TikTok brand displayed on a telephone display screen and Chinese language flag displayed on a display screen within the background are … [+]
Republican and Democratic politicians alike have expressed concern in regards to the well-liked social media app TikTok and the potential for that firm to share consumer knowledge with the Chinese language authorities. But when TikTok is finally banned within the U.S., as many lawmakers have pushed for, the place does that depart the opposite apps run by firms outdoors of the U.S. and even these with ties to the Chinese language authorities? As a result of TikTok isn’t the one one.
“In case you are in favor of TikTok, you hate America,” right-wing media commentator Ben Domenech tweeted on Tuesday.
“The Chinese language Communist Social gathering has already poisoned so many People with fentanyl. Now it strives to poison our minds and youngsters. Claiming it is authorities growth to ban TikTok is a CCP speaking level from individuals who hate us,” Domench continued.
Clearly, it’s fairly outlandish to argue that anybody who likes a social media app “hates America,” as there are many People who merely don’t know or don’t care that TikTok is owned by a Chinese language firm. And plenty of of these individuals who don’t care probably settle for that they’re utilizing every kind of apps every day that suck up monumental quantities of knowledge on them—some owned by American firms, others owned by a variety of firms across the globe.
All we have to do is take a look at the preferred apps for the iPhone proper now to see how selective the outrage over international possession actually is.
The hottest app on Apple’s retailer proper now could be Temu: Store Like a Billionaire, which made a splash with a TV advert over the last Tremendous Bowl that noticed it quickly ascend the app charts. Temu was launched in Boston final fall however is owned by Chinese language agency PDD Holdings.
The quantity two app proper now could be CapCut, a video editor owned by ByteDance, the identical Chinese language firm that owns TikTok. The quantity three app is TikTok, the main target of intense Congressional investigations proper now over its Chinese language possession.
The sixth most downloaded app in Apple’s retailer proper now could be the ecommerce app Shein, owned by a Chinese language company with a headquarters in Singapore. And the listing goes on and on as you make your means down the charts.
Screenshot displaying the preferred apps within the Apple retailer this week.
Spotify, the music app that’s presently ranked quantity 16 on Apple’s app retailer, is Swedish-owned. And whereas most People are in all probability not involved that the King of Sweden goes to study their favourite track this week, they’re in all probability equally unconcerned in regards to the Chinese language Communist Social gathering figuring out the situation of their newest dance video.
Telegram messenger isn’t practically as well-liked as Fb or WhatsApp within the U.S., however it’s nonetheless ranked twenty first within the Apple app retailer proper now. Telegram is Russian owned. And as a close to peer adversary within the New Chilly Warfare, very like China, why would American politicians ban TikTok however not Telegram, a social media platform the place I’ve personally seen stolen bank card info shared extensively in the midst of my reporting?
Nobody is aware of for positive whether or not TikTok will get banned within the U.S., although it’s fairly distinctive that such a transfer has bipartisan assist in Congress. Politicians definitely don’t agree on different necessary points proper now like gun management or the debt ceiling. But when the U.S. bans TikTok it’s affordable to ask about not simply different apps with ties to the Chinese language authorities.
If you wish to implement a brand new form of tech nationalism, why cease at TikTok? Why not go legal guidelines that dictate what can and may’t be completed with consumer knowledge, making a extra degree taking part in area? If you would like all U.S.-based knowledge to remain inside this nation, go a regulation stating that and acknowledge there can be repercussions. Not each firm has the sources to take care of a presence within the U.S., and you’ll wager that an organization like Spotify wouldn’t have succeeded alongside the identical arc if it was required to maintain all its servers within the U.S., as only one instance.
It could be a shedding battle to ask our legislators to have some form of consistency within the legal guidelines they go. However not less than we will level out once they’re being inconsistent, which is greater than many Chinese language residents are allowed to do, because of the nation’s draconian censorship. And within the case of TikTok, it’s removed from the one firm that’s maintaining a detailed eye on what you’re doing on-line.
