Sundance from CTH has read the text of the TikTok ban law, and notes that what is in the bill is radically different than what is being reported.
If TikTok data collection was the issue, the law would be structured to ban foreign data collection. That’s not what this is. This is a law written to give the Executive Branch the power to define any platform as “foreign owned” by the service provider (even if domestic) and the substance of the content contained and/or distributed.
Read the text of the bill yourself here (PDF warning!)
Make no mistake, they mean to control information. This is bigger than TikTok.
--edit--
I've actually read the bill, and it doesn't do what was asserted it does.
Key indicator, this language is in the bill:
This language was in the crazy border bill from a few months ago, too. Congressional Democrats know D.C. is a company town, and because of that the entire D.C. district court system must be revoked.
D.C. must be revoked.
Could we maybe crowdfund bouncers to beat up any legislator who "writes" a bill more expansive than necessary?
With that aside, I am a little surprised there isn't already some sort of espionage law to address the sort of problem going on with tiktok.
"only we can feed propaganda to our own citizens" lol.
I've read the bill, and the reactionary reporting from CTH is flawed, IMO. I'm against giving government more power in general, but after actually reading the text this bill is not the huge red flag I thought it was.
I've seen too many times where a law has been introduced, critics have pointed out the potential misuse of that law down the line. Proponents have dismissed their concerns as overblown, flawed and not the intention of the law. Then the critics ultimately get proven right when said law gets misused.
I've seen it with terror legislation, misogyny legislation and it will happen with websites and apps in time.
It's almost as if the laws are intentionally written so these "loopholes" can be misused later
There's zero chance the current government will pass anything that can't be abused. I don't give a fuck what it says unless it's one single sentence about TikTok being forced to sell.
No, the bill pretty clearly defines what constitutes foreign owned, and Twitter would not qualify.
I wrote this post based on what I saw on CTH, and after reading the whole bill I think the reporting is wrong.
Ok that's a slight relief. Thanks for actually doing the research.
You didn't have to delete your post you could put in an edit underneath, like I did with the OP, or put a strike through on it. I get it though, so you do you ;)
Considering that TokTok is owned by an enemy (China) and hosts a large amount of terrorist supporters, banning it would be a good thing. Seriously, why do we need foreogn owned social media platforms available to the public in this country?