While you do list great legitimate concerns about TikTok, I feel many politicians in america have been influenced more by Meta’s campaign against TikTok, which I’m sad you didn’t document in this piece. It would explain why actual social media regulation policies have not been present, and instead simple bans on the product have been pushed in legislatures across the country
However, as you have stated, many of the national security claims seem weak, and federal judges have for now decided it wasn’t strong enough to last in court
While you do list great legitimate concerns about TikTok, I feel many politicians in america have been influenced more by Meta’s campaign against TikTok, which I’m sad you didn’t document in this piece. It would explain why actual social media regulation policies have not been present, and instead simple bans on the product have been pushed in legislatures across the country
https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/05/17/american-edge-facebook-regulation/
https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/03/30/facebook-tiktok-targeted-victory/
An opinion from AEI was quite clear cut into how TikTok is seen less as a indicator of industry problems and more of a scapegoat
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/12/02/tiktok-china-dangerous-twitter/
The legitimate threat assessment is supposed to be done by CFIUS, but that doesn’t stop pundits from drawing their own conclusions
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-12-13/tiktok-security-deal-in-cfius-panel-is-clouded-by-fbi-s-doubts-state-bans?leadSource=uverify%20wall
However, as you have stated, many of the national security claims seem weak, and federal judges have for now decided it wasn’t strong enough to last in court
https://www.npr.org/2020/10/30/929656794/trumps-ban-on-tiktok-suffers-another-legal-setback
Thank you for your comment and well taken. I have written about Meta's influence campaign vs TikTok in the past (https://interconnected.blog/facebook-vs-tiktok-will-every-tech-company-become-a-political-campaign/) in April 2020. I didn't link to this post, but I probably should have to your point. (I try not to link to too many of my own previous posts if I can help it :)
Thanks for quoting Pekingnology, Kevin! And a great read!