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There's no legal mechanism in the US by which TikTok could be outright banned. Apple and Google could drop it from their app stores if pressured enough, but eve

There's no legal mechanism in the US by which TikTok could be outright banned. Apple and Google could drop it from their app stores if pressured enough, but even that wouldn't be a government action.

coliveira 6y ago
Think again. The only thing they need to do is to plant some stories in major newspapers about "Chinese influence".
- FillardMillmore 6y ago
  Certainly the US government could make a logical case for that, couldn't they? If China controls the algorithms of TikTok, they can manipulate what messages or content gets amplified or suppressed, right? And that would present a risk for meddling or tampering in domestic politics by a foreign government, right? I have no idea what legal mechanisms the US govt has to pursue something like this, nor am I a user of TikTok, so I may be speaking from a point of ignorance here.
  - coliveira 6y ago
    There is a similar argument for FB and Twitter on other countries. If this happens the side-effect might be every country creating their own local social apps and banning US-based social networks.
  - thoughtstheseus 6y ago
    The simple argument would be that TikTok is essentially part of the State at this point. Treat it as such.
  - kanox 6y ago
    Democracies shouldn't ban media for "tampering in domestic politics". Censoring foreign press is what dictatorships do. Even explicitly hostile foreign outlets like RT and PressTV should be protected by freedom of speech.
mr_toad 6y ago
I’d be surprised if there is any legal mechanism to ban it in Australia either.
- shakna 6y ago
  There's actually several mechanisms by which it could be banned under Australian law, if they really do consider it a security threat. Practically speaking, there are very few things the government is not legally allowed to censor in Australia. They could require ISPs to block access to the servers, as they've done (poorly) for a range of websites. They could classify TikTok as entertainment, and then it give it the dreaded "Refused Classification", making it illegal to distribute or make use of. They could ban it under the Australian Customs Act, forcing places like Google Play to remove it from their stores, as they've done for a wide variety of books, and other media.
  - emikulic 6y ago
    The government doesn't even have to ask ISPs to block things. Optus does it >for free.
    - shakna 6y ago
      That's true. Following the Christchurch shootings, Telstra pre-emptively blocked 4chan, 8chan, Zero Hedge, Liveleak and others. (Vodaphone and Optus had similar blocks with slightly differing lists of sites they put in place after Telstra had enacted theirs). They did later lift some of those blocks after everyone stopped sharing the video of the shootings, but not all of them. (And if the government ordered blocks on some of those, I actually would be fairly comfortable with it, if it were done with process and transparency.) This isn't a judgement of whether their actions were morally right or wrong. However, an ISP should probably be pre-emptively calling MPs to make a decision, rather than controlling access directly.
TeeMassive 6y ago
The government can block payments and government employees can be blocked from installing it on their phone.
- kevin_thibedeau 6y ago
  It's an American company that hasn't done anything wrong and that other American companies are also doing. We're in this situation because American businesses have lobbied to kill privacy legislation and Congress let them have their way.
jariel 6y ago
There are many mechanisms to pursue a ban. 1) Declare TikTok a foreign media organisation, subject to controls. 2) Impose a trade duty on such apps or require some kind of minimum pricing (nobody would download it if it cost $2) 3) Declare government subsidy of Bytedance anti-competitive under trade rules and sanction the product. 4) Explore the boundaries of an Executive Order. Etc. etc.

There's no legal mechanism in the US by which TikTok could be outright banned. Apple and Google could drop it from their app stores if pressured enough, but even that wouldn't be a government action.

coliveira 6y ago

Think again. The only thing they need to do is to plant some stories in major newspapers about "Chinese influence".

FillardMillmore 6y ago
Certainly the US government could make a logical case for that, couldn't they? If China controls the algorithms of TikTok, they can manipulate what messages or content gets amplified or suppressed, right? And that would present a risk for meddling or tampering in domestic politics by a foreign government, right? I have no idea what legal mechanisms the US govt has to pursue something like this, nor am I a user of TikTok, so I may be speaking from a point of ignorance here.
- coliveira 6y ago
  There is a similar argument for FB and Twitter on other countries. If this happens the side-effect might be every country creating their own local social apps and banning US-based social networks.
- thoughtstheseus 6y ago
  The simple argument would be that TikTok is essentially part of the State at this point. Treat it as such.
- kanox 6y ago
  Democracies shouldn't ban media for "tampering in domestic politics". Censoring foreign press is what dictatorships do. Even explicitly hostile foreign outlets like RT and PressTV should be protected by freedom of speech.

mr_toad 6y ago

I’d be surprised if there is any legal mechanism to ban it in Australia either.

shakna 6y ago
There's actually several mechanisms by which it could be banned under Australian law, if they really do consider it a security threat. Practically speaking, there are very few things the government is not legally allowed to censor in Australia. They could require ISPs to block access to the servers, as they've done (poorly) for a range of websites. They could classify TikTok as entertainment, and then it give it the dreaded "Refused Classification", making it illegal to distribute or make use of. They could ban it under the Australian Customs Act, forcing places like Google Play to remove it from their stores, as they've done for a wide variety of books, and other media.
- emikulic 6y ago
  The government doesn't even have to ask ISPs to block things. Optus does it >for free.
  - shakna 6y ago
    That's true. Following the Christchurch shootings, Telstra pre-emptively blocked 4chan, 8chan, Zero Hedge, Liveleak and others. (Vodaphone and Optus had similar blocks with slightly differing lists of sites they put in place after Telstra had enacted theirs). They did later lift some of those blocks after everyone stopped sharing the video of the shootings, but not all of them. (And if the government ordered blocks on some of those, I actually would be fairly comfortable with it, if it were done with process and transparency.) This isn't a judgement of whether their actions were morally right or wrong. However, an ISP should probably be pre-emptively calling MPs to make a decision, rather than controlling access directly.

TeeMassive 6y ago

The government can block payments and government employees can be blocked from installing it on their phone.

kevin_thibedeau 6y ago
It's an American company that hasn't done anything wrong and that other American companies are also doing. We're in this situation because American businesses have lobbied to kill privacy legislation and Congress let them have their way.

jariel 6y ago

There are many mechanisms to pursue a ban. 1) Declare TikTok a foreign media organisation, subject to controls. 2) Impose a trade duty on such apps or require some kind of minimum pricing (nobody would download it if it cost $2) 3) Declare government subsidy of Bytedance anti-competitive under trade rules and sanction the product. 4) Explore the boundaries of an Executive Order. Etc. etc.