Whether or not this particular ban is enforced is irrelevant. The point was simply to establish the precedent that the government can restrict citizens’ access to social media.
The thing people aren’t getting about this law is it’s extremely broad, with no due process. The definition they use for organizations that are subject to this law could literally include the New York Times. And designating an organization as controlled by a foreign adversary is a declaration by the Secretary of Commerce.
There’s no court, no hearing, no public notice, no juries, and only one judge (the secretary).
The point of taking down TikTok is twofold. One, they have a Boogeyman they can use to push it through. Two, if they can shut down an app with 170 million users then they can shut down anyone. That’s half the country that uses TikTok. If they can do that without protests then they can shut down anyone.
The point of taking down TikTok is twofold. One, they have a Boogeyman they can use to push it through. Two, if they can shut down an app with 170 million users then they can shut down anyone.
Exactly.
They needed a pretense for taking down a social media site in spite of the fact that it’s not violating any existing laws and in spite of widespread opposition to the takedown,and TikTok served both of those purposes.
And now, armed with Supreme Court approval, they can set about barring access to pretty much any site they want, for whatever reason they want, regardless of public opinion.
I mean they’re also banning chinese networking hardware, chinese phone manufacturers, chinese software in cars, considering banning chinese drones, potentially banning tencent games, etc etc
I’m feeling pretty confident that the goal here is banning chinese spying considering all the other bans.
No government ever oppresses its citizenry by announcing that they’re setting out to oppress the citizenry.
They always, without exception, do it by first targeting someone the bulk of the populace thinks deserves it, and then only later incrementally expanding their reach.
Whether or not this particular ban is enforced is irrelevant. The point was simply to establish the precedent that the government can restrict citizens’ access to social media.
The thing people aren’t getting about this law is it’s extremely broad, with no due process. The definition they use for organizations that are subject to this law could literally include the New York Times. And designating an organization as controlled by a foreign adversary is a declaration by the Secretary of Commerce.
There’s no court, no hearing, no public notice, no juries, and only one judge (the secretary).
The point of taking down TikTok is twofold. One, they have a Boogeyman they can use to push it through. Two, if they can shut down an app with 170 million users then they can shut down anyone. That’s half the country that uses TikTok. If they can do that without protests then they can shut down anyone.
Exactly.
They needed a pretense for taking down a social media site in spite of the fact that it’s not violating any existing laws and in spite of widespread opposition to the takedown,and TikTok served both of those purposes.
And now, armed with Supreme Court approval, they can set about barring access to pretty much any site they want, for whatever reason they want, regardless of public opinion.
I mean they’re also banning chinese networking hardware, chinese phone manufacturers, chinese software in cars, considering banning chinese drones, potentially banning tencent games, etc etc
I’m feeling pretty confident that the goal here is banning chinese spying considering all the other bans.
They ban it to protect their companies, china would sell too cheap until all American competitors die out.
Its being banned because of Zionist lobbying to censor pro Palestinian content. The China spying story is a cover.
US Social media platforms like Meta have been aggressively censoring Palestinian content.
https://www.hrw.org/report/2023/12/21/metas-broken-promises/systemic-censorship-palestine-content-instagram-and
https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/meta-censorship-devastating-palestinian-news-sources
Jonathan Greenblatt. ADL director gave it away last year in a leaked recording when he said “we have a TikTok problem”.
https://youtube.com/shorts/0f4cbLic3aA
Then they should ban that, not pass an extremely broad law as I detail in another comment.
No government ever oppresses its citizenry by announcing that they’re setting out to oppress the citizenry.
They always, without exception, do it by first targeting someone the bulk of the populace thinks deserves it, and then only later incrementally expanding their reach.