They 100% have to shut down because the law is written to fine Google and Apple $5000 per TikTok user if they carried the app. Saying you aren’t going to enforce the law for 2 days doesn’t make the fines go away. Google and Apple told TikTok they would comply with the law and not risk a $850B fine
legally they would risk enormous fines if they did not, but practically it is extremely unlikely those would be enforced by Biden in his last day as President. but it does make sense from their perspective to be safe, and the fault is def on the dems for forcing this outcome
the white house signaled that they weren’t gonna attempt to do any actual enforcement on the 19th so it’s tactical. i don’t think a deal has been struck yet; this is a carrot for trump so he can win praise for doing a big beautiful deal
Both performative olive branch to incoming admin but also very simple tactical dodge of liability. Every law I written for broad prosecutorial discretion. Shutting down for a couple days is really simple way to avoid any legal liability
It appears to be one part sleight of hand to make Tiktokkers *extra* grateful and the rest of it moving the data on the American Tiktok servers to somewhere else, *possibly Meta*
Exactly right. The only way to make it happen was to have TikTok die a slow to death (failed to allow the app to be updated, etc.) but TikTok pulled their own plug. Absolutely have a deal in place.
Based on the responses so far: it appears everything is dumb and nothing makes sense and maybe laws are real and maybe not and maybe this is to avoid being forced to sell but also maybe not and cats are marrying dogs and
I guess my take on this would be that Trump is obviously going to take advantage of a big stupid problem he’s largely responsible for starting and Democrats should probably not have a bunch of 90 year olds making decisions about anything anymore
Donald Trump asked for Tik Tok to be banned. PS SCOTUS is a Trump majority court. Now Trump wants to have Musk buy it so the enemy within can track you further. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Dwk7troPpQs
@brianstelter.bsky.social got a TikTik scoop earlier today - however it would appear that Biden saying he wouldn’t enforce the ban wasn’t enough of an assurance for things to stay operational 🤷
It’s clearer to think about “maybe laws are real and maybe they’re not” if you frame it as “the law is what’s enforced,” and figure out who makes decisions around what gets enforced and when.
The potential liability of violating the law is $5000 per user and they have 170M. From a business standpoint they have to shut down because they can't risk that kind of fine. Oracle, Google, and Apple are all potentially liable too.
My assumption is that they're going dark to make American users angry and make sure that American politicians see the anger of what happens when you take away their toys.
They're using it to put pressure on Trump to undo the ban if he wants to look good.
Biden said that he would not enforce the ban and let the next admin deal with it. So yes they could have stayed online. TikTok brass are playing it like Trump is to be their savior.
The fines could be in the billions. That's why they asked for something concrete to stay running. Biden said, naw. Oracle owns the servers in Texas, they wouldn't risk those fines without any guarantees.
They're doing this because the legality of Biden's "won't enforce fines" is INCREDIBLY dubious and they are not in the situation to want to fuck around and find out. On top of that, they're already at the whim of ISPs to carry their data, so it makes more sense to just pause for a day or so.
It’s my read that they’re doing it because they want the user base angry enough to demand trump not enforce the law, or demand their politicians repeal the law. It’s always felt like an attempt at manipulation to me rather than a deal they struck with trump.
Ukraine is essential. I know that’s become unpopular. Taiwan also. We should no longer be supplying Israel, though a carve out for their iron dome missile defense system makes sense and does represent a huge portion of our aid.
Friendly reminder that Trump got butt hurt from K-pop fans who organized and hurt his little ego so HE initiated a TikTok ban; now he teamed up with the CEO of TikTok and created a dear leader type of message to everyone, so he can “save it”. Fuck,fascists, and fuck, oligarchs; delete all Meta apps.
No — even if TikTok wanted to rely on some representation, their data providers (eg, Oracle) would still be exposed to liability. And there are reports that data providers were not willing to accept that risk.
I don't even know what the penalty is for violation. Surely a fine for each instance (with an instance being, probably, every piece of data illegally served?)
It’s a whole fucking pile of contrived bullshit. The “deal maker” has positioned himself to be the Gen Alpha SAVIOR. He envisions them lifting him over their shoulders, a la Rudy, carrying him down Pennsylvania Avenue in a sea of red hats and $500 gold sneakers.
So, to be clear, it punishes the "distribution, maintenance, or updating" of "foreign adversary controlled application(s)." In theory, TikTok just continuing to exist does not violate the act. Small distinction, but there you go.
My memory is that it also prohibits "enabling" the distribution/maintenance/updating. In other words, if Apple has it in the app store, and TikTok pushes an update, then Apple is liable. (There are probably a million other things that constitute "enabling")
Yup. That's it exactly: it doesn't actually say TikTok can't operate, rather it targets the distribution channels (basically apple and google). In theory, so far as I can tell, it could still be available on the web without causing any issue.
Biden said no but his Justice Dept released a statement saying yes today. They would be stupid to stay open when the Justice Departments says they would be breaking the law. People want to blame Trump but this is all on Joe Biden.
Biden said he wouldn't enforce the ban.
They did it to be performative.
There's also a TON of low follower/following, low or no post, no background pic accounts bemoaning how terrible our government is for doing this to Americans like them.
Comments
We’re about to be by far the biggest crime syndicate in history! Don’t fight it — work it, baby!!!
Congress made a law & the SC upheld it.
Just move on over to Rednote & let their plan backfire.
$5k, per user, per day
Just too much of a risk, even with Biden's statements that they would not enforce the ban
They're using it to put pressure on Trump to undo the ban if he wants to look good.
Masterful gambit, Biden.
Yes.
Biden said he wouldn't enforce the ban.
They did it to be performative.
There's also a TON of low follower/following, low or no post, no background pic accounts bemoaning how terrible our government is for doing this to Americans like them.
Troll farms. They're here.