TikTok strikes back. The subsidiary of the Chinese group ByteDance filed a complaint against Montana on Monday, May 22, 2023. The decision was expected when this state adopted a text which imposes on mobile application stores, such as the App Store and the Google Play Store , to no longer offer TikTok as of January 1, 2024.
TikTok
TikTok is a video clip sharing social network that has quickly established itself as a leader in this field, available as a mobile application, you can take it with you anywhere.
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Downloads:
3680 -
Release date :
23/05/2023 -
Auteur :
TikTok -
Licence :
Free license -
Categories:
Video – Communication
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Operating system :
Android, Online service All Internet browsers, Windows 10/11, iOS iPhone / iPad
This local law, which seems difficult to apply technically and legally, would be null and void in the opinion of the leaders of the Chinese social network, who believe that the ban on TikTok “violates the Constitution of the United States in multiple ways”. They see this as a violation of the First Amendment which guarantees freedom of speech. Lawyers for the platform also argue that the state of Montana has no authority to ban an app in the name of national security. This critical subject should belong to the federal level.
It is not certain that the future of TikTok looks brighter with federal institutions. Pressure is growing, both in Congress and at the White House, with the aim of banning the app from national territory. In addition to fears of espionage, the application is also in the sights of elected officials across the Atlantic due to suggested problems with content moderation, misinformation and the processing of personal data.
Congress did not give the boss of TikTok a gift
Shou Zi Chew, the boss of TikTok, had experienced a trying hearing before the US Congress last March. The leader had notably been arrested on popular challenges with adolescents, which led to the death of several of them. “Your technology is literally causing deaths”, had launched Gus Bilirakis, elected Republican in the House of Representatives. His Democratic counterpart Doris Matsui summed up the general sentiment: “You know that TikTok might be designed to minimize the app’s harm to kids, but the bias has been to get kids hooked in the name of profits.”
TikTok seems more than ever weakened in the United States, a country where the application claims more than 150 million users. To save its skin, the ByteDance subsidiary is betting on the Texas project, which aims to reassure the authorities about possible data transfers to China. The idea would be to leave all operational execution of US activities to Oracle to show the Biden administration its credentials. But the latter could be even more demanding and order TikTok to separate from its parent company to continue its activities with Uncle Sam. This geopolitical and technological soap opera is still far from over.
