TikTok’s choice to close the app down for barely 12 hours – solely to revive entry to the China-owned app on Sunday after President-elect Donald Trump chimed in – seemed to be a PR stunt meant to stoke a public outcry, coverage consultants advised The Publish.
“TikTok’s early shutdown either came down to corporate incompetence or a deliberate PR stunt to encourage a manufactured sense of panic,” stated Joel Thayer, a DC-based tech lawyer and president of the Digital Progress Institute. “Given it’s waffling, I’m assuming it’s the latter.”
The favored video-sharing app pulled the plug for all US customers late Saturday evening however started restoring service Sunday afternoon after Trump vowed to “save” TikTok by an govt order Monday that may delay enforcement of the divestiture legislation requiring mother or father firm ByteDance to promote its stake.
The corporate thanked Trump “for providing the necessary clarity and assurance to our service providers that they will face no penalties.”
Nevertheless, the Biden administration had already stated it will not implement the legislation, and Trump beforehand signaled forward of the shutdown that he was towards the ban and would “most likely” situation the chief order.
The corporate’s management has acted as “an unsympathetic and disingenuous broker” in its dealings with Congress and the general public during the last a number of years, Thayer stated.
“The truth is that, even before Congress enacted the law, the US has told TikTok how to fix its blatant national security concerns for over 5 years and the company did nothing,” he added. “Now, after it attempted to bring bogus First Amendment claims to delay the law’s enforcement and on the eve of its ban, it wants a pity party.”
Underneath the divestiture legislation, app retailer operators like Google and Apple face penalties of $5,000 per consumer if they permit new downloads of the Bytedance-owned app after the Jan. 19 deadline. Service suppliers like Oracle and Akamai additionally confronted lesser legal responsibility for supporting the app’s operation.
As written, the legislation didn’t require TikTok to go darkish for individuals who had already downloaded it on their telephones, or nor did it ban People from accessing the app.
A TikTok consultant declined additional remark and pointed to the corporate’s earlier assertion.
Searches for TikTok yielded no ends in Google’s Play Retailer and Apple’s App retailer as of two:45 pm ET – an indication that the US tech giants nonetheless weren’t prepared to threat large penalties outlined within the legislation, even after Trump’s assertion.
Google declined touch upon the scenario. A message in Apple’s App Retailer stated the corporate was “obligated to follow the laws in the jurisdictions where it operates.”
Oracle and Akamai representatives didn’t instantly reply to requests for remark.
“This may be a game for TikTok, but it isn’t a game for Apple and Google,” stated Michael Sobolik, a senior fellow on the Hudson Institute and creator of “Countering China’s Great Game. “They need to comply with the law, regardless of TikTok’s shenanigans.”
“The law that Congress passed and the Supreme Court upheld requires Apple and Google to remove TikTok from their app stores if it is still owned and controlled by a foreign adversary today – which it is,” Sobolik added.
Trump stated he would “like the United States to have a 50% ownership position in a joint venture.”
“By doing this, we save TikTok, keep it in good hands and allow it to say up [sic],” Trump stated. “Without US approval, there is no TikTok.”
TikTok stated it will “work with President Trump on a long-term solution that keeps TikTok in the United States.”
Regardless of Trump’s assurances, Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), who beforehand warned that the liabilities might quantity to $850 billion, advised service suppliers to assume twice about ignoring the legislation.
“Any company that hosts, distributes, services, or otherwise facilitates communist-controlled TikTok could face hundreds of billions of dollars of ruinous liability under the law, not just from DOJ, but also under securities law, shareholder lawsuits, and state AGs,” Cotton wrote on X. “Think about it.”
Cotton and fellow Republican Sen. Pete Ricketts had earlier stated there was “no legal basis for any kind of ‘extension’ of its effective date.”
“For TikTok to come back online in the future, ByteDance must agree to a sale that satisfies the law’s qualified-divestiture requirements by severing all ties between TikTok and Communist China,” the senators stated.
Home Speaker Mike Johnson, a detailed Trump ally, additionally threw chilly water on the notion that TikTok might come again with out adhering to the legislation’s requirement that its mother or father firm ByteDance divest.
“I think we will enforce the law,” Johnson advised NBC Information.
The Biden White Home had beforehand referred to TikTok’s menace to go darkish as a “stunt.”
“It is a stunt, and we see no reason for TikTok or other companies to take actions in the next few days before the Trump Administration takes office on Monday,” outgoing White Home press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre stated earlier this week.
Congress handed the divestiture legislation with overwhelming bipartisan assist on account of considerations that TikTok primarily functioned as a adware and propaganda instrument for the Chinese language Communist Occasion – facilitating the whole lot from mass knowledge assortment on People to refined manipulation of public opinion by its algorithm.
TikTok has denied wrongdoing. The corporate repeatedly stated it will not promote, even because the deadline approached. Chinese language authorities officers vowed to dam any pressured sale.
The corporate unsuccessfully argued that the divestiture legislation violated the First Modification. The Supreme Courtroom’s 9 justices unanimously dominated towards TikTok and ByteDance.
“Unless and until TikTok is no longer controlled by Beijing, the national security threat that motivated the divestiture law hasn’t been addressed,” stated Evan Swarztrauber, a senior fellow on the Basis for American Innovation.”
As The Publish reported, some so-called “TikTok refugees” flocked to China-owned various RedNote forward of the ban – at the same time as consultants warned that it carried even better safety dangers.
TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew is ready to attend Trump’s inauguration on Monday.
