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Is the "TikTok ban" draft (RESTRICT Act) for consumers/regular people or only government personnel? Aka, are they really going to ban TikTok for regular people

Is the "TikTok ban" draft (RESTRICT Act) for consumers/regular people or only government personnel? Aka, are they really going to ban TikTok for regular people or just make it so govenment personnel can't install TikTok on their device? aka, only ban TikTok for government people and not regular people

beepbooptheory 3y ago
Its for everyone, not just government personnel. https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/senate-bill/686?s=1&r=15 https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/senate-bill/686... https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35369075 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35369075
detaro 3y ago
Hopefully the thing is going to fail and they are not going to do anything. But yes, it provides for banning government-choosen foreign sites entirely, with heavy penalties for assisting in circumventing blocks. (Although I guess VPN services could avoid it by filtering their users traffic themselves)
- JumpCrisscross 3y ago
  > it provides for banning government-choosen foreign sites entirely, with heavy penalties for assisting in circumventing blocks I recently heard the argument that TikTok is a media control issue. Rupert Murdoch famously had to become an American to buy Fox. Applying that precedent seems cleaner than the RESTRICT Act.
  - anigbrowl 3y ago
    I'm generally pro-migration but in Murdoch's case I don't think it worked out well for his new neighbors.
- swamp40 3y ago
  Don't you just have to move the VPN offshore? China could even spin up their own VPN companies.
  - JumpCrisscross 3y ago
    > Don't you just have to move the VPN offshore Payment would still be a problem.
    - throwaway742 3y ago
      I pay for my VPN with cryptocurrency.
smolder 3y ago
It doesn't appear to have much to do with TikTok at all, from what I saw. It looks more like a regular old power grab by the federal government over tech generally, moving us towards censorship and overt surveillance and punishing circumvention.
seanp2k2 3y ago
I'm 100% sure that no one who works for the government knows how to acquire and operate a separate smartphone either /s

beepbooptheory 3y ago

Its for everyone, not just government personnel. https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/senate-bill/686?s=1&r=15 https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/senate-bill/686... https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35369075 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35369075

detaro 3y ago

Hopefully the thing is going to fail and they are not going to do anything. But yes, it provides for banning government-choosen foreign sites entirely, with heavy penalties for assisting in circumventing blocks. (Although I guess VPN services could avoid it by filtering their users traffic themselves)

JumpCrisscross 3y ago
> it provides for banning government-choosen foreign sites entirely, with heavy penalties for assisting in circumventing blocks I recently heard the argument that TikTok is a media control issue. Rupert Murdoch famously had to become an American to buy Fox. Applying that precedent seems cleaner than the RESTRICT Act.
- anigbrowl 3y ago
  I'm generally pro-migration but in Murdoch's case I don't think it worked out well for his new neighbors.
swamp40 3y ago
Don't you just have to move the VPN offshore? China could even spin up their own VPN companies.
- JumpCrisscross 3y ago
  > Don't you just have to move the VPN offshore Payment would still be a problem.
  - throwaway742 3y ago
    I pay for my VPN with cryptocurrency.

smolder 3y ago

It doesn't appear to have much to do with TikTok at all, from what I saw. It looks more like a regular old power grab by the federal government over tech generally, moving us towards censorship and overt surveillance and punishing circumvention.

seanp2k2 3y ago

I'm 100% sure that no one who works for the government knows how to acquire and operate a separate smartphone either /s