Live data from Hacker News

US to ban transactions with ByteDance and WeChat in 45 days

asia.nikkei.com

181–190 of 1001 posts

Re: US to ban transactions with ByteDance and WeChat in 45 days

#181
At least the Chinese Communist Party has the decency to make policy that has the effect of banning foreign businesses from operating and kangaroo courts to keep up the charade.

I think this is going to be tossed out in court. The President does not have the power to unilaterally decide trade policy, and it's really hard to argue that a consumer software product has national security implications (even if I think it does, I don't think our courts have technically literate judges who would agree).

If you want to provide consumer privacy protections that would prevent the alleged (and very likely) malfeasance of nominally-private businesses from China, write some fucking policy instead of signing an EO with no weight.

Another day, more disillusionment from our federal government's ability to govern. Regardless of how much I want something like this to be in place, I want Congress to write a law that enshrines consumer privacy protection and recognizes that any business doing what they purport Chinese businesses to be doing is a national security threat ; be it from businesses foreign or domestic.

Re: US to ban transactions with ByteDance and WeChat in 45 days

#182
post #127
post #3

So does this ban transactions with all of Tencent or just those in relation to WeChat? https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/executive-or... Section 1. (a) The following actions shall be prohibited beginning 45 days after the date of this order, to the extent permitted under applicable law: any transaction that is related to WeChat by any person, or with respect to any property, subject to the jurisdiction…

They have since clarified, only WeChat apparently https://twitter.com/SamAugustDean/status/1291576813685108736

Perhaps this was intentionally vague requiring clarification by WH? Everyone tonight learned how much of our media is owned by Tencent.

Re: US to ban transactions with ByteDance and WeChat in 45 days

#183
post #91

None of these Chinese companies would have grown to what they are today without intense government-enforced protectionism at home, and until China agrees to compete on a fair playing field I'm perfectly fine with them all being banned outside of their firewall. Would China ever agree to let Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, Snapchat, WhatsApp, Messenger etc. or any new startup operate freely and make money there? It shou…

It's pretty much impossible for lower-income countries to develop economically without protecting their emerging businesses from being slaughtered by established foreign competition. The priority of the Chinese government is the benefit of its citizens (leaving aside that the CCP doesn't consider ethnic minorities in China to be full citizens, as this is a separate issue) and its domestic economy, not the benefit of…

I would have agreed with you 20 years ago, but China is now the second largest economy in the world, and on track to becoming the largest. Combine that with its gross domestic human rights violations, censorship, IP theft, and expansionist foreign policy (looking at the South China Sea, NE India, SE Asia, Africa etc.), and they aren't getting any sympathy from me.

Re: US to ban transactions with ByteDance and WeChat in 45 days

#184
post #91

None of these Chinese companies would have grown to what they are today without intense government-enforced protectionism at home, and until China agrees to compete on a fair playing field I'm perfectly fine with them all being banned outside of their firewall. Would China ever agree to let Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, Snapchat, WhatsApp, Messenger etc. or any new startup operate freely and make money there? It shou…

>None of these Chinese companies would have grown to what they are today without intense government-enforced protectionism at home Ah yes, I remember when the Chinese government killed off Vine to give TikTok a head start.

Was Vine available in China? It seems quite unlikely considering how little western social media is... so while I can't tell from a quick search I'm guessing that you really should remember that.

Re: US to ban transactions with ByteDance and WeChat in 45 days

#185

Since TenCent is huge: >Video game companies owned by Tencent will NOT be affected by this executive order! >White House official confirmed to the LA Times that the EO only blocks transactions related to WeChat >So Riot Games (League of Legends), Epic Games (Fortnite), et al are safe https://twitter.com/samaugustdean/status/1291576813685108736 I guess Chinese users will resort to Chinese IP VPNs, there's already some…

I had no idea that Tencent had full ownership of Riot games. Same thing with 40% ownership of Epic Games. Wow!

Re: US to ban transactions with ByteDance and WeChat in 45 days

#187
post #159
post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I just went to my Wechat to try to transfer my money left in there to a friend. Transfer isn't going through.

I just managed to move part of my money to friends. Try in smaller amounts. Sending a bunch of hongbaos works up to a point as well (then it requires SMS verification which I can't do right now)

Sending multiple small transactions to evade limits might get you flagged by your bank, or FinCEN, as a potential money launderer.

Re: US to ban transactions with ByteDance and WeChat in 45 days

#189

Are we witnessing the end of free markets? Or the growth of decentralization? These sorts of moves are making a very strong case for decentralized platforms.

More likely the end of one-sided free markets. There's no suggestion that the US is about to pull the same shit on countries that don't try and hobble US tech companies.

The EU will probably start to tax tech companies that avoid taxes by registering in tax havens within the next few years. If that's the US' sole motivation, it seems like a receipt for disaster.

Re: US to ban transactions with ByteDance and WeChat in 45 days

#190

Some people here are wondering about the implications of this. What this means IMO is that all Chinese investments in SV need to be liquidated at fire sale prices in the next 45 days. Regardless of how people here feel about China this is a huge escalation. The US is inflicting huge losses on Chinese companies for no clear violation of US laws on their part. The pandoras box is now open. Do countries get to do this t…

> Do countries get to do this to each other whenever they feel like it now ? Can China force Tesla to sell its Chinese operations because Teslas data gathering poses a national security risk ?

Yes? Are you unaware that China has been doing exactly this for many, many years?

Just as two examples, AWS was forced by China to sell off its Chinese operations to a Chinese company because of arbitrary national security reasons. Blizzard Entertainment was forced by China to go through a Chinese intermediary who controls and publishes all Blizzard games in China.

Post reply on HN