U.S. lawmakers unveil bipartisan bid to ban China's TikTok

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-lawmakers-unveil-bipartisan-bid-ban-chinas-tiktok-2022-12-13

On and after the date that is 30 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the President shall exercise all the powers granted to the President under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1701 et. seq.) to the extent necessary to block and prohibit all transactions in all property and interests in property of a social media company described in subsection (b) if such property and interests in property—

(1) are in the United States or come within the United States; or

(2) to the extent necessary to prevent commercial operation of the social media company in the United States, are or come within the possession or control of a United States person.

How on earth does this pass constitutional muster?

As much as Tik Tok needs to be eradicated from the planet, I don’t see how this would be constitutional. Seems like a clear violation of the 1st amendment.

The first amendment in relation to modern tech needs more examining. We were supposed to be outraged at anonymous posts by Russia in 2016, but now an application that could give China the power to amplify or block political messages during our elections is clear first amendment? The FBI trying to influence tech companies what posts, though legal, should be banned is ok? A federal government that thought it was ok to set up an office of misinformation and feed tech companies with their opinions on moderation Is no problem?
Clearly we are in a mixed up period of the relationship of big tech and the first amendment.

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Genuine question - What is so confusing?

This fake outrage by Republicans at Tik Tok is pandering. They want to show their base how tough they are on China.

Tik Tok and other platforms will only vanish when they lose their user base which is not going to happen anytime soon.

My wife has a friend who makes a crap ton of money on Tik Tok and other platforms by just posting videos of her legs. Got to love capitalism and crowdfunding LOL.

Is it a first amendment right to let a Chinese controlled company transmit information including amplifying or blocking what they chose through an app, but interference in our elections for Russia to make tweets?

It might be fake outrage at the GOP because TikTok is populated mostly by users that are not part of the GOP constituency, but…

…the national security concerns are, as far as I can see, very real.

TikTok swears it doesn’t respond to China’s moderation and data requests…but in July it was revealed that people in China did have access to the data TikTok collects in the US.

And…we should be concerned about our own government using such data, since THEY have access to it as well.

I don’t understand TikTok’s appeal…except it seems people’s attention spans are becoming shorter and shorter. We used to be able to listen to Chatauquas that went on for hours or read long essays…now a 15-30 second video seems to stretch the limits of our endurance.

How long until we get nothing but two second flashes?

Unfortunately other platforms have already proved that parents using it is not enough to make it uncool to young people.

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I just assume nothing I do online is private. Not sure what data China can collect that makes Tik Tok a national security threat.

Reducing attention spans is for me a bigger problem. Social Media and the internet has definitely contributed to that but that impacts all generations who are online.

That’s why I make it a point to read books as much as possible.

I read at least two long form books per month.

Currently reading “Eight Days in May.” Pretty solid so far.

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It has replaced Instagram with teens and children. That’s a pretty big deal. Instagram is now to kids like Facebook is to millennials.

The appeal is there not because of how short the video is but because a huge part of is performance based, a huge part of it is how kids communicate.

It’s dangerous as heck for kids given all of the health issues etc that are popping up.

Face recognition.

Or it becoming too commercial like Instagram

That’s not a first amendment issue. That’s a corporate censorship and international interference issue.

TikTok cannot be controlled by the usual bunch so they are trying to shut it down, same as Twitter now.

I know! The feds should require the platform to play polka music in the background that you cannot turn off or turn down.

Yeah, I know, it wouldn’t work and we’d soon have to endure hip hop themed polka…

Edit: yeah I should have known something called that already exists…

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TikTok is a product. A China owned product. The US has banned plenty of products from China. (Huawaei).

If they can ban physical products then they can ban digital ones.

I don’t see this as a 1A issue. But I can be convinced.

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I get the performance-based nature of it as well.

I have an account but use it very sparingly…there are a couple of education-based ones I follow because of my interest in education.

But the rest of it is just…like…stop it.

So Idiocracy-like.

I’m sure my Gen Y daughter and Gen Z son are saying “OK Boomer” to me right now.

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Same here. I tend to have two books on the go at anyone time, fiction and non fiction. Keeps the brain fed and working.

I just looked up the book you are reading on Amazon and purchased it. Looks like a really interesting read. Thanks.

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I agree- but man- TikTok is a massive hit with youngsters and my guess without looking is it is the most used social media app by them.

I would want to see some hard evidence that the Chinese government is using the data for nefarious purposes before blocking it. Data mining has long been a thing associated with social media and most users essentially shrug their shoulders. Its the main reason I’m not on any social media.