China wars.
Trump tried to do this in 2020 but the bid faltered when he lost the election, and the Biden hawks were more interested in baiting Russia.
There was no evidence in 2020 that the Chinese government was using TikTok to snoop on the US population, and there still is none to be seen - according to Chris Stokel-Walker, author of TikTok Boom - The Inside Story of the World’s Favourite App (a good read I can report, if the setting doesn’t turn you off).
The SC said they have seen enough evidence, but can’t publish it because of…you guessed, national security. Stokel-Walker doesn’t buy this, not surprisingly.
There have been bans by US allies on TikTok use by government employees, but not by the population. Some authoritarian countries have banned it; Afghanistan, Somalia, Iran according to this tech outlet:
This was the S/C upholding of a ban passed in 2023, seems it’s not clear what the Trumpers attitude is. From the Context article.
“We will put measures in place to keep TikTok from going dark,” Trump’s incoming national security adviser**,** U.S. Representative Mike Waltz, told Fox News.
Though the ban takes effect on Jan 19, they are talking about giving the company more time to get a US buyer for its US arm.
Though I’ve no inkling to watch people dancing for 10 seconds ata time, this seems like bad news. Another place where non-government views are shared, likely to bite the dust, and if politically motivated as it appears, could be part of a spreading pattern.
Protecting the population seems a dubious pretext, given they will still have no protection from Google, Facebook or Twitter who willingly oppressed them during covid on behalf of the USG…