Biden backs bill that could kill TikTok in the US, TikTok fights back

[Bubbajim]

A hot potato: Following the introduction of new legislation this week aimed at effectively shutting down TikTok, the situation has quickly escalated. TikTok sent mass messages to its users, encouraging them to lobby their representatives. Additionally, while discussing the new bill, President Biden informed reporters, "If they pass it, I'll sign it."

Earlier this week, we reported on new legislation that gives "foreign adversary controlled" apps like TikTok six months to sever ties with said foreign adversaries or face significant fines and potentially a total shutdown. The Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act explicitly names TikTok and parent company, ByteDance, and states that it "shall be unlawful for an entity to distribute, maintain, or update" the app, unless ByteDance divests itself of TikTok within 180 days.

Failure to comply could result in a "civil penalty" of up to $5,000 per US user. With TikTok claiming up to 170 million such users, the fines could theoretically reach as much as $850 billion.

The situation has further escalated. Speaking about the bill on Friday, President Biden told reporters, "If they pass it, I'll sign it," showing presidential support for the bipartisan legislation. Although the bill is in its early stages, it passed an initial vote from the House Energy and Commerce Committee unanimously, 50-0, on Thursday.

However, TikTok is not backing down without a fight. Also on Thursday, the app sent push notifications to millions of US users, urging them to "Stop a TikTok shut down" by contacting their political representatives. The notification encouraged users to "Let Congress know what TikTok means to you and tell them to vote NO."

According to NBC News, some members of Congress have been "inundated with calls from children and teenagers" who are advocating for the continuation of the app. Democratic Representative Raja Krishnamoorthi noted, "we had little children calling into our office asking questions like, 'What is Congress? What is a congressman? Can I have my TikTok back?'"

The US has a population of 341 million, so if TikTok's figure of 170 million users is reliable, then almost 50% of the population uses, or has used, the app to some degree. It remains to be seen if public lobbying on behalf of TikTok will have any impact on the legislation's journey through Congress.

The Act is set to go to the House floor this week but must receive two-thirds approval to pass.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/102203-biden-backs-bill-could-kill-tiktok-us-tiktok.html

 

[GodisanAtheist]

Ticktock just shot itself in the foot with that stunt. Way to really reinforce exactly why tech giants and media apps need guard rails.

Imagine this stunt but instead its against something you deeply care about...

 

[ZedRM]

TikTok needs to go away anyway. It's a garbage platform specifically designed to fill it's users minds with garbage information. The statement of 170million US users is a blatant lie as that would mean 50% of the populace would have an account. I only know one person who uses it and I know a lot of people. The law of averages would demand more people as users if their statement was truthful. There isn't, therefore there is not and therefore they are lying.

 

[mailpup]

TikTok needs to go away anyway. It's a garbage platform specifically designed to fill it's users minds with garbage information. The statement of 170million US users is a blatant lie as that would mean 50% of the populace would have an account. I only know one person who uses it and I know a lot of people. The law of averages would demand more people as users if their statement was truthful. There isn't, therefore there is not and therefore they are lying.

I'll venture a guess that the 170 million figure includes people with multiple accounts so not as many users as one might think.

 

[opckieran]

What’s the difference between a foreign adversary controlling TikTok vs that exact same adversary exerting its influence over other major tech and legacy media companies?

A lack of high-paying donors and lobbyists on ByteDance’s part. At least that’s my theory.

 

[ZedRM]

I'll venture a guess that the 170 million figure includes people with multiple accounts so not as many users as one might think.

Ok, but even if every one user had two accounts(which is unlikely), that's still a quarter of the populace. Dubious at best and far more likely to be completely fabricated claims. That is what is known as a Lie, yes, a Lie.

TikTok is a garbage platform, pure and simple.

 

[holydiver]

Kill TikTok! It's a propaganda app. All the stuff they show in the US is prohibited in China!

 

[p51d007]

Wish all of the so called "social media" apps would just disappear.

 

[nismo91]

I don't use tiktok but I use capcut which came from bytedance. due to tiktok success they can produce capcut which is a very good free video editor all things considered.

whatever it is I hope capcut still get supported because I need a free video editor for basic video editing in windows that is not as complicated as resolve, also not as slow as other freeware which doesn't take advantage of GPU acceleration.

 

[GodisanAtheist]

Ok, but even if every one user had two accounts(which is unlikely), that's still a quarter of the populace. Dubious at best and far more likely to be completely fabricated claims. That is what is known as a Lie, yes, a Lie.

TikTok is a garbage platform, pure and simple.

-Its just bot accounts, not complicated.

Same thing with Twitter and basically any social media platform.

 

[dangh]

Kill TikTok! It's a propaganda app. All the stuff they show in the US is prohibited in China!

All the stuff there is Allowed in us. Or you want to block all applications which showing stuff prohibited in China, like any other social media platform?
Tiktok isn't worse than fb, instagram or X. Just more successful. Remember, the argument against tiktok isn't the content. US is perfectly fine with content. The issue they have is with money and ownership. They want to get ownership, so they could keep the same content and earn moar monies.

 

[Furriest]

It would be a pleasant surprise to no longer have to deal with branded vertical videos with a forced outro while browsing youtube on desktop, it plagues many videos and it has gotten extremely tiring from the perspective of a non phone user, it has fueled awful trends such as YouTube shorts and has plagued the quality of content released to a grinding halt in preference of over-brevity. If you don't own a phone, and use user content for educative purposes, this is an absolute win.

 

[FaTaL]

This is only bill I agrree with biden pushing. tiktok is the fcking anti christ

 

[ZedRM]

-Its just bot accounts, not complicated.

Same thing with Twitter and basically any social media platform.

And they most certainly would know that, so they're still blatantly lying.

 

[The Talking Tech]

All the stuff there is Allowed in us. Or you want to block all applications which showing stuff prohibited in China, like any other social media platform?
Tiktok isn't worse than fb, instagram or X. Just more successful. Remember, the argument against tiktok isn't the content. US is perfectly fine with content. The issue they have is with money and ownership. They want to get ownership, so they could keep the same content and earn moar monies.

You missed the whole point....it's not about the money, it's not like Congress wants to buy the app for themselves, it's the fact that Tiktok in its current form is an open mic to China.

 

[Uncle Al]

Haven't seen one social media apt that has not or is not getting abused. The world was a much better place before they came along ....

 

[toooooot]

I know for a fact that Russian bots infest it. If someone was working like that in their country, it would be banned long ago. Of course, they banned all free speech, arrested or killed remaining credible journalists, but I still think that if TikTok wants to stay in USA, Russia must lose it as a tool for spreading lies, especially about what they are doing right now. It is pathetic that there are millions of people who do not know or outright deny Russia's
war crimes and thousands of civilians, women, children killed.

 

[trparky]

TikTok needs to die in a fire.

 

[Kashim]

Ok, but even if every one user had two accounts(which is unlikely), that's still a quarter of the populace. Dubious at best and far more likely to be completely fabricated claims. That is what is known as a Lie, yes, a Lie.

TikTok is a garbage platform, pure and simple.

Actually, there are people on there with dozens of accounts. Tiktok is full of "thots" who keep getting their accounts locked or deleted because they're basically there to advertise their so call "spicy" content on another site (OF).

 

[human7]

Congress: Can't be bothered to pass comprehensive privacy legislation.

TikTok: Exists.

Congress:

 

[Homerlovesbeer]

I don't use tiktok but I use capcut which came from bytedance. due to tiktok success they can produce capcut which is a very good free video editor all things considered.

whatever it is I hope capcut still get supported because I need a free video editor for basic video editing in windows that is not as complicated as resolve, also not as slow as other freeware which doesn't take advantage of GPU acceleration.

Nothing is really "free" with Bytedance

 

[Endymio]

Of course, they banned all free speech, arrested or killed remaining credible journalists...

Are you talking about Ukraine or Russia? This is an article about ByteDance, which uses TikTok not only as a tool to spread Chinese propaganda, but -- much more concerning -- used the app to collect data about their users, including their current gps location and surreptitious video and audio -- and feeds it secretly to the Chinese government.

 

[toooooot]

Are you talking about Ukraine or Russia? This is an article about ByteDance, which uses TikTok not only as a tool to spread Chinese propaganda, but -- much more concerning -- used the app to collect data about their users, including their current gps location and surreptitious video and audio -- and feeds it secretly to the Chinese government.

Russia. They use it extensively and it seems to allow more of their business than USA controlled platforms. This however does not exclude what China might or uses it for.