H.R. 7521 – TikTok Ban Bill [pdf] | Hacker News Reader

H.R. 7521 – TikTok Ban Bill [pdf]

docs.house.gov

24 pointsrglover10 comments

Good faith questions incoming:

Isn’t the title misrepresenting? The actual name of the bill is “ H.R.7521 - Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act.” Also, the word ban is no where to be found in the document.

Second, from my reading this is about divestiture? This is not about a blanket ban.

The US already imposes foreign ownership limits (20%) on broadcast TV and radio. It is therefore pretty reasonable (to me) to impose limits on foreign ownership of social media sites.

https://www.fcc.gov/general/foreign-ownership-rules-and-poli...

You might be splitting hairs here. Don't focus on the word "ban" as much as it's to prevent certain institutions from having too much power over Americans. Call it a Prevent TikTok From Being Too Ingrained bill if you must.

"TikTok Ban" seems reasonable to me, given:

  The term ‘‘foreign adversary controlled application’’ means a website, desktop application, mobile application, or augmented or immersive technology application that is operated, directly or indirectly (including through a parent company, subsidiary, or affiliate), by— (A) any of— (i) ByteDance, Ltd.; (ii) TikTok;...

I say this as someone who is a regular user of TikTok and enjoys it: I don't see why something with the same intent wasn't presented years ago on the grounds of reciprocity. US social media applications have been banned in China for over a decade, so why should Chinese applications be able to flourish in the US?

Simply because it was not in the interests of enough of the ruling class to do so. Profit is always the top priority. Nothing short of preparation for war could motivate the ruling class to uproot profitable relationships. It has taken a lot of time and catastrophe to move industrial dependencies away from China to competing 3rd world countries. The conflict in Gaza on top of the conflict in Ukraine makes for another tipping point at which the US ruling class has enough interest in risking near-term profit loss to consolidate power for the long term that this bill makes sense.

I don't see why you would look at the Chinese government oppressing their people and hampering their economy with strict internet censorship and think that the US should reciprocate so that Americans, too, can enjoy the immense benefits of oppression and hampering the economy with strict internet censorship.

a ban on tik tok is antithetical to an open market.

The US does not have open markets.

Not sure anyone does.

More discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39691808

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