
Trump administration gives TikTok 45 days to sell to Microsoft or leave US - dgrin91
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2020/08/microsoft-in-talks-to-acquire-tiktok-after-trump-ultimatum/
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Barrin92
Terrible move for several reasons, but the most important long-term one that
it essentially validates China's approach to foreign firms. Now they finally
have a case where they can point at the US and say, "you're accusing us of
putting strict conditions on foreign firms to protect our national interests,
that's what we've been saying all along!"

Now every foreign firm who considered the US to be a relatively safe market
will calculate if they stand to become the victim of great power competition.
I think it will also speed up the development of national sovereign internet
spaces, given how many international institutions of the global web are
located in the US and delegitimize them.

~~~
manfredo
China has already validated it's approach to foreign firms. The US has
realized that China isn't going to change it's approach, and is instead
emulating it. If China won't let foreign firms into their country, then it's
only fair that the US doesn't let Chinese firms into the US market.

I doubt this will change the US's status as a safe market (at least for
countries other than China). The US and China are geopolitical rivals. The US
is making no indication to do the same to Japanese, Korean, or European
companies.

The fragmentation of sovereign internet spaces, too, began with China blocking
a large number of foreign sites. They even coined the term "internet
sovereignty" [1]. It's also being advanced by countries writing legislation
that seeks to govern the conduct of foreign sites. E.g. GDPR and the
subsequent rise of blocking EU IPs.

1\. [https://thediplomat.com/2014/06/chinas-sovereign-
internet/](https://thediplomat.com/2014/06/chinas-sovereign-internet/)

~~~
Barrin92
>the US is making no indication to do the same to Japanese, Korean, or
European companies.

The EU is already starting to formulate its own version of internet
sovereignty, the recent invalidation of Privacy Shield by the EU is giving an
indication of what's to come, as were the threats by the US over the taxation
of internet giants in Europe. It's not as loud as the China-US conflict but
it's going to happen.

I think it's also important that this chilling effect doesn't need to be
overt. If the US is willing to emulate China's tactics in reaction to China,
there is _no guarantee whatsoever_ , that it will not leverage it against
other countries. On trade this was already stated at several points during
this administration, directly targeting Europe, Korea, and so on.

This is why the US in the past has generally avoided taking overtly partisan
stances on the international stage. As soon as the US moves from being the
maintainer of global order to national player, everyone will start to make
calculations if the US can still be relied upon. For that reason this is a
huge win for China in my opinion.

By engaging China in a tit-for-tat manner the US makes itself a huge deal
smaller than it needs to be.

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JackPoach
There's something really strange this situation. Arguably the most powerful
person in the world (POTUS) decides to devote his time on deciding the fate of
an app for teenage boys and girls.

~~~
jstarfish
He needs to boost his approval ratings for November. I don't think he realizes
kids can't vote.

~~~
T-A
I'd expect kids to dislike this decision, and their concerned parents to like
it.

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angryasian
So instead of chinese spyware its American spyware. Great!

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leptoniscool
Weird that we're still in a pandemic and the focus of government leaders is to
ban tiktok.

~~~
kevin_thibedeau
It's sending a message: Don't mess with my rallies or there will be
consequences. Classic mafia shakedown.

~~~
neltnerb
Are you talking about the thing where TikTok users got a bunch of tickets to a
rally?

That's a weird message to send to the company itself but I guess it's about as
logical as anything else we do. Shaking down the wrong person seems par for
the course at this point.

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blitmap
Dude has an anti-China boner. Mind you, I agree that their gov spying on us
through Tiktok is a problem. He'd still rather focus on an app. 150,000 dead
Americans seems to have slipped his mind.

~~~
ericd
From other stuff I've read, it sounds like the objection is not just spying,
but also that the owners can inject whatever content they want into any user's
feed using the interest clustering they've doubtless built to feed the
propaganda most effective for that person, and the potential that if they're
at the mercy of the Chinese govt, that the government could control that
injection. Unlike Facebook, etc, there's no expectation that what you're
seeing is coming from people in your social circle.

~~~
longtimegoogler
That still isn't a reason to ban the app until there is evidence that such a
thing has been done. In other words, punishing the crime before it is
committed seems unjust.

~~~
ericd
Potential for harm isn’t a reason to consider banning something? We don’t
always wait for the harm to happen first.

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LordFast
What a big boss man, strutting around stopping the great evil empire from
screwing America.

~~~
dang
Please don't do this here. You may not owe a big boss man better, but you owe
this community better if you're posting to it.

[https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html](https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html)

~~~
LordFast
You are right. I will do better.

