back to article TikTok appeals to have Trump – or Supreme Court – decide its fate later

Made-in-China social network TikTok has appealed the decision to shut it down in the US, arguing that the deadline for its destruction should be deferred to give another regime a chance to review its case. The shutdown was ordered after the Biden administration passed the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled …

  1. Khaptain Silver badge

    What are they actually worried about

    Why don't TikTok just make the changes that were requested and continue to do business ? Obviously the will continue to make money considering their popularity..

    What is it that they are actually fighting against ? Is it just the case of having a US based headquarters or is there something else going on which is less obvious to me?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: What are they actually worried about

      Because it means selling out and so setting a precedent that should never occur?

      It means that ANY company being successful in the US market will be forced to share their profits with some US entity that has contributed exactly zero to its success. In this case, most likely some Trump company that needs propping up because "business man*" Trump couldn't even run a casino at a profit.

      * That's sarcasm, obviously

      1. Paul Crawford Silver badge

        Re: What are they actually worried about

        ...in the US market will be forced to share their profits with some US entity...

        Oh you mean like the 51% Chinese JV arrangement that all (but Musk, for some reason) have to agree to?

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: What are they actually worried about

          Exactly, and they've been whinging about that for years. Hopefully they will now shut up.

          You have that in quite a few countries, not just China, I think Thailand is the same. Singapore possibly as well - it's been a while since I looked at this.

      2. abend0c4 Silver badge

        Re: What are they actually worried about

        I find it difficult to keep up these days, but free trade is apparently so last century. However, it's not as if the precedent doesn't already exist in China - where it's quite normal for overseas investors to be required to form joint ventures with local partners: Tesla is one of the few examples that managed to dodge that bullet. And it's a similar picture in many developing countries that want some of that "investment" to stick and not merely move on to the next source of cheap labour when local wages start to rise.

        I think there's an argument that the Anglosphere has been rather too lax in its pursuit of foreign investment at any cost with consequences such as Thames Water and the dispiriting sight of Keir Starmer touring the despots of the Middle East with his begging bowl exended.

        EDIT: Sorry, Paul Crawford, posts crossed. Basically, what you said...

        1. Casca Silver badge

          Re: What are they actually worried about

          ARM is another one. And that one worked out good...

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: What are they actually worried about

            So no arm twisting?

            (sorry, it was stronger than me) :)

    2. doublelayer Silver badge

      Re: What are they actually worried about

      I think your question stems from a misunderstanding of what the law as written says they need to do.

      "Why don't TikTok just make the changes that were requested and continue to do business ?"

      Because the changes that are required are to either shut down or to sell their app. If they shut down, they get no more money. If they sell their app, they get a one-time bit of money, but no ongoing revenue from a very profitable thing. That thing works the same way globally (except for China). That means that they either have to sell only the US part to a company which will now be able to compete against them with an identical product to theirs, or they have to sell their operations in every country except China in order not to create that mess for themselves. The least damaging situation for TikTok's current owners is a years-long administrative morass, which they don't have enough time to complete anyway, and would earn them far less than they would earn from operating their app normally. I'm not surprised in the least that they hate this and want to prevent it; they have no other good options. That doesn't mean that they'll get what they want, but they've been backed into a corner and predictably chose to try fighting their way out as hard as they can.

      "What is it that they are actually fighting against ? Is it just the case of having a US based headquarters or is there something else going on which is less obvious to me?"

      It's not about where their headquarters is. It is that the current owners, at least the Chinese ones, are supposed to not own it anymore. This law intends to remove them from control, which means removing them from ownership. They do not like this idea because they see TikTok as theirs, since they created and paid for it, and they want to keep running it. The law that was written does not have any middle ground for them.

    3. This post has been deleted by its author

    4. O'Reg Inalsin

      Re: What are they actually worried about

      My guesstimate is that they have an army of 20-30 yr content specialists - fairly equivalent in terms of trend taste to US similar aged college vanilla liberal arts college graduates - who are working 12 hours days for 1/8 of the cost in the US. Whereas Google Shorts / Facebook etc, rely on a combination of algorithms and third world peasants, and the result is simply not as snappy. And then there is the CCP which gets to keep tabs on its citizens overseas, among other things.

  2. Paul Crawford Silver badge

    A pox on them all

    It is sad that debates about who owns these privacy vampires is getting far more coverage and interest than what they are doing to society at large in the first place.

    1. Effigy

      Re: A pox on them all

      TikTok collects no more data about users than other social networks. The difference is that US TLA's are free to surveil citizens via e.g. Facebook but is unable to surveil TikTok users. This is the entire intent of the law.

  3. Pascal Monett Silver badge
    Facepalm

    "an enemy of the people"

    That said by a troll who doesn't give a damn about "the people".

    1. John Robson Silver badge

      Re: "an enemy of the people"

      It was the most flattering comment about faeces book I've read in a long while

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    This will soon blow over

    Just after TikTok locate Herr Trump’s bank account…

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    A state entity, like China requires that a member of their party be a business partner in any foreign venture big enough to rake in billions. Said partner has full access and freedom to inspect, copy and disseminate for personal or party profit any such data they may discover, and the grift is so shared.

    Asking TikTok submit likewise the U.S. is fair.

    Quickest way out of this standoff, China rescinds that requirement for foreign companies, and the U.S. follows suit.

    1. Jason Bloomberg Silver badge

      Asking TikTok submit likewise the U.S. is fair.

      It doesn't seem "likewise" to me, nor "fair".

      If a business wants to set-up shop in China it is fully aware of what this will entail, is free to choose whether to do so or turn their backs on China. It also applies to all similar foreign ventures setting up shop in China.

      For TikTok in America it's a case of having their business shuttered or stolen from them on a political whim with no credible evidence to justify either.

      That's no more acceptable than if some other country forced a successful American company operating there to sling its hook or sell itself to a local business.

      1. DS999 Silver badge

        They didn't "set up shop" in China. Tik Tok originated there, created by a Chinese guy and his Chinese company Bytedance.

      2. doublelayer Silver badge

        Using the "eye for an eye" principle, I could understand why someone might see it as fair. I don't believe eye for an eye to be an appropriate policy and I dislike mandatory joint ventures to operate somewhere, so I don't believe it to be fair. In addition, I could not accept that as an argument even if I did believe in it because that is not the stated reason for banning TikTok. According to the politicians that passed the ban, they are banning it because China's laws give the Chinese government access to lots of data from the app. I consider those concerns valid enough that I'm not going to use TikTok, not that I was very interested to do so in any case, but not sufficiently valid to justify a ban.

  6. heyrick Silver badge

    Hmmm...

    "TikTok continues to mobilize those who make money on the platform to lobby for its continuing operation"

    Not that much between that and mobilising people for other purposes...

  7. FuzzyTheBear
    Stop

    Like your privacy ? Just ditch it

    Just like X .. it's not worth it. I never used it and my life's great without either.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Like your privacy ? Just ditch it

      Correct.

      My privacy online and in general is worth millions to me.

      Nobody else cares of course but that’s what it’s worth to me.

  8. Groo The Wanderer - A Canuck

    Why? After everything he's said, they're delusional enough to think a Chinese company will get a break from Drumpf?

    Man, I want some of what they've been smoking - must be some really good stuff!

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