Trump’s WeChat curbs halted by judge on free speech concerns

Post by onelovetwo » Sun, Sep 20, 2020, 4:16 PM UTC

halfmatthalfcat wrote: post #11

threatofrain wrote: post #5

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).

Post by bluedays » Sun, Sep 20, 2020, 4:18 PM UTC

hutzlibu wrote: post #12

bluedays wrote: post #4

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.

The danger lies in letting a foreign government controll the communication of americans. But for me as a german, I actually neither want the chinese, nor the US-government (nor the german government) to controll my communication.

Post by londons_explore » Sun, Sep 20, 2020, 4:19 PM UTC

Causality1 wrote: post #20

dvduval wrote: post #10

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…

Those are valid concerns. I also think the opposite side of that coin is worth considering. That is to say, should we allow WeChat to gain an even greater foothold on American soil or should we minimize total damage by cutting it off now instead of later? 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 w…

Post by janekm » Sun, Sep 20, 2020, 4:19 PM UTC

seanmcdirmid wrote: post #3

I think most of us expected this. Presidential power is far from absolute, and Trump clearly overstepped here.

Post by seanmcdirmid » Sun, Sep 20, 2020, 4:22 PM UTC

janekm wrote: post #27

seanmcdirmid wrote: post #3

I think most of us expected this. Presidential power is far from absolute, and Trump clearly overstepped here.

I also expected the same arguments to prevail for TikTok though. It feels hard to argue that TikTok is somehow not a first amendment platform? The fact that political organising occurred on the platform should be case closed...