods?And more broadly, why should I be any more concerned about the Chinese government having my data than an American company (not that I use any social media platforms at all)? Like, what are they gonna do with it that is any more nefarious than Facebook or Google?
Yes, I think it’s perfectly reasonable to hold China up as a much bigger problem. Facebook and google are going to use my data to advertise to me. Maybe intrusively, but I can live with that. China collects data to stymie free speech among its citizens (and god knows what they’re collecting from Hong Kong right now). They constantly steal intellectual property from companies in other countries. They give zero shits about data protection and have far more nefarious goals than facebook. They’re the kind of evil that makes Trump look like mother teresa. So yes, you should be more concerned about the Chinese government having your data than American companies that are subject to far more oversight and scrutiny. Does that mean boycott China? No—but there’s a big difference between buying a physical good that happens to be manufactured in China and handing over my personal data to its government. Don’t be naive for the sake of sounding progressive.
Okay, but again, how is China going to use your personal data to facilitate its human rights abuses? Also, I would wager that it is far less likely for the Chinese government to hand over your personal data to the US government than for a US company. Sure, there are regulations now, but all it will take is one court decision. And considering I actually live in the US, I’d be much more concerned about what power they have over me than China, who might use my personal data to . . . again I have no fucking idea.
I never said that China is going to use tiktok users’ personal data to commit human rights abuse. I’m saying that China’s government is a horrific regime and we absolutely should be opposed to handing over personal data to them. The amount of government-backed hacking they do of foreign companies to steal IP is insane. I don’t know what exactly they could do with my info today, but I sure as shit don’t want them to have it.Now obviously there’s nuance to this topic—my point was that barsanti is trying so hard to be anti-trump that he’s acting like there’s no valid reason to have issues with tiktok. He uses a false equivalency by saying that facebook collects user data, but anyone should be able to see that facebook and the chinese government are too very different beasts with very different goals.
And my point is that there really isn’t any valid reason to think of TIkTok as any worse than any other Chinese business or even an American business who operates in China. Apple and Nike are far more complicit in human rights abuses (i.e. slave labor at their manufactuaring facilities). Criticizing TikTok is just right-wing virtue signaling. Literally everyone I’ve ever heard bring up China’s treatments of the Uighurs as an excuse to slam TikTok (or the NBA for that matter) have themselves a pretty lengthy public record of saying nasty things about Muslims. It’s just an excuse to deflect.
Your brave stand against TikTok is not materially aiding anyone, but I sure hope you enjoy the ego stroking.
Wow you became a prick reallll fast. You do get how buying a sneaker doesn’t result in your personal info becoming available to China, right? But fine, I’ll play along. I’ll tell you that I give zero fucks about Uighurs, but I still don’t want a dictatorship with my personal info. My argument doesn’t change.
“You can take issue with Tik Tok without being pro Trump.”You can also note an abuse of executive power and unprecedented requirements on the sale of a private company’s asset to another private entity by a government without being pro Tik Tok. What a bizarre dichotomy to present.
Can anyone on Tik Tok teach me the dance movies that let me jump to another timeline where Trump never existed?
It’s just a jump to the left
And then a step to the right
With your hands on your hips
You bring your knees in tightBut it’s the pelvic thrustThat really drives you insane
Cha cha, real smooth.
The OA was cancelled sorry.
The day I heard Trump was going to ban TikTok, I installed it on my phone. Didn’t look at for a while, but now I’m hooked, and as a middle-aged white guy, I know I’m not the target audience.
I’m not accusing you of anything but I’m willing to bet middle-aged white guys make up a significant number of viewers.
I mean, boo Trump or whatever, but TikTok really is a problem and action really does need to be taken against it. We may be in a rare “stopped clock” moment of the Trump presidency.