21 ms·

Bytedance is a Cayman Islands company, not Chinese. Despite having offices in Beijing, Bytedance and Tiktok are not beholden to the Chinese National Intelligen

Bytedance is a Cayman Islands company, not Chinese. Despite having offices in Beijing, Bytedance and Tiktok are not beholden to the Chinese National Intelligence law. TaoTiao, on the other hand, is a subsidiary in China and is beholden to CNI, but the executive order has nothing to do with that company and there is no evidence that it receives data from TikTok.

khuey 6y ago
The idea that ByteDance is not beholden to the Chinese state is contradicted by the founder's own words. https://chinamediaproject.org/2018/04/11/tech-shame-in-the-new-era/ https://chinamediaproject.org/2018/04/11/tech-shame-in-the-n...
- three_seagrass 6y ago
  That letter is only about Toutiao, the Chinese subsidiary I talked about.
  - khuey 6y ago
    If you truly believe someone who would sign his name to something this obsequious about one of his companies would tell Beijing to get lost for another one of his companies I have a bridge in Brooklyn to sell you.
    - deleted 6y ago
      [deleted]
    - three_seagrass 6y ago
      The only bridge for sale here is confusing this letter written by TaoTiao PR with Bytedance or TikTok. Again, TaoTiao is beholden to Chinese National Intelligence law, not ByteDance or TikTok. Apple has forked over the same with it's subsidiary in China: https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2018/03/apple-privacy-betrayal-for-chinese-icloud-users/ https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2018/03/apple-privacy...
  - bassman9000 6y ago
    https://www.taiwannews.com.tw/en/news/3982027 https://www.taiwannews.com.tw/en/news/3982027
bassman9000 6y ago
I don't understand this naivete. https://www.indiatoday.in/news-analysis/story/china-national-intelligence-law-2017-authorise-companies-espionage-india-1705033-2020-07-27 https://www.indiatoday.in/news-analysis/story/china-national... https://www.mannheimerswartling.se/globalassets/nyhetsbrev/msa_nyhetsbrev_national-intelligence-law_jan-19.pdf https://www.mannheimerswartling.se/globalassets/nyhetsbrev/m... Do we really believe because, "legally", the company is not in China, is not subject to CCP control? It's not the law that binds them, it's party lines. If Bytedance is not subject to said control, why do they ban content critical with China, knowing the possible backlash? https://www.vox.com/open-sourced/2019/12/16/21013048/tiktok-china-national-security-investigation https://www.vox.com/open-sourced/2019/12/16/21013048/tiktok-... US politicians’ concern over TikTok began with an investigation the Guardian published on September 25, which revealed leaked documents that showed TikTok instructing its moderators to censor videos that mentioned topics sensitive to the Communist Party of China: Tiananmen Square, Tibetan independence, and the religious group Falun Gong, for instance. The Guardian’s investigation came after the Washington Post noted that a search for Hong Kong-related topics on TikTok showed virtually zero content about the ongoing and widely publicized pro-democracy protests, which were a major topic on other social media sites at the time.
- Talanes 6y ago
  If our litmus test for being critically compromised by the CCP is any company that has made changes to avoid backlash in China, then we're going to need a bigger ban.
abc-xyz 6y ago
> ByteDance has had a party committee since 2017 and is headed by CCP secretary and company editor-in-chief Zhang Fuping (張輔評), reported Human Rights Watch. Members of the committee hold regular gatherings at which they study speeches by Chinese Chairman Xi Jinping (習近平) and "pledge to follow the party in technological innovation." > In addition, ByteDance on April 25, 2019, signed a strategic cooperation agreement with the Ministry of Public Security's Press and Publicity Bureau (公安部新聞宣傳局) in Beijing. The agreement was billed as "aiming to give full play to the professional technology and platform advantages of Toutiao and Tiktok in big data analysis," strengthen the creation and production of "public security new media works," boost "network influence and online discourse power," and enhance "public security propaganda, guidance, influence, and credibility," among other aspects.

khuey 6y ago

The idea that ByteDance is not beholden to the Chinese state is contradicted by the founder's own words. https://chinamediaproject.org/2018/04/11/tech-shame-in-the-new-era/ https://chinamediaproject.org/2018/04/11/tech-shame-in-the-n...

three_seagrass 6y ago
That letter is only about Toutiao, the Chinese subsidiary I talked about.
- khuey 6y ago
  If you truly believe someone who would sign his name to something this obsequious about one of his companies would tell Beijing to get lost for another one of his companies I have a bridge in Brooklyn to sell you.
  - deleted 6y ago
    [deleted]
  - three_seagrass 6y ago
    The only bridge for sale here is confusing this letter written by TaoTiao PR with Bytedance or TikTok. Again, TaoTiao is beholden to Chinese National Intelligence law, not ByteDance or TikTok. Apple has forked over the same with it's subsidiary in China: https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2018/03/apple-privacy-betrayal-for-chinese-icloud-users/ https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2018/03/apple-privacy...
- bassman9000 6y ago
  https://www.taiwannews.com.tw/en/news/3982027 https://www.taiwannews.com.tw/en/news/3982027

bassman9000 6y ago

I don't understand this naivete. https://www.indiatoday.in/news-analysis/story/china-national-intelligence-law-2017-authorise-companies-espionage-india-1705033-2020-07-27 https://www.indiatoday.in/news-analysis/story/china-national... https://www.mannheimerswartling.se/globalassets/nyhetsbrev/msa_nyhetsbrev_national-intelligence-law_jan-19.pdf https://www.mannheimerswartling.se/globalassets/nyhetsbrev/m... Do we really believe because, "legally", the company is not in China, is not subject to CCP control? It's not the law that binds them, it's party lines. If Bytedance is not subject to said control, why do they ban content critical with China, knowing the possible backlash? https://www.vox.com/open-sourced/2019/12/16/21013048/tiktok-china-national-security-investigation https://www.vox.com/open-sourced/2019/12/16/21013048/tiktok-... US politicians’ concern over TikTok began with an investigation the Guardian published on September 25, which revealed leaked documents that showed TikTok instructing its moderators to censor videos that mentioned topics sensitive to the Communist Party of China: Tiananmen Square, Tibetan independence, and the religious group Falun Gong, for instance. The Guardian’s investigation came after the Washington Post noted that a search for Hong Kong-related topics on TikTok showed virtually zero content about the ongoing and widely publicized pro-democracy protests, which were a major topic on other social media sites at the time.

Talanes 6y ago
If our litmus test for being critically compromised by the CCP is any company that has made changes to avoid backlash in China, then we're going to need a bigger ban.

abc-xyz 6y ago

> ByteDance has had a party committee since 2017 and is headed by CCP secretary and company editor-in-chief Zhang Fuping (張輔評), reported Human Rights Watch. Members of the committee hold regular gatherings at which they study speeches by Chinese Chairman Xi Jinping (習近平) and "pledge to follow the party in technological innovation." > In addition, ByteDance on April 25, 2019, signed a strategic cooperation agreement with the Ministry of Public Security's Press and Publicity Bureau (公安部新聞宣傳局) in Beijing. The agreement was billed as "aiming to give full play to the professional technology and platform advantages of Toutiao and Tiktok in big data analysis," strengthen the creation and production of "public security new media works," boost "network influence and online discourse power," and enhance "public security propaganda, guidance, influence, and credibility," among other aspects.