mcc ,
@mcc@mastodon.social avatar

Joe Biden just banned Tik Tok.

https://www.cnbc.com/2024/04/24/biden-signs-israel-ukraine-tiktok-bill-into-law.html

If America can do this to Tik Tok, America can and will do it to whatever internet thing it is you like just as easily. Don't imagine China itself was the point of this. (The ban[s] cover ByteDance plus any company 20%+ owned within a country on this short list https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/10/4872#:~:text=metals%20and%20alloys.-,(2)Covered%20nation,-.%E2%80%94The%20term but given how easily this passed it seems a precedent is set for Congress to add whatever other company, organization or country it feels like to the list.)

mcc OP ,
@mcc@mastodon.social avatar

The final law is basically two separate bans, either of which would potentially be sufficient to ban TikTok (H.R 815, Divisions H and I https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/house-bill/815/text#toc-HA3ED19E8F4F24124B4029233F64B1549 ) Section I concerns foreign transfer of PII and could be unobjectionable and EU-like if it defined "Personal Data" more narrowly, but as-is it I expect could be construed to cover even normal operations of privacy-conscious online services. Section H, which names TikTok/ByteDance by name, is not privacy related and is wild in its scope

mcc OP ,
@mcc@mastodon.social avatar

Of course, in all likelihood Tik Tok will not wind up being literally banned, so we won't yet get a full exploration of the new expansion of state powers here. But what will happen, and what the point of this bill is, is Tik Tok will get sold to American right-wingers, because that is who buys social networks in America. This will eventually result in influencing speech to favor the right, which was the reason Donald Trump originally proposed this ban, and the reason America is passing it now.

mcc OP ,
@mcc@mastodon.social avatar

Meanwhile, since as written this bill does give the US government a power to directly ban apps from app stores for, as far as I'm aware(?), the first time, this has serious implications for anyone using Apple hardware. Apple created a situation where only software they approve can be installed on the iPhone; now this means only software the government approves can be installed on your iPhone. Previously this was the case if you lived in China; now it is the case in America.

ALT
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