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Tiktok's parent company, bytedance is incorporated in Cayman islands. It has a Chinese subsidiary operating Douyin in China , and a US subsidiary operating Tikt
by russli1993 6y ago
Tiktok's parent company, bytedance is incorporated in Cayman islands. It has a Chinese subsidiary operating Douyin in China , and a US subsidiary operating Tiktok in the US. The Chinese national intelligence law is applied to the Chinese subsidiary but not the parent because the parent is not incorporated in China. Hence the US subsidiary is not subjected to Chinese law. If Chinese government demands US data and Bytedance's Chinese subsidiary refuses, the government can shut down the Chinese subsidiary, but the Cayman island parent will still operate. Hence Chinese government has no power over the US subsidiary. Author says that Chinese values and American values are absolutely opposing and because of that Tiktok's algorithms and product design could undermine American values either consciously or unconsciously. Right now Bytedance's US subsidiary is managed by Americans, hires US based engineers, and the content moderation team is staffed with Americans. The goal should be that Tiktok and Douyin will be separate, design, operated and moderated separately. This could be strengthened by having American management at Bytedance parent, and have Bytedance go public and have American board directors. I hope that whatever international fears about Tiktok, the regulatory body/government should make list of rules for Tiktok. Tiktok should be given a chance to defend its positions, and ability to comply with the rules. We should not just straight out ban tiktok, like "bam, after today, its removed from app stores everywhere". that is not in the spirit of rule of law.
- babaganoosh89 6y ago"If Chinese government demands US data and Bytedance's Chinese subsidiary refuses, the government can shut down the Chinese subsidiary, but the Cayman island parent will still operate. Hence Chinese government has no power over the US subsidiary." The issue is the Chinese government can compel it's citizens to do whatever they want. Having non-Chinese in the management of Bytedance could help but I can't imagine they could have a truly independent board if Bytedance is majority owned by Chinese citizens.
- summerlight 6y agoZhang Yiming, ByteDance's owner, is a Chinese citizen who lives in Beijing. The real problem is the latter part, in that PRC can do whatever physical enforcement on him. While I don't doubt his intention to keep TikTok separate from international politics as far as possible, but I am 100% sure that if CCP doesn't like Zhang's "lack of patriotism", it will teach him a lesson even if it's a unlawful way. They did it to Jack Ma, so the same thing can happen to Zhang.
- here4U 6y agoYour assertion that "Hence Chinese government has no power over the US subsidiary" is incomplete. Tiktok's policy of sharing user data allows the Chinese government all of the power they need, at least in terms of data collection. Re: the influence argument your points are stronger, I think. Thompson's article felt a bit like scaremongering there.
- balola 6y agoSays every Chinese internet company, they are all "foreign" companies.