I’m also at least partially convinced that it’s motivated by our social media giants’ interest to “think of the children” their competition away.
Seeing as the order was basically “Get bought by an American corpo or get banned.” They either plunder the competitor’s insane data collection, userbase, and profits, or kick them off their corner.
“Get bought by a Chinese entity or get banned” is the default posture of the Chinese government. BMW China is Chinese. Samsung China is Chinese. Panasonic China is Chinese. GM China is Chinese. If TikTok US is forced to be American, it wouldn’t be the most unfair thing this week.
This is a pretty sane explanation.
I’m also at least partially convinced that it’s motivated by our social media giants’ interest to “think of the children” their competition away.
Seeing as the order was basically “Get bought by an American corpo or get banned.” They either plunder the competitor’s insane data collection, userbase, and profits, or kick them off their corner.
You can also see it as retribution.
“Get bought by a Chinese entity or get banned” is the default posture of the Chinese government. BMW China is Chinese. Samsung China is Chinese. Panasonic China is Chinese. GM China is Chinese. If TikTok US is forced to be American, it wouldn’t be the most unfair thing this week.
You can’t have your “we’re better than them cos freedumb” cake and eat it too.
Well, let’s set the bar at not having concentration camps or not going to jail or being made “dissappear” for criticizing the government. For now…
Aren’t they a 49:51 split international company:Chinese version?
As long as the Chinese entity has control, it’s fair game.