By American Civil Liberties Union WASHINGTON — The House Energy and Commerce Committee announced it would be voting on a bill this Thursday that would effectively ban TikTok in the United States. T…
Actually that’s not correct. Media isn’t like other products, it’s protected speech. This is why even though we’ve sanctioned Russia, you can still go and read Russian Times. Even foreign media, which Tik Tok is, would be protected under our free speech laws.
This is why this “ban” isn’t a ban, which the senators keep repeating. It doesn’t block Tik Tok or it’s website from being used by Americans. All it does is block Tik Tok from being distributed by American app stores. So if they don’t divest, you could still go to their website and download their app. With the new EU ruling, Apple is going to have to allow third party installation anyway, so you’ll still be able to use Tik Tok as if nothing happened.
So what’s all this really about? Propaganda and showmanship. They’re just pushing a China bad narrative as realistically our 1A laws prevent them from doing anything actually effective here.
Actually that’s not correct. Media isn’t like other products, it’s protected speech. This is why even though we’ve sanctioned Russia, you can still go and read Russian Times. Even foreign media, which Tik Tok is, would be protected under our free speech laws.
Yes, while speech is protected, but the platform’s operations, websites, and apps are not. No foreign entity has a legal right to operate commercially in the United States. We’ve had sanctions and tariffs for years. 1A applies to free speech of Americans.
This is why this “ban” isn’t a ban, which the senators keep repeating. It doesn’t block Tik Tok or it’s website from being used by Americans. All it does is block Tik Tok from being distributed by American app stores.
With the new EU ruling, Apple is going to have to allow third party installation anyway, so you’ll still be able to use Tik Tok as if nothing happened.
Not relevant to USA because Apple could allow this only in the EU. And not applicable because websites are covered by the bill.
Yes, they can’t operate the website in USA so they’ll operate it in Canada and Mexico. And yes, that’s why they’re targeting the stores and not the site, because the only thing they can do is prevent operations inside the country but they cannot block access to it.
Finally, of course technically Apple could only allow EU to do this, but much like their transition to USB-C it would be weird if they did that. ESPECIALLY since having Tik Tok on their phones would be a benefit to them, not a negative.
*Edit: Also I was defining free speech in my initial post, which you seem to agree with. I was not trying to define this abhorrent loophole of a bill that bans but doesn’t ban because of 1A Tik Tok. And if you don’t understand why the government trying to loophole out of the constitution is bad, well I have no words.
Actually that’s not correct. Media isn’t like other products, it’s protected speech. This is why even though we’ve sanctioned Russia, you can still go and read Russian Times. Even foreign media, which Tik Tok is, would be protected under our free speech laws.
This is why this “ban” isn’t a ban, which the senators keep repeating. It doesn’t block Tik Tok or it’s website from being used by Americans. All it does is block Tik Tok from being distributed by American app stores. So if they don’t divest, you could still go to their website and download their app. With the new EU ruling, Apple is going to have to allow third party installation anyway, so you’ll still be able to use Tik Tok as if nothing happened.
So what’s all this really about? Propaganda and showmanship. They’re just pushing a China bad narrative as realistically our 1A laws prevent them from doing anything actually effective here.
Yes, while speech is protected, but the platform’s operations, websites, and apps are not. No foreign entity has a legal right to operate commercially in the United States. We’ve had sanctions and tariffs for years. 1A applies to free speech of Americans.
Not true. Read the bill. Websites are addressed.
Not relevant to USA because Apple could allow this only in the EU. And not applicable because websites are covered by the bill.
Yes, they can’t operate the website in USA so they’ll operate it in Canada and Mexico. And yes, that’s why they’re targeting the stores and not the site, because the only thing they can do is prevent operations inside the country but they cannot block access to it.
Finally, of course technically Apple could only allow EU to do this, but much like their transition to USB-C it would be weird if they did that. ESPECIALLY since having Tik Tok on their phones would be a benefit to them, not a negative.
*Edit: Also I was defining free speech in my initial post, which you seem to agree with. I was not trying to define this abhorrent loophole of a bill that bans but doesn’t ban because of 1A Tik Tok. And if you don’t understand why the government trying to loophole out of the constitution is bad, well I have no words.