The measure that sailed unanimously through the House Energy and Commerce Committee would prohibit TikTok from US app stores unless the social media platform — used by roughly 170 million Americans — is quickly spun off from its China-linked parent company, ByteDance.
USG wants TikTok to be operated by a US commercial data broker
US officials have cited the widespread commercial availability of US citizens’ data as another source of national security risk. The US government and other domestic law enforcement agencies are also known to have purchased US citizens’ data from commercial data brokers.
USG has been purchasing US citizens’ data from commercial data brokers
Policymakers fear the Chinese government could use the personal information to identify intelligence targets or to facilitate mass disinformation campaigns that could disrupt elections and sow other chaos.
Above can be rephrased as…
"US policymakers have been using personal information to identify intelligence targets or to facilitate mass disinformation campaigns that could disrupt elections and sow other chaos.
Must the buyer be an American corporate? If not, any e-commerce company that is not Chinese-owned is potential buyer e.g. MELI, SHOP, SE… If must be US incorporated, the most suitable one is AMZN.
Disclosure: Own SHOP and SE. Now wondering whether I should buy AMZN in anticipation.
The goal of the proposed bill is not to ban TikTok, is only a threat. The intelligence community of USA wants access to TikTok. Most foreign companies won’t let them has access. TikTok has to be an US company. So, the goal of the proposed bill is to force Bytedance to divest TikTok to an US company.
In social media, often read people commented US politicians are dumb. The truth is they are wolves in sheepskin. They are deeper than I thought. Ofc, those naturalized Americans who support whatever policies that US vs other nations would see their rights diminish and quality of life drop… are more than dumb.
Trump wants 50% ownership. TikTok is a sub of Bytedance which is 60% owned by Americans. Isn’t TikTok is already 60% owned by Americans? Guess he meant directly owned… interesting which American companies would eventually own TikTok.
Look like Elon is working on letting X.com to operate in China in exchange for no ban of TikTok but with at least 50% owned by Americans… Algorithm is excluded. Sound like a workable solution.