C_NCENTRATE 924: TikTok ban, meat wars, AI misinfo, Apple's car, injectable brain implants +++
TIKTOK REMAINS IN HOT WATER AFTER CONGRESS EXCHANGE
THE OVERVIEW: Twitter is winding down free blue check marks, the Microsoft/Activision probe is being narrowed, Musk tried to buy OpenAI in 2018, France may be the first country to legalise AI surveillance, TikTok went to Congress, Xiaomi announced poor Q4 revenue and profits, Gordon Moore (‘Moore’s Law’) died, the Publishers won in the copyright case against the Internet Archive, Tim Cook went to China, Amazon is struggling with free shipping, NASDAQ announced its ‘crypto custody’ will launch soon.
THE BIG NEWS: Before this week, most people had no idea who the CEO of TikTok was; Shou Zi Chew’s (Twitter) answers to hostile questioning at Congress changed that this week.
TikTok is in hot water with the US government because of its ownership; namely, it has Chinese owners, and the data laws in China mean US data could be passed to Chinese authorities and intelligence and national-security matters could be opened up.
TikTok is a private company, so its 1.5 billion users must be taken with a pinch of salt. The company doesn’t need to say exactly how many users it has; a smart play would be to downplay growth until you need it or must declare such numbers. With +110m users in the US also, the cause for concern beyond sharing data could be said to be misinformation, especially coming into an election year. Per Lindsay Gorman, a former Biden White House adviser in the WSJ; “The TikTok battles are indicative of the end of an era. This era where U.S.-China business relations can continue absent considerations of geopolitics is over.”
TikTok has already seen its app banned on government devices around the world and completely in India. Banning apps may be technically possible and relatively easy, but getting past the first amendment is not. Much of the debate surrounds disliking an app that built a dominant social media platform that is not homegrown. A similar lens could be shone on any major platform for overzealous data capture and security issues, but we aren’t seeing such aggressive moves or language used by Congress. The ban itself would be as historic as it would be difficult to enforce, thanks to the first amendment, for one.
TikTok is trying to belay fears with what it calls ‘Project Texas’, which is TikTok’s plan to store U.S. user data on American soil and would be done in coordination with Texas-based computer technology corporation Oracle. The US wants a change of ownership entirely. Chinese media is ramping up rhetoric back home. One thing is certain, the exchange at Congress did not help TikTok’s case.
SO WHAT?
__ DO __ Remember the last President banned several Chinese apps (Tencent QQ, CamScanner, SHAREit, VMate, Alipay, QQ Wallet, WeChat Pay and WPS Office). A ban is entirely possible and plausible considering the issues being faced and the 12 months we’re going into. The grandstanding and politics are what’s slowing this decision down. // __ DON’T __ Think for a second any ban is watertight. Bans across the world have shown people to flout similar bans and find routes around such issues.
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