In January, TikTok’s “vulnerabilities” were designated as a major national security concern. A widely used app owned by a foreign government was so apparently dangerous that the government decided they’d rather shut it down than to let people post their dancing vids and shock at overseas atrocities go uninterrupted. The Trump administration has opted to kick the can down the block until they figure out a solution to the problem of a town square that isn’t owned by an American billionaire. We’re now on our fourth extension. This is from CNN:
Trump on Tuesday signed an executive order extending the enforcement of a TikTok ban in the United States by another three months – an action that may be superseded later if the agreement to sell the social media app’s US assets to an American-backed buyer is finalized.
The executive order was necessary to avoid TikTok going dark in the United States on Wednesday, when the previous extension was set to expire.
The exact details probably won’t be known until the ink dries and we are all notified via a Whitehouse.gov release, but negotiations appear to skew toward 20% of TikTok being owned by China. I’m not exactly sure how that does anything to rectify the risk posed by a foreign government having access to our vulnerable “data” — maybe the threat is lessened by the new policing tactics and surveillance that has ramped up since the app first came back from going dark. Much like the content that can be found on Facebook, TikTok has regulated and taken down videos that discuss current controversial topics like abortion, even when the videos don’t violate any of the terms of service.
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In the meantime, make the most of what remains of this iteration of the TikTok extension before it becomes the next Truth Social.
We Now Know Who The New Owners Of TikTok Will Be – If Trump Gets His Deal Done With Xi [CNN]
Earlier: Surprise, Surprise, The TikTok Ban Is Delayed A Third Time
TikTok Is Under New Management And Features New Free Speech Issues
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Chris Williams became a social media manager and assistant editor for Above the Law in June 2021. Prior to joining the staff, he moonlighted as a minor Memelord™ in the Facebook group Law School Memes for Edgy T14s . He endured Missouri long enough to graduate from Washington University in St. Louis School of Law. He is a former boatbuilder who is learning to swim, is interested in critical race theory, philosophy, and humor, and has a love for cycling that occasionally annoys his peers. You can reach him by email at [email protected] and by tweet at @WritesForRent.