In the United States, the House has approved by a large majority a law that could lead to ban on using TikTok on American soil: The measure gives the Chinese company ByteDance 6 months to sell the popular social network, which would otherwise be banned.
The provision is based broadly on same objections raised by Trump in 2020, when he was president of the United States: to put it simply, TikTok is controlled by China and would be a threat to “the national security, foreign policy and economy of the United States”; as president Trump issued an executive order to (try to) ban its use, only to later do so reverse in view of the electionshaving seen how unpopular the move was.
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by Emanuele Capone
TikTok’s position: “We are not Chinese”
Four years later, TikTok’s response is more or less always the same: as they have often reiterated (the last time during our visit to their European datacenter), “TikTok is not Chinese, nor is ByteDance actually Chinese, because it is headquartered in the Cayman Islands.” Legal issues aside, the gist is that “our relationship with them (with ByteDance, ed.) is like the one between YouTube and Google”, that is, that of two companies connected but which act and operate separately; Furthermore, 60% of ByteDance is in the hands of international investors20% is controlled by employees and the remaining 20% by the original founders, “none of whom are members of the Chinese Communist Party”.
In relation to this specific provision, from TikTok they pointed out to us that “this operation was conducted in secret and the bill was brought forward for one reason only: to ban TikTok. We hope that the Senate (where the law must be approved to come into force, ed.) will consider the facts, listen to your constituents and understand the impact on the economyabout the 7 million small businesses and 170 million Americans who use our platform.”
Trump’s U-turn on TikTok
Among these millions of Americans is among others including President Biden. Which, paradoxically, with the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act he is trying to do what Trump, his opponent in the next elections, wanted to do and which Trump no longer wants to do. Or maybe yes, it depends on the day: in a recent one conversation with CNBC, Trump said he still believes “TikTok is a national security threat,” but that “if you ban it, Facebook and others, but especially Facebook, will benefit greatly. AND I think the people at Facebook were very dishonestI think Facebook has been very negative for our country, especially when it comes to elections.”
In short, despite the fact that Meta is American, and that Trump’s slogan is still the historic “make American great again”, perhaps the former president prefers TikTok to Zuckerberg’s social networks. What is the reason for this umpteenth turnaround by Trump? He did not explain it, but it is likely that he is linked to Zuck’s huge financing of Biden’s presidential campaign in 2020, told in a sort of documentary with an unmistakable title Rigged: The Zuckerberg Funded Plot to Defeat Donald Trump (and this) and the fear that everything could happen again this year.
Furthermore, it should not be forgotten that he is one of the main investors in TikTok the American billionaire Jeff Yasswho is also a (financial) supporter of Trump’s re-election campaign.
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The offer of the former CEO of Activision
Meanwhile, while from the United States rumors are arriving according to which Bobby Kotick, the controversial (and questionable) former CEO of Activision Blizzardwould be ready to make an offer to buy TikTok, perhaps even involving Sam Altman and OpenAIthe position of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs comes from China, through the spokesperson, Wang Wenbin: banning the app in the USA “would inevitably backfire against the United States”.
More: “Although I have never found evidence that TikTok threatens American national security, Washington has never stopped cracking down on TikTok”, with moves “typical of bullying”. According to Wang, “this kind of domineering behavior that cannot win in fair competition disrupts the normal business activity of companies, damages the confidence of international investors in the investment environment and harms the normal international economic and commercial order.”
#TikTok #comprassero #Bobby #Kotick #Sam #Altman
– 2024-03-15 03:29:42
