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ByteDance prefers TikTok shutdown in US if legal options fail, sources say (www.reuters.com)

submitted 8 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 months ago (2 children)

This is part of Section H of H.R.815 that was signed into law:

(A) any of—

(i) ByteDance, Ltd.;

(ii) TikTok;

(iii) a subsidiary of or a successor to an entity identified in clause (i) or (ii) that is controlled by a foreign adversary; or

(iv) an entity owned or controlled, directly or indirectly, by an entity identified in clause (i), (ii), or (iii); or

(B) a covered company that—

(i) is controlled by a foreign adversary; and

(ii) that is determined by the President to present a significant threat to the national security of the United States following the issuance of—

(I) a public notice proposing such determination; and

(II) a public report to Congress, submitted not less than 30 days before such determination, describing the specific national security concern involved and containing a classified annex and a description of what assets would need to be divested to execute a qualified divestiture.

(4) FOREIGN ADVERSARY COUNTRY.—The term “foreign adversary country” means a country specified in section 4872(d)(2) of title 10, United States Code.

So, no, they don't just get to change their name. They don't get to change everything and still send data overseas to China. They have to cut ties with the CCP or else they cannot escape this.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

I see. You're right about the text of the law. Thanks for taking the time to post that.

I would say it violates the 1st Amendment then. US Citizens have a right to say what they want, which includes saying what China wants if that is what the person wants.

The courts will have to decide.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 8 months ago (1 children)

For the record, they're not currently sending data to China. Though they'd probably only have to gently twist one or two arms and need about 12 hours to do so.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 months ago (2 children)

The company openly stores the data in China. Ex-employee Yintao “Roger” Yu, who was head of Engineering for all of ByteDance's US Operations in 2017-2018, claims that the CCP had full immediate access to all collected data.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (1 children)

I've also heard the data is physically stored and hosted by Oracle. So maybe China just copies it? The primary copy is in the US currently. Which doesn't really mean much.

I wouldn't be surprised if Meta's data ended up in China too. But Congress isn't targeting them.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago (1 children)

When Facebook was investigated following the 2016 election for selling Data that inevitably ended up in Russia, the DOJ reccomended their case to the FTC who in 2019 fined them 5 BILLION USD. This isn't even the only time they've been fined or investigated, either, they've got ongoing lawsuits from the states and federal governments.

And now, the FTC no longer has to wait for a DOJ investigation because H.R.815 also included Section I that enshrines their ability to fine the companies who sell data to adversarial countries including China, Russia, Iran, North Korea, etc.

But sure, "tHeY'RE NoT TaRGetTiNG faCeBOoK." I can't tell if you're supremely uninformed or a CCP shill, but to be very frank I don't have patience for you in either circumstance.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 8 months ago

You've made the most substantive comments in this post. Especially quoting the law and this information about Facebook.

For context, Facebook's revenue in 2019 was 70 billions dollars. So a 5 billion dollar fine isn't nothing. Everyone can judge these bans and fines for themselves and judge whether there's a double standard though.

You seem upset because I said TikTok stores their data in Oracle, but that's what they said in 2022. https://www.cnn.com/2022/06/17/tech/tiktok-user-data-oracle/index.html But, as you say, it appears in 2018 they were storing their data in China, and presumably that continued up until mid-2022.

I'm not a shill, but I am a cynic who believes the government is acting on behalf of their corporate friends (US media companies) rather than on general principles. I have no love for China. I wanted regulation that applied equally to all US companies. If you don't want to talk to me, fine, I'll discuss my opinion with others; even so, you've shared a lot of important and concrete information here, so thanks again.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 8 months ago

That's the guy who's worked there for six months and exaggerated his role there, right?

I'm in favor of the bill, but I want the information we have to be accurate.