Was the whole TikTok drama a bait-and-switch to make Trump look good?
Skeptics have highlighted how Trump was the one who initially called for the Chinese-owned social media app to be banned in 2020
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I don't think there was any grand Machiavellian scheme. Trump just capitalized on historic democrat incompetence to make himself look good.
Which part of Trump proposing, implementing and then yesterday delaying the ban was down to Democrat incompetence?
Please explain how Trump managed to implement this ban with a democrat controlled senate and Joe Biden as president.
Thanks, I'll field this extremely easy question - By executive order before it was a bipartisan bill supported by every level of government:
To me, making sure that everyone agrees with a new policy before it becomes law, and sending it through the proper channels to be debated and then enacted, doesn't really seem like a dumb thing.
The dumb thing would be to propose a new law, enact it unilaterally, have it revoked because it was enacted unilaterally, then have everyone agree on it anyway when you pass it through the proper channels, then toss it in the trash yourself at literally the first opportunity.
So why did Democrats fall for it?
To try to make him look bad, is my theory.
So they're fucking stupid?
The law stipulates that the POTUS is the person who determines that a platform or app is in violation. Once that happens, an investigation is launched through the AG's office and applicable agencies. After that the AG's office makes a determination about whether or not the app/platform is in violation of the law. Once that happens, the platform or app can appeal. But if they lose that appeal then they have a limited time to divest to another entity before their platform is banned and the POTUS can pause not revoke this process for a period of time (to give the app time to divest as is required). So basically Trump now has given Tik Tok a stay of execution so to speak but that doesn't mean they won't be forced to shut down or divest.
This was a direct politically planned and intended effect of this push so close to the inauguration, so far as I can tell. It's politicians doing political stuff.
Right now he looks like the savior (and that's intentional, both Tik Tok and Trump get something out of that). But in the long term I don't know that most Tik Tok users are going to remember that Trump bought the app back and to actually remove the law requires an act of Congress. That will take more time than the limited amount that Trump can essentially delay the removal of the app from app stores and American servers.
I honestly think this was a fuck you to Trump from Biden because essentially Biden's political career is over. Trump is going to do a lot of damage over the next 4 years and do as much as he can to undo any of the progress that has been made. It's kind of a petty move on Biden's part, but Trump started this colossal movement against Tik Tok in the first place.
Long term Trump probably won't benefit from this, but it does give him a strong boost right at the start of his term while he's also passing a bunch of controversial executive orders.
@queermunist @atrielienz there is also a contingent calling it all out and either leaving or moving to a non-US account if they can. The problem is the algorithm/platform is a pretty strong siloing mechanism. https://www.tiktok.com/@oliviacarneyx/video/7461706669509201198
I think both of you are right: The idea of banning TikTok came during his presidency and he campaigned for it.
However it was a policy supported by Biden and with bipartisan vote, which means Dems were playing at home, so it was on them to not look stupid.
It is mentioned in some news that the Facebook people pushed a lot for TikTok's ban so they could capitalize on a user exodus, though that TikTok feasts on user data and shares it back in China is also true. However you don't solve that with a ban, you solve that with a proper privacy policy. But no US company wants that, no sir. So the Dems were played like the devil went down to Georgia and they were the proverbial fiddle.
But.. I guess saying this is preaching to the choir as most people in here are dutifully aware of privacy. ¯(ツ)/¯