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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

#401

Post by JumpCrisscross »

EasyMark wrote: post #394

I wonder if they couldn't sell to a more "friendly" to China country somewhere in Europe and then backdoor info out of there? Away from NSA/SS/FBI scanning and FISA courts. That would seem to be the best of all worlds for ByteDance if they could make it hard to audit the potential company and if the court challenge fails to have the whole thing dismissed as unconstitutional.

> wonder if they couldn't sell to a more "friendly" to China country somewhere in Europe and then backdoor info out of there?

It only counts if "the President determines, through an interagency process, would result in the relevant foreign adversary controlled application no longer being controlled by a foreign adversary" [1].

So presumably if a pair of Hungarian millionaires show up and place a bid, there would be additional questions.

[1] https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/house-bill/7521... 2(g)(6)*

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

#402

Post by nebula8804 »

jMyles wrote: post #11

It seems to me that the most likely outcome is that some money will opaquely change hands and that TikTok will remain available, either because of a shell game divestiture or because of a policy change. There's just too much money at stake. But even if that doesn't happen, and the US state starts to regard TikTok as banned, what makes anyone think people will stop using it? Many western resources are banned in China,…

Keep in mind the politicians who pushed this stuff are so old they still think in terms of physical assets and not digital. By banning something they think its like blocking a ship entering port. We will have to see how things play out but if ByteDance moves faster to circumvent rules than the government can update the rules they might be able to establish a consistent loyal foothold no matter whatever the government will do.

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

#403

Post by moneycantbuy »

good, not only is it malware/spyware, the chinese government can shape the beliefs and behaviors of > 100,000,000 americans at the flip of a switch. albeit users are idiots for giving their attention in the first place. and because capitalism = god, will probably end up selling to the saudis.

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

#404

Post by tonymet »

intellix wrote: post #64

if you've been to China, you'll know that they ban all western products: facebook, google, etc etc and replaced them with their own variants. If they want to run around free-range without any restriction with their own products then they should respond by loosening restrictions in their own country. This is an absolute no-brainer. If you want Tik Tok in the US, lower your middle finger. Am I missing something?

China is communist. That is not the bar we are holding ourselves to.

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

#405

Post by EasyMark »

wmf wrote: post #311
danieltanfh95 wrote: post #301

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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!

nah, that would be left up to tiktok, the CCP, and the buyer of the company, if there ever is a buyer and the CCP would even permit it.

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

#406

Post by rhaps0dy »

jtriangle wrote: post #352
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 bans American companies from providing services that distribute, maintain or update any sufficiently popular apps where a company is headquartered in, or has more than a 20% ownership share of the company held, in a country that has been determined to be a foreign adversary. It is much, much broader than a 'tiktok ban', it applies to any company that fits that criteria. So to put it bluntly, if the CCP bought 20%…

Is this going to impact Riot Games' games (League of Legends, Valorant), the wildly popular American video game company which is owned by Tencent?

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

#407

Post by zeroonetwothree »

Aloha wrote: post #264
nebula8804 wrote: post #232

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>China and other countries do far worse to us than just requiring local ownership of businesses; and if they feel that is in their national interest, why can’t we return the favor when we feel it’s in our interest? This is bigger than China for a lot of people. TikTok has given an alternative voice to groups typically marginalized on pro-Western platforms. We typically see hypocrisy from the West when it comes to Isr…

I'm not seeing any issue with those voices finding a space elsewhere say on X/Twitter - believe me, I see enough of the slop over from it. The level of direct control the US Government has over US Social Media platforms pales in comparison to the control China has over TikTok.

After all there’s even a scotus case this term about the government merely “suggesting” that social media act a certain way.

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

#408

Post by henryfjordan »

returningfory2 wrote: post #25
lispisok wrote: post #4

Maybe I'm ignorant but can somebody explain to me how the federal government can just ban TikTok? If I create an app or business can the feds just decide to ban it and it's over?

Calling it a "TikTok ban" is sort of inaccurate, but unfortunately that's how the media and politicians have referred to it. The act doesn't ban TikTok; it bans TikTok from having China-based owners (in this case the Chinese company ByteDance). The act requires the China-based owners to sell TikTok to non-China-based owners or cease operations in the US. I'm guessing Congress justifies its authority here based on nat…

Whether it's a "ban" or not gets into "ship of theseus" territory. The company as it exists is not allowed to continue existing. A new corporate structure with new owners is required or the app will be banned.

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

#409

Post by paxys »

dwnoble wrote: post #22

Fun fact: according to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_websites_blocked_in_ma... , tiktok.com has been blocked in mainland China since 2020.

TikTok is branded as Douyin in China. The international version is the one that is blocked.

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

#410

Post by paxys »

tonymet wrote: post #404
intellix wrote: post #64

if you've been to China, you'll know that they ban all western products: facebook, google, etc etc and replaced them with their own variants. If they want to run around free-range without any restriction with their own products then they should respond by loosening restrictions in their own country. This is an absolute no-brainer. If you want Tik Tok in the US, lower your middle finger. Am I missing something?

China is communist. That is not the bar we are holding ourselves to.

Free trade and reciprocity agreements don't depend on a country's political leanings. You either play ball with the world or you don't. Can't have it both ways.
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