Possibility Of U.S. TikTok Ban Grows After Biden Demands Chinese Owners Sell Their Shares
After former President Donald Trump attempted to get TikTok banned in the United States and ultimately failed back in 2021, President Joe Biden might be poised to take a crack at it.
Yesterday, multiple news outlets reported that Biden had threatened to ban TikTok in the U.S. unless the site's Chinese owners divest their stakes in it.
TikTok has long been accused of spying on global citizens, which is what caused India to ban the app and caused major global powers, including the U.S., to ban the app on government phones. So far, over 30 states have already banned employees from using TikTok on government-owned devices as well.
The call for a sale echoes what Trump did in the waning days of his presidency, and though he appeared to negotiate a sale of a portion of TikTok to Oracle, the deal never came to fruition. Should Biden attempt to ban TikTok, he may face opposition from United States courts, as Trump did.
TikTok executives expressed their disappointment in the call for sale, arguing, "A change in ownership would not impose any new restrictions on data flows or access." China's foreign ministry commented on the development earlier today, saying that the U.S. has not provided evidence that TikTok threatened national security and that the government should stop attempting to suppress such companies.
Social media was divided on the news, for while many dislike the app, some, including the ACLU, argued that banning it would be a violation of the First Amendment. Others joked and memed about possible examples of why the ban makes sense.
The New York Post reported that TikTok is looking into potential U.S. buyers for a sale, and while TikTok Chief Executive Shou Zi Chew is set to appear before Congress next week, it's still unclear if the CCP would even approve any divestiture.
Coincidentally amid the latest news of the U.S. ban, the United Kingdom just similarly banned TikTok on all its government devices earlier today.
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lecorbak
why would china sell tiktok ? it sells too well for that.
Gumshoe
If it comes down to choosing between a huge one-off payment to sell the platform to a western company or keep it but lose access to the entire North American and European markets, the former is clealry the more logical financial decision, espeically since they will still be able to maintain it inside China and the rest of the world.
lecorbak
if they ban it in NA though, it will just be banned in NA, not the whole europe.
Pokejoseph64
Like I would give a shit about tiktok’s banning violating any laws when that cancer itself is a violation
BAN IT!!!
Gumshoe
I know Tik Tok sucks, but I do think it's a pretty dangerous precedent to start banning websites, especially if the reason is just they suck. There's a lot of websites that I would be happy to see shut down, but having it done by the state is still a worrying sign of government overreach, and the kind of thing we criticise regimes in China or Russia or Iran for doing.
I could probably be more persuaded by concerns of national security and large amounts of data being harvested by authoritarian regimes, but even then I think we'd need to tread carefully and really think about it all the way through.
lecorbak
"especially if the reason is just they suck"
I'm pretty sure it's not about sucking but more about "tiktok is used to sell information to china's government" or some shit like that.