Russian apps got banned with this bill too.

It would arguably take less effort to write a more general ban on apps and companies sharing, selling, and aggregating data on users than one specifically carving out foreign-owned companies.

Not doing that makes it clear this isn’t a “first step.” This is a blanket approval of the practice, but with “election year, China bad” thrown in.

Yes, any government access to user data can, and will, be mis-used, including Tik Tok. Opposing this bill isn’t an approval of Bytedance, it’s an opposition to the process.

I simply don’t agree that kind of power is more acceptable in the hands of a country like China

Nobody said that Tiktok is more acceptable, just that the American ones that are given free rein are just as unacceptable.

Come to think of it, though, the American ones are a bigger threat, simply by virtue of spying on a larger userbase than Tiktok currently has.

And if you think the likes of Facebook, Twitter and Google aren’t beholden to foreign governments such as the ones of India, Israel and yes China too, just because they’re headquartered in the US, you clearly don’t know much about how they operate.

No. Because that’s not how politics works. This will be sold as a solved problem and the second you try to lobby to ban Facebook from selling data and ad space to the CCP the line will suddenly be about government interference in business.

Swallowing bullshit like this is part and parcel of corporate governance.

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I would argue that this is the opposite order. You want to take care of the people who actually hold power over you now, China has no power over you.

Look at what the eu has done. First control and regulate the local companies.

Shutting down TikTok on US soil for 99% of people is trivial to execute and sufficiently effective.