An Apple retail store in Shanghai, China.
Photo:
Cfoto/Zuma Press
One can doubt, as Milton and Rose Friedman did, whether free trade is even possible with China as long as the country suffers under the yoke of a communist dictatorship. One can even hold such doubt but still oppose U.S. government regulation of TikTok, the social media giant owned by Chinese company ByteDance, on the grounds that it will invite further Washington regulation of technology in general. But there’s an increasingly strong case for
and
-owned Google to decide on their own that, consistent with their stated values and long-term business objectives, TikTok should be suspended at least temporarily from their app stores.
Back in September the Journal’s Meghan Bobrowsky reported:
A top TikTok executive pushed back against senators grilling the company over its links to China, expressing confidence a deal with the U.S. government would safeguard American users’ data…
“We think that all data collected related to Americans and then accessed in China is a problem,” Sen. Rob Portman, a Republican from Ohio, said during the hearing. Sen.
Kyrsten Sinema,
a Democrat from Arizona, said, “There’s a real risk that TikTok could alter its algorithm to promote or censor content on Beijing’s behalf.”
TikTok Chief Operating Officer Vanessa Pappas said at the hearing that the company is committed to the security of its U.S. users and is working to reach an agreement with the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S., known as Cfius, a federal panel that oversees cross-border mergers and acquisitions, that has been looking into the company.
“Our final agreement with the U.S. government will satisfy all national security concerns,” she said. “As it relates to access and controls, we are going to go above and beyond.”
Now Emily Baker-White and Iain Martin report in Forbes:
TikTok accounts run by the propaganda arm of the Chinese…
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at RSSOpinion…