The TikTok ban is a whole disregard for the rights and freedoms of the American folks. The ban is NOT about nationwide safety, however quite, the ultimate try to forestall the folks from connecting on an uncensored platform with out backdoor authorities censorship. The legislation in query goes past TikTok as the federal government will solely allow social platforms primarily based within the US, due to this fact controlling the narrative and data the folks can obtain.
It isn’t about privateness from the Chinese language authorities. TikTok is just not even obtainable in mainland China as their model is closely censored. TikTok is a subsidiary of ByteDance, a personal firm that isn’t owned by the Chinese language authorities. About 60% of the corporate is owned by institutional buyers, 20% is owned by the founder, and the opposite 20% is owned by workers. ByteDance has 5 board members and three of them are American. Their headquarters are in Singapore and Los Angeles, and so they have 7,000 workers within the US.
Congress has been unable to understand that TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew is Singaporean and never a member of the Chinese language Communist Social gathering and even Chinese language. Unbelievable.
Over 170 million Individuals at the moment use TikTok. TikTok contributed $24.3 billion to the US financial system in 2023, with 2024 estimates coming in greater. The vast majority of that cash comes from 6 MILLION SMALL BUSINESSES that depend on TikTok to generate gross sales. These 7 million companies compose 20% of ALL BUSINESSES IN THE US.
Media retailers declare the Supreme Courtroom is strongly siding with Congress, however that’s merely not the case. The Supreme Courtroom questioned whether or not this new legislation would infringe on the First Modification. Authorities claims it’s about nationwide safety and knowledge. But, Chinese language-owned on-line shops are allowed to function within the US, for instance, and so they compile consumer knowledge. Sure shops like SHEIN acquire consumer’s social media knowledge as effectively. Legal professionals for TikTok imagine they’re being singled out as a result of the persons are posting content material on the app, due to this fact, exercising their 1A rights.
(RFK mentioned the potential ban again in 2023. EVERY LIBERTY WE SURRENDER IS IN THE NAME OF NATIONAL SECURITY)
Authorities claims that the Chinese language might affect the content material to affect the American folks. In that case, the priority is actually the content material creation and never the information assortment.
It’s OK when the US authorities collects your knowledge with out warning. Mark Zuckerberg has been lobbying to ban TikTok for years. He permitted the institution to make use of META/Fb as an enormous propaganda device to affect politics and the general narrative. The federal government was permitted to make use of his app to silence the folks instantaneously.
It’s of no coincidence that the ban will happen sooner or later earlier than Donald Trump takes workplace. Trump had requested the Supreme Courtroom to carry off on the ruling till he had time to kind issues out. Merely put, you can’t take away the circus earlier than the folks can afford bread. Individuals can not afford fundamental residing necessities, and the federal government is prioritizing taking away one of many final types of free leisure and training that the folks have left. Numerous readers of this weblog have despatched me movies through the years of on-the-ground footage of occasions that the media fails to cowl. Individuals might converse freely on TikTok and that threatens the institution.
We aren’t so totally different from North Korea. Our authorities is taking excessive measures to censor our capability to attach with others and share data. The federal government tells us what’s actual and false. “Misinformation” is the knowledge that goes in opposition to the present narrative. We aren’t to query our leaders. The US market is simply a fraction of TikTok’s worldwide viewers and it might not be of their finest curiosity to promote. It additionally appears as if the present CEO would quite have his platform go darkish for US customers than permit Washington to make use of his platform as yet one more propaganda device.
