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Biden signs TikTok bill into law, starting clock for ByteDance to divest

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Re: Biden signs TikTok bill into law, starting clock for ByteDance to divest

#311

Post by wmf »

danieltanfh95 wrote: post #301
returningfory2 wrote: post #38

The work "ban" is in scare quotes for a reason. The law doesn't ban TikTok. Rather, it bans TikTok from having Chinese owners. If the law stands, the end result will likely be that TikTok will be sold to US owners, rather than TikTok going away. It's surprising to me that this this pretty significant distinction has been glossed over both in media reporting and in general comments here on HN. To be clear, I'm not sup…

Just because it doesn’t say “ban” doesn’t mean its not one. It is well known that China lists algorithms and AI models trained on citizen data as a non-export so tiktok will never be able to sell to anyone other than a Chinese company unless they retrain the model etc. The CEO has mentioned that they will simply pull out of the US market.

So not only does TikTok have to be sold but they also have to remove the addiction algorithm? This deal just gets better and better!

Re: Biden signs TikTok bill into law, starting clock for ByteDance to divest

#312

Post by Spivak »

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #294
cwyers wrote: post #238

I feel like if TikTok didn't want this to happen, they should have not had their CEO commit perjury in front of Congress. https://www.forbes.com/sites/alexandralevine/2023/05/30/tikt...

Or literally having the Chinese embassy lobby on their behalf [1]. I guess we can laugh now that we're on the other side of this ham-fisted fiasco. [1] https://www.politico.com/news/2024/04/17/china-lobbying-tikt...

Are we reading the same articles? The Forbes story is just suggesting that there's a possible interpretation of their statements as lying and your link is saying that China wants TikTok to remain owned by a Chinese firm -- and of course they do, for the same reason the US would resist huge chunks of our own hugely profitable companies being sold off. There's no actual evidence of anything.

Like I'm ready to get out the pitchforks but this is just weird FUD.

Re: Biden signs TikTok bill into law, starting clock for ByteDance to divest

#313

Post by [deleted] »

nickthegreek wrote: post #51
returningfory2 wrote: post #38

The work "ban" is in scare quotes for a reason. The law doesn't ban TikTok. Rather, it bans TikTok from having Chinese owners. If the law stands, the end result will likely be that TikTok will be sold to US owners, rather than TikTok going away. It's surprising to me that this this pretty significant distinction has been glossed over both in media reporting and in general comments here on HN. To be clear, I'm not sup…

While I get the point... if the EU said Facebook could not be available in the Country unless the company divested from US interest, would we not call it a ban?

[deleted]

Re: Biden signs TikTok bill into law, starting clock for ByteDance to divest

#314

Post by nemothekid »

returningfory2 wrote: post #38

The work "ban" is in scare quotes for a reason. The law doesn't ban TikTok. Rather, it bans TikTok from having Chinese owners. If the law stands, the end result will likely be that TikTok will be sold to US owners, rather than TikTok going away. It's surprising to me that this this pretty significant distinction has been glossed over both in media reporting and in general comments here on HN. To be clear, I'm not sup…

>the end result will likely be that TikTok will be sold to US owners

Why does everyone assume this is likely? The CCP has already said they would block a sale of TikTok. This happened a while ago - so the US saying TikTok must be sold is an effective ban. The misdirection of the wording of the ban is just dishonest.

Re: Biden signs TikTok bill into law, starting clock for ByteDance to divest

#315

Post by cute_boi »

Aloisius wrote: post #305
returningfory2 wrote: post #38

The work "ban" is in scare quotes for a reason. The law doesn't ban TikTok. Rather, it bans TikTok from having Chinese owners. If the law stands, the end result will likely be that TikTok will be sold to US owners, rather than TikTok going away. It's surprising to me that this this pretty significant distinction has been glossed over both in media reporting and in general comments here on HN. To be clear, I'm not sup…

The law doesn't ban them from having Chinese owners. It bans American companies from providing services that distribute, maintain or update any sufficiently popular apps substantially owned or controlled by foreign adversaries. TikTok could host APKs from CCP headquarters if they want to.

What about iphone?

Re: Biden signs TikTok bill into law, starting clock for ByteDance to divest

#316

Post by asdasdsddd »

efitz wrote: post #179

I see the feedback here is overwhelmingly negative. My biggest problem is that it’s too narrowly targeted. I have worked for several US businesses with global footprints and working with China (and some other countries) required whole or part ownership of the business by entities within that nation. So we partnered with businesses in China to set up and operate our infra, and had to manage everything through contract…

I think people are reticent to admit that unfettered globalism (especially in the internet which was meant to connect the world) is bad and has serious security implications. It should've been obvious retrospectively, but folks were lulled by a sense of post-soviet optimism.

Re: Biden signs TikTok bill into law, starting clock for ByteDance to divest

#317

Post by jrochkind1 »

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #289
mrtksn wrote: post #257

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I know this is not straight up a ban but it is a ban. Maybe Musk will buy it for pennies ona dollar and will turn my TikTok feed to my Twitter feed, which is full of lunatics, conspiracy theories, racist, dog whistle racist, conman and Tesla boys. Maybe Zuck will buy it and will start showing hot girls, meals and tourist attractions like they do on Instagram? Since I'm not it the USA, maybe I will be able to use the…

> this is not straight up a ban but it is a ban It's really not. ByteDance isn't being sanctioned. TikTok.com will remain accessible to everyone in America. This is simply saying if it can't be sold to an American (EDIT: non-Chinese) buyer within a year, it gets removed from U.S. hosting and U.S. app stores. > you can't claim being "the free world" by imitating China Good thing we're not.

Does the legislation in fact specifically require sale to a US buyer, rather than a non-China buyer? Like EU buyer wouldn't fly?

Oddly, the articles I've seen don't feel the need to specify there. Seems like a big difference to me, and requiring sale to specifically US buyer seems rather more of a takeover.

Re: Biden signs TikTok bill into law, starting clock for ByteDance to divest

#318

Post by Dalewyn »

returningfory2 wrote: post #38

The work "ban" is in scare quotes for a reason. The law doesn't ban TikTok. Rather, it bans TikTok from having Chinese owners. If the law stands, the end result will likely be that TikTok will be sold to US owners, rather than TikTok going away. It's surprising to me that this this pretty significant distinction has been glossed over both in media reporting and in general comments here on HN. To be clear, I'm not sup…

>It's surprising to me that this this pretty significant distinction has been glossed over both in media reporting and in general comments here on HN.

That's because:

* Saying it'll get banned makes for a more sensational headline.

* Saying it'll get banned is accurate enough for most practical purposes.

* Saying it'll get banned is simpler than explaining the details of divestiture. Most Americans probably don't even know what "divest" means without pulling out a dictionary.

Re: Biden signs TikTok bill into law, starting clock for ByteDance to divest

#320

Post by no_exit »

cwyers wrote: post #238

I feel like if TikTok didn't want this to happen, they should have not had their CEO commit perjury in front of Congress. https://www.forbes.com/sites/alexandralevine/2023/05/30/tikt...

I thought the punishment for Congressional perjury was a lucrative think tank sinecure, America's really changed lately.
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