This is the correct analysis imo, a lot of people fail to see the protectionist behind this policy and are falling for a weird "Israel is behind this" route.
this post was submitted on 19 Mar 2024
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Yea the ban isn't at all about tiktok really, tiktok is just excuse for further limiting rights and erecting the american firewall
I found a YouTube link in your post. Here are links to the same video on alternative frontends that protect your privacy:
China banned ALL US social media apps.
China: Okay hey we need you to follow our local laws and legislation, for instance this terrorism in our west, we need Facebook and others to ban those people and hand over their information to national security investigators because they're posting pro-terrorism content in accordance with ours laws which demands action.
US companies (Google/Facebook/etc): Fuck off evil CCP, we will never censor, this is literally oppression, you can't tell us what to do!! We're leaving.
China: Okay fine, we'll block you because you won't follow our laws, we'll also help encourage domestic alternatives so our population gets to live in the digital age.
China in another instance: US companies need to have a partner or locate the data on Chinese citizens on Chinese soil so they're under our control in case of conflict and kept a bit more safe from US national intelligence spying which they may be subject to were they stored in the US.
Some US companies: Sure sounds fine (they're still in China)
China: Sounds good, here are the relevant regulations and rules all companies must abide by, thanks for doing business in China
Other US companies: Evil CCP oppression, never!
China: Okay, bye.
By contrast...
US government: Tiktok is an evil CCP spy platform, they're propagandizing our youth
Tiktok: Very well we will not only locate our servers in the US which we were already doing but we will transfer custody of them to Oracle, a US intelligence aligned US company that is trusted, they were verify we are complying and not stealing all this data or acting improperly.
Tiktok: We also of course follow all applicable laws, relevant and legal requests from US law enforcement and intelligence will be followed through and we will respond. We have also taken the liberty of hiring tons of "ex" CIA, NSA, and FBI agents to directly work in our company so you can be sure we're following the rules and doing nothing untowards, we're happy to follow the laws of the countries we operate in and will even allow their spies into our operations.
US: government: .... tiktok is stealing American data and must be stopped.
China: It follows all relevant rules and laws, it has done what you asked, you just hate China and want to crush Chinese companies
YOU: These are exactly the same. China and the US treat each other's companies exactly the same 🤡
Said social media apps could probably launch tomorrow if they followed local laws. They don't want to, so they aren't allowed to operate. I can't think of a single world government that would allow a company to operate within their borders without being subject to that government's rules.
However if they did comply and try to do it now they'd probably struggle since China made their own [arguably better in many cases] alternatives since the US companies didn't want to play ball.
I work for an international company. Due to the nature of my industry we had a LOT of new laws and regulations to follow in China, probably more than most social media companies. We did the work to comply and we are more than welcome to operate in China. It is our biggest market by far, and growing faster than any other.
Same can be said with tiktok in the USA. logical consistency.
Okay, what specific law is Tiktok in violation of that no other social media app is in violation of? Even if it were a direct mouthpiece of the CPC [it isn't] that wouldn't mean it is violating any laws.
"We don't like Chinese people" isn't a valid legal argument.
They didn't ban them. Those app developers refused to abide by China's information technology laws. Apple products and their services are available in China, for example.
It is interesting how they will always state these falsehoods as if they were proven fact without ever investigating if they are true, or looking into the "why" of it. It's always just "China bad, they hate free speech." (with an implied "so it's ok for the US to be hypocritical about their own values because of that.")
Then tiktok refused to abide by US laws.
Do you have a source for this?
Source that if china bans American apps then America has the right to ban Chinese apps?
Source of what specific US laws Tiktok is in violation of. It is very easy to look at Chinese law and see that it is enforced equally across all services in the country, and that those that work within the law are welcome to operate. It isn't protectionism, Apple is a competitor for many Chinese products but are allowed to operate because they follow the law.
Not playground legal logic.
Last I checked they refused to follow chinese law, not banning of them. Ontop of that they do not make it hard to access from what I have been told
They are banned including VPNs
This is also false. It's perfectly legal to use a VPN in China and many do.