TikTok plans to fight a new American law compelling ByteDance to sell TikTok or see its app banned in the United States. TikTok professes to be a proponent of American constitutional rights. It therefore will not cooperate with American censorship the way it cooperates with Chinese censorship.
The New York Times reports (“Congress Passed a Bill That Could Ban TikTok,” April 23, 2024):
Congress passed the measure citing national security concerns because of TikTok’s Chinese ties. Both lawmakers and security experts have said there are risks that the Chinese government could lean on ByteDance for access to sensitive data belonging to its 170 million U.S. users or to spread propaganda.
The law would allow TikTok to continue to operate in the United States if ByteDance sold it within 270 days, or about nine months, a time frame that the president could extend to a year.
The measure is likely to face legal challenges, as well as possible resistance from Beijing, which could block the sale or export of the technology. It’s also unclear who has the resources to buy TikTok, since it will carry a hefty price tag.
“We are confident, and we will keep fighting for your rights in the courts,” says TikTok CEO Shou Chew.
“Thankfully, we have a Constitution in this country [i.e., the United States], and people’s First Amendment rights are very important,” adds a TikTok vice president, Michael Beckerman. “We’ll continue to fight for you and all the other users on TikTok.”
The Times says that TikTok “is expected to argue that a forced sale could violate its users’ free speech rights because a new owner could change the app’s content policies and reshape what users are able to freely share on the platform.”
Are TikTok’s principals really foes of shaping and reshaping by others of “what users are able to freely share on the platform”?
The Network Contagion Institute has published a study showing that “TikTok’s Global Platform Anomalies Align with the Chinese Communist Party’s Geostrategic Objectives.” Although the Institute offers the usual caveat about how “more research is needed,” all the evidence is that TikTok “systematically promotes or demotes content on the basis of whether it is aligned with or opposed to the interests of the Chinese government.”
Among the many reasons to be suspicious of TikTok, not least is this systematic censorship and propaganda on behalf of the CCP. TikTok’s willingness to do the bidding of the Party suggests that fighting “for you and all the other users on TikTok” is not at the very top of the TikTok agenda.
Also see:
StopTheChinazis.org: “Response to Paul Jacob About TikTok and His Further Thoughts”
Reclaim the Net: “TikTok Announces Crackdown on ‘Conspiracy Theories’ ”
TikTok: “Integrity and Authenticity”
