The Ban on TikTok is Coming – Wolves And Finance

There have been new developments in the ongoing story around banning TikTok and we are going to cover them in this video. WATCH NOW

SOURCES

Attorney General court filing https://ago.mo.gov/docs/default-source/press-releases/free-speech-pitch-thread-docs/doc-71—joint-statement-on-discovery-disputes.pdf?sfvrsn=3b968800_2

Facebook testimony https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OT6poJns9mQ

TikTok testimony https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQsvXa4dj34

VIDEO SUMMARY

The reason I have been talking about this story, is that it is important for you to understand as a business person. Every business has a marketing budget, and you have to decide how much to spend on Meta ads, TikTok, Public Relations, conferences, etc. TikTok is obviously one of the most successful social media platforms in the world, but you need to be aware of the potential US ban on TikTok when you are deciding how much to invest in that platform.

In my last video on this subject, I talked about how India has already banned TikTok a year ago, a growing number of Americans support a ban on TikTok, and a whistleblower came forward with tape recordings of conversations that showed that TikTok was sharing the private information of Americans with the Communist controlled parent company, Bytedance, in China. These whistleblower revelations showed that TikTok lied under oath to Congress.

The idea of the US government banning a company is a big deal. It does not normally happen in the US. But if a company is acting dishonest, misusing customer information, or spying on the US, the government has a right to shut the company down to protect US citizens.

There has been growing frustration from the public about big tech in general and their ability to censor free speech. Just this month a detailed legal petition was filed by Louisiana and Missouri, in their court case against President Biden claiming that the White House engaged in censorship with Big Tech companies, violating American’s freedom of speech. The legal document details email communications between the White House and companies like Meta, where the government was telling them specific people to censor, and Meta complied.

Up until this point, Meta has avoided criticism about banning people. Since they are a private company, they have freedom of speech as well, and the ability to ban who they want. However, if they are banning people at the direct request of the government, that is different. They are no longer acting as a private company anymore, but as an extension of the government. It is a violation of Freedom of Speech, the First Amendment of the Constitution, for the government to silence critics of the government.

Just this month, there were more Congressional hearings. Here is a video of Sen. Josh Hawley questioning Meta executive Chris Cox on their actions:

So what does this have to do with TikTok? Well, TikTok testified at this same hearing. This is a follow up to their previous comments under oath. TikTok is still facing concerns from the American people that the company is sharing their private data with China. Here is what they had to say.

TikTok maintains that they are not sharing data. However, if that is the case, why don’t they simply keep all the data in the US? When the ban on TikTok was first discussed, there was a simple path forward for TikTok to continue to operate in the US. They simply had to use US leadership to control the algorithm in the US, stop sending American’s data to China, and store American’s personal data in the US. If TikTok is not doing anything sinister, why not just move the US operations to the US? It is a very simple solution that TikTok refuses to do for some unknown reason.

The biggest concern in all of this is that the algorithm behind TikTok, is not even controlled by TikTok. It is controlled by the parent company ByteDance which is controlled by the Chinese Communist Party in China. The algorithm is what controls what videos the users of TikTok see. It is known that the Chinese Communist Party uses the Chinese version of TikTok as a method of social control over their own population to distribute propaganda and censor any dissent. Now TikTok is telling us, after they have already lied under oath, to just trust them, that they are not doing that in the US.

So, when we look at the current situation of Big Tech, we have Meta, an American company who is admitting to violating American’s constitutional rights and censoring speech. If this is happening at an American company that is breaking the law, it takes a lot of faith to think that China is not using TikTok as a weapon against the American people, even though they are one of the main competitors of the United States. The big question remains, why won’t China give up control of TikTok and move US operations to the US? If they are not doing anything suspicious, why don’t they just do that?

As more information continues to surface, I think a complete ban on TikTok is coming.

Leave a comment down below letting me know what you think!

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Neither Zach De Gregorio or Wolves and Finance shall be liable for any damages related to information in this video. It is recommended you contact a CPA in your area for business advice.