<story><title>Why we are suing the Administration</title><url>https://newsroom.tiktok.com/en-us/tiktok-files-lawsuit</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>ArchD</author><text>Are you saying that CPC gets to ban Google, Facebook, Twitter &amp;amp; a ton of other non-Chinese online companies but the US government does not get to ban Chinese online companies, even in the name of fairness both in terms of trade and information flow? Chinese companies have to obey the CPC&amp;#x27;s orders that infringe users&amp;#x27; privacy. Whether or not it is right for a country&amp;#x27;s government to spy on its citizens, the current arrangement is assymetric.&lt;p&gt;If TikTok were made in India, then you would have a good point.</text></item><item><author>badRNG</author><text>Regardless of what you think about TikTok, the banning of an app in the interest of &amp;quot;national security&amp;quot; is largely unprecedented.&lt;p&gt;The jump from banning Huawei from building critical public infrastructure to banning an app that hasn&amp;#x27;t even conclusively been proven to behave in any uniquely dangerous ways seems to be an intense, unjustified escalation of this conflict. [1]&lt;p&gt;You may disagree with me on the strict security-related merits of banning TikTok, and I am willing to concede all of them, however this will, either way, establish a precedent of an app&amp;#x27;s coverage by 1st amendment free speech protections, and of what standards the government needs to do to ban an app, whether it be a Chinese social media app or an end-to-end encrypted messaging app. [2]&lt;p&gt;If the standard is simply to claim that it&amp;#x27;s &amp;quot;a national security threat&amp;quot; without requiring any further evidence (besides the fact that it&amp;#x27;s Chinese) then that might be cause for concern.&lt;p&gt;[1] &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;medium.com&amp;#x2F;@fs0c131y&amp;#x2F;tiktok-logs-logs-logs-e93e8162647a&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;medium.com&amp;#x2F;@fs0c131y&amp;#x2F;tiktok-logs-logs-logs-e93e81626...&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;[2] &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.eff.org&amp;#x2F;deeplinks&amp;#x2F;2020&amp;#x2F;08&amp;#x2F;tiktok-ban-seed-genuine-security-concern-wrapped-thick-layer-censorship&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.eff.org&amp;#x2F;deeplinks&amp;#x2F;2020&amp;#x2F;08&amp;#x2F;tiktok-ban-seed-genuin...&lt;/a&gt;</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>badRNG</author><text>&amp;gt;Are you saying that CPC gets to ban Google, Facebook, Twitter &amp;amp; a ton of other non-Chinese online companies but the US government does not get to ban Chinese online companies, even in the name of fairness both in terms of trade and information flow?&lt;p&gt;Yes I am.&lt;p&gt;My concerns center the precedent of banning software. If banning software to further the interests of national security is established as a precedent, it is reasonable to assume this will be weaponized against end-to-end encrypted messaging apps like Signal. This would erode a strong, hard fought for precedent that code is speech. The &lt;i&gt;Bernstein v. Department of Justice&lt;/i&gt; decision ended Export Control of encryption on the basis of &lt;i&gt;software as speech.&lt;/i&gt; [1] Courts affirmed this right again in a ruling against a California law banning the sale of violent video games to minors, as it infringed on the speech of video game companies. [2]&lt;p&gt;Since you brought up China&amp;#x27;s policies, they also happen to ban end-to-end encrypted apps as there is a strong precedent for doing so in the interests of national security. [3] These simply aren&amp;#x27;t policies worth emulating.&lt;p&gt;[1] &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.eff.org&amp;#x2F;press&amp;#x2F;archives&amp;#x2F;2008&amp;#x2F;04&amp;#x2F;21-40&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.eff.org&amp;#x2F;press&amp;#x2F;archives&amp;#x2F;2008&amp;#x2F;04&amp;#x2F;21-40&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;[2] &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.law.cornell.edu&amp;#x2F;supct&amp;#x2F;html&amp;#x2F;08-1448.ZS.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.law.cornell.edu&amp;#x2F;supct&amp;#x2F;html&amp;#x2F;08-1448.ZS.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;[3] &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.nytimes.com&amp;#x2F;2017&amp;#x2F;09&amp;#x2F;25&amp;#x2F;business&amp;#x2F;china-whatsapp-blocked.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.nytimes.com&amp;#x2F;2017&amp;#x2F;09&amp;#x2F;25&amp;#x2F;business&amp;#x2F;china-whatsapp-b...&lt;/a&gt;</text></comment>
<story><title>Why we are suing the Administration</title><url>https://newsroom.tiktok.com/en-us/tiktok-files-lawsuit</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>ArchD</author><text>Are you saying that CPC gets to ban Google, Facebook, Twitter &amp;amp; a ton of other non-Chinese online companies but the US government does not get to ban Chinese online companies, even in the name of fairness both in terms of trade and information flow? Chinese companies have to obey the CPC&amp;#x27;s orders that infringe users&amp;#x27; privacy. Whether or not it is right for a country&amp;#x27;s government to spy on its citizens, the current arrangement is assymetric.&lt;p&gt;If TikTok were made in India, then you would have a good point.</text></item><item><author>badRNG</author><text>Regardless of what you think about TikTok, the banning of an app in the interest of &amp;quot;national security&amp;quot; is largely unprecedented.&lt;p&gt;The jump from banning Huawei from building critical public infrastructure to banning an app that hasn&amp;#x27;t even conclusively been proven to behave in any uniquely dangerous ways seems to be an intense, unjustified escalation of this conflict. [1]&lt;p&gt;You may disagree with me on the strict security-related merits of banning TikTok, and I am willing to concede all of them, however this will, either way, establish a precedent of an app&amp;#x27;s coverage by 1st amendment free speech protections, and of what standards the government needs to do to ban an app, whether it be a Chinese social media app or an end-to-end encrypted messaging app. [2]&lt;p&gt;If the standard is simply to claim that it&amp;#x27;s &amp;quot;a national security threat&amp;quot; without requiring any further evidence (besides the fact that it&amp;#x27;s Chinese) then that might be cause for concern.&lt;p&gt;[1] &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;medium.com&amp;#x2F;@fs0c131y&amp;#x2F;tiktok-logs-logs-logs-e93e8162647a&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;medium.com&amp;#x2F;@fs0c131y&amp;#x2F;tiktok-logs-logs-logs-e93e81626...&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;[2] &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.eff.org&amp;#x2F;deeplinks&amp;#x2F;2020&amp;#x2F;08&amp;#x2F;tiktok-ban-seed-genuine-security-concern-wrapped-thick-layer-censorship&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.eff.org&amp;#x2F;deeplinks&amp;#x2F;2020&amp;#x2F;08&amp;#x2F;tiktok-ban-seed-genuin...&lt;/a&gt;</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>dalbasal</author><text>Why does the CPC ban Google, Facebook, Twitter &amp;amp; a ton of other non-Chinese online companies?&lt;p&gt;They want control over media, especially political content. They want to make sure speech, affiliation and such is under their control. Are &lt;i&gt;you&lt;/i&gt; saying the US should adopt this approach?&lt;p&gt;Trade fairness is a red herring.</text></comment>