We doubt that the U.S. government is going to block TikTok today or anytime soon. You may remember that President Donald Trump made noises about banning the social media app, the traffic from which all goes through Chinese servers. Minor put persistent irritant David Hogg even thought it was a campaign move by Trump:
Imagine being so scared teenagers are going to vote you out you ban one of their top platforms for communication.
— David Hogg 92 days ? (@davidhogg111) August 1, 2020
It was just last week, though, that Forbes reported that the Chinese were using TikTok in part to track Americans’ movements:
#BREAKING SCOOP: TikTok’s China-based parent company ByteDance planned to use the TikTok app to track the physical location of specific American citizens, according to materials reviewed by Forbes. https://t.co/IUA6Cm8NwK
— Forbes (@Forbes) October 20, 2022
TikTok said that it uses location data to target ads and prevent fraud. But the material reviewed by Forbes indicates that ByteDance’s Internal Audit team was planning to use this location information to track individual Americans, not for those purposes. https://t.co/r2z0r1LWRW pic.twitter.com/BmRDmAaApb
— Forbes (@Forbes) October 20, 2022
Get this app off our shores and protect the American people.
— Ashkan Mizani 🏗 SF (@ashkanstweets) October 20, 2022
It was just this summer, under the Biden administration, that the FCC commissioner called on Apple and Google to remove TikTok from their app stores, calling the video-sharing app “the wolf’s clothing.”
TikTok doesn’t just see its users dance videos.
It collects search and browsing histories, keystroke patterns, biometric identifiers, draft messages and metadata, plus it has collected the text, images, and videos that are stored on a device's clipboard. pic.twitter.com/GKheArMM5X
— Brendan Carr (@BrendanCarrFCC) June 28, 2022
Hudson Institute Senior Fellow Mohammed Alyahya was hearing chatter that TikTok would be banned Monday:
Hearing chatter that the US will ban TikTok today.
— Mohammed Alyahya محمد اليحيى (@7yhy) October 24, 2022
— Mohammed Alyahya محمد اليحيى (@7yhy) October 24, 2022
God willing, it will happen
— merry (@13243546k) October 24, 2022
I support. And have been working to make this a reality. https://t.co/Sk64J7DOhT
— Richard Grenell (@RichardGrenell) October 24, 2022
I promise never to ask Santa for another present ever if this happens today
— Ben Buchanan (@01Core_Ben) October 24, 2022
https://twitter.com/sourpatchlyds/status/1584592229552701440
Yes, President Biden’s new girlfriend who has around 8 million followers on TikTok.
I hope you're right
— Wael N. Chehab 🇺🇸 (@WaelChehab1) October 24, 2022
Don't threaten me with a good time.
— Small Metal Owl (@SmallMetalOwl) October 24, 2022
Oh don't get my hopes up! Please!
— 🌸 Deb H 🌸 (@deb_h7) October 24, 2022
Update:
Seems today will focus on Huawei for spying and not TikTok just yet. Nothing confirmed yet.. all chatter.
— Mohammed Alyahya محمد اليحيى (@7yhy) October 24, 2022
President Trump called to ban TikTok as Chinese spyware; Biden’s FCC commissioner called for it to be removed from the app store because it’s Chinese spyware; Forbes says it’s Chinese spyware. Plus, it’s populated by lunatics.
Update:
The US Justice Department has unsealed charges against two alleged Chinese spies who are accused of interfering with a federal prosecution of China-based telecommunications company Huawei https://t.co/5SS2EKK3Il
— CNN (@CNN) October 24, 2022
***
Related:
FCC commissioner calls on Apple and Google to remove TikTok from their app stores https://t.co/tn2Dd027E3
— Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) June 30, 2022
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