Live data from Hacker News

Trump says he will ban TikTok through executive action

cnbc.com

11–20 of 694 posts

Re: Trump says he will ban TikTok through executive action

#11
post #2

Under what authority? A dozen paragraphs in the article and not one questioning whether he can actually do this. What would such an executive action look like? An EO to Apple and Google to de-list the app from their stores? Why should they comply? What's he going to do when ByteDance uploads the .apk somewhere? Sick of media treating this man like a zoo exhibit instead of the advanced persistent threat to US democrac…

There's a good discussion of his different legal options here: https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/07/24/trump-cant-ban-tiktok-f...

Re: Trump says he will ban TikTok through executive action

#12
post #8
post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Great, but that doesn't answer my question: What authority does a US president have to tell a US-based software company to not distribute code from its US servers?

Tiktok is not a US-based software company, they're a private company from China: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bytedance There's been precedent set recently with e.g. Huawei: https://www.theverge.com/2019/5/15/18216988/white-house-huaw... , but also keep in mind we have dealt with much stronger things in the past: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Export_of_cryptography_from_th...

> Tiktok is not a US-based software company, they're a private company from China

It doesn't really matter, because the app code is repackaged at the Google/Apple level. At that point, it is from US-company to US-consumer. There are no "import restrictions" or customs on code (speech) like there are on hardware.

Re: Trump says he will ban TikTok through executive action

#13
post #2

Under what authority? A dozen paragraphs in the article and not one questioning whether he can actually do this. What would such an executive action look like? An EO to Apple and Google to de-list the app from their stores? Why should they comply? What's he going to do when ByteDance uploads the .apk somewhere? Sick of media treating this man like a zoo exhibit instead of the advanced persistent threat to US democrac…

> advanced persistent threat to US democracy We are a Republic.

Even more Article 4, Section 4 of the constitution:

>The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government

https://constitutioncenter.org/interactive-constitution/inte...

Re: Trump says he will ban TikTok through executive action

#14
post #5
post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

China is likely considered by many to be a threat to democracy, which is part of the reasoning behind this

Great, but that doesn't answer my question: What authority does a US president have to tell a US-based software company to not distribute code from its US servers?

[deleted]

Re: Trump says he will ban TikTok through executive action

#15
post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My guess: National security as in Huawei https://www.theverge.com/2019/5/15/18216988/white-house-huaw... Let's be realistic, if an app was doing what is alleged here, they should be banned and I'm sure they are provisions to do so without a vote of Congress. Biden campaign was also told to delete TikTok from phones, maybe NSA knows something.

> if an app was doing what is alleged here, they should be banned Yep, I also believe that would be in violation of Google/Apple ToS and they would be happy to ban it. > I'm sure they are provisions to do so without a vote of Congress. I highly doubt it, and I am waiting to be shown otherwise.

>>I highly doubt it, and I am waiting to be shown otherwise.

I showed it to you, Huawei. USA gives a LOT of power to the President, sanctions, bans etc etc.

Re: Trump says he will ban TikTok through executive action

#17
post #3
post #2

Under what authority? A dozen paragraphs in the article and not one questioning whether he can actually do this. What would such an executive action look like? An EO to Apple and Google to de-list the app from their stores? Why should they comply? What's he going to do when ByteDance uploads the .apk somewhere? Sick of media treating this man like a zoo exhibit instead of the advanced persistent threat to US democrac…

China is likely considered by many to be a threat to democracy, which is part of the reasoning behind this

Only if you drink Trumps racist FUD propaganda. All I see is US bullying China clearly

If Tiktok is the greatest "threat" than obviously there is less than meets the eye. More likely NSA can't spy on US citizens. Its so obviously easy to check out and block. If I were China, I just make things transparent in the age of built in backdoors would be huge untapped market.

It wouldnt work on five eye, but the other 200+ nations would be won [keep it coming haters]

Re: Trump says he will ban TikTok through executive action

#19
post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> if an app was doing what is alleged here, they should be banned Yep, I also believe that would be in violation of Google/Apple ToS and they would be happy to ban it. > I'm sure they are provisions to do so without a vote of Congress. I highly doubt it, and I am waiting to be shown otherwise.

>> I highly doubt it, and I am waiting to be shown otherwise. I showed it to you, Huawei. USA gives a LOT of power to the President, sanctions, bans etc etc.

Preventing the purchase and import of physical equipment into the US is a lot different than preventing the import of code/speech. I fully understand the former is allowed, but I highly doubt the president possesses the authority to do the latter.

Re: Trump says he will ban TikTok through executive action

#20
post #2

Under what authority? A dozen paragraphs in the article and not one questioning whether he can actually do this. What would such an executive action look like? An EO to Apple and Google to de-list the app from their stores? Why should they comply? What's he going to do when ByteDance uploads the .apk somewhere? Sick of media treating this man like a zoo exhibit instead of the advanced persistent threat to US democrac…

Under the Bernstein v. United States ruling software source code is protected under the 1st amendment, I do not know if this holds true for binaries as well though. I guess if TikTok distributed only its source code and it was compiled by the user the gov would be able to do nothing about it.
Post reply on HN