11–20 of 401 posts
IMO the forced sale of TikTok is very worrying for American production in China; in any future escalation China will likely use that same move as a card to play.
I’d argue at least it’s more explicit (to sell).
I always wondered how we squared disallowing things like WeChat and TikTok with freedom of speech. This whole thing feels a bit hyperbolic. Is there real danger lurking around the corner if we allow people to shit post on TikTok, for instance? Genuinely curious here.
But for me as a german, I actually neither want the chinese, nor the US-government (nor the german government) to controll my communication.
> who argued that prohibitions would violate the free-speech rights of millions of Chinese-speaking Americans who rely on it for communication. By the same thinking Comcast should not be able to cut off someone's internet service (for not paying a bill) because doing so would violate that person's free speech rights (the ability to send email). Ditto for hosting providers, registrars and so on. In this case the gover…
The analogy breaks down here, allowing WeChat does not infringe on positive or negative liberty of much of anyone.
> who argued that prohibitions would violate the free-speech rights of millions of Chinese-speaking Americans who rely on it for communication. By the same thinking Comcast should not be able to cut off someone's internet service (for not paying a bill) because doing so would violate that person's free speech rights (the ability to send email). Ditto for hosting providers, registrars and so on. In this case the gover…
IMO the forced sale of TikTok is very worrying for American production in China; in any future escalation China will likely use that same move as a card to play.
Haven’t they been doing that already? At least requiring companies to use data centers in country so they can siphon/spy on the data? Is that any less nefarious than a forced sale in order to operate in the country? I’d argue at least it’s more explicit (to sell).
The issue with being forced to sell is that it's essentially economic warfare.
America has never been invaded by foreign gunships and forced to allow foreign merchants to import opium to addict its citizens in order to fix their own countries balance of payments problems.
Opium Wars
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opium_Wars
If America were to experience something like that, how might the experience change America's future commercial policies?
If Pearl Harbour and 9/11 are any guide, America might become less tolerant of foreign businesses operating in its markets.
But then, America is a complicated marketplace.
The Promotion and Marketing of OxyContin: Commercial Triumph, Public Health Tragedy
> who argued that prohibitions would violate the free-speech rights of millions of Chinese-speaking Americans who rely on it for communication. By the same thinking Comcast should not be able to cut off someone's internet service (for not paying a bill) because doing so would violate that person's free speech rights (the ability to send email). Ditto for hosting providers, registrars and so on. In this case the gover…
Good. I didn't think the WeChat ban made much sense to begin with. Sidenote, I've noticed more and more people joining Telegram to evade a potential WeChat ban. I wonder if they're going to stay on Telegram.
> who argued that prohibitions would violate the free-speech rights of millions of Chinese-speaking Americans who rely on it for communication. By the same thinking Comcast should not be able to cut off someone's internet service (for not paying a bill) because doing so would violate that person's free speech rights (the ability to send email). Ditto for hosting providers, registrars and so on. In this case the gover…
I have been studying Chinese for 7 years. Many of my Chinese friends live in Los Angeles and WeChat is central in their life... Getting a job, taking orders, doing all kinds of business, paying for things. They don't know the phone numbers of their friends. Many don't speak English or their English is not very good. If it is completely cut off they will still find ways to communicate but arguably it will be more like…
As for me, I believe allowing WeChat to become anything like the structural institution it is in China in any part of the US would be a mistake. Imagine if Google was as controlled by and as much of a cheerleader for the US government as WeChat is for the Chinese, and the kind of threat that would pose to European sovereignty.