Tag Archives: prepare

This article first appeared in the author’s LinkedIn newsletter, Social Media Portal, and is republished here with permission.

[***record scratch***] Wait, wait, wait, Zack. Didn’t we just cover this? It’s true. Wasn’t there TikTok ban legislation that stalled in the Senate? Yep. Have there been any changes in the way of addressing the constitutional red flags raised by the initial bill, particularly as it relates to the First Amendment? Nope. What about new guardrails that would effectively keep users’ data safe and secure? Nope. Well, surely new evidence has come to light that definitively shows that TikTok’s Chinese-based parent company, ByteDance, has shared U.S. user data with the Chinese government? Nope. 

What changed is that House Republicans made the…

A hot potato: Could the TikTok bill, which would force owner ByteDance to sell the app or face a block from US app stores and web hosting platforms, become law? Former White House Chief Information Officer (CIO) Theresa Payton warns that US tech firms should prepare for the worst as ByteDance may not willingly divest its wildly popular app.

The Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act was passed by Congress last month. If it comes into effect, Chinese owner ByteDance will be forced to divest TikTok within about 180 days; otherwise, the app will be blocked in the US. That could involve ISPs blocking traffic to TikTok, social networks might be forced to stop videos from the app being shared, and app stores will have to put TikTok on the banned…