352 members from the US House of Representatives and 79 US Senators passed legislation essentially banning it without change of ownership, the President of the United States signed it and the Supreme Court upheld the law with 0 dissents. When has Washington ever had so much bipartisan agreement on any big issue?
We should not allow this kind of thing in our country from an adversary. It isn't like we are dealing with the government of Ireland or some ally or friendly nation. No, it's China and I believe everything Christopher Wray said on 60 minutes last week. We need to remove China from as many things as we can in this country.
Scott Pelley: What is the greatest threat facing the incoming Trump administration?
Christopher Wray: Well, the greatest long-term threat facing our country, in my view, is represented by the People's Republic of China, the Chinese government, which I consider to be the defining threat of our generation.
Scott Pelley: What has the FBI found about Chinese penetration of U.S. cyber and infrastructure?
Christopher Wray: China's cyber program is by far and away the world's largest-- bigger than that of every major nation combined and has stolen more of Americans' personal and corporate data than that of every nation, big or small, combined. But even beyond the cyber theft. There's another part of the Chinese cyber threat that I think has not gotten the attention publicly that it I think desperately deserves. And that is Chinese government's pre-positioning on American civilian critical infrastructure. To lie in wait on those networks to be in a position to wreak havoc and can inflict real-world harm at a time and place of their choosing.
Scott Pelley: The Chinese have already insinuated malware into critical American infrastructure?
Christopher Wray: That's correct.
Scott Pelley: Like what?
Christopher Wray: Things like water treatment plants. We're talking about transportation systems. We're talking about targeting of our energy sector, the electric grid, natural gas pipelines. And recently we've seen targeting of our telecommunications systems.
Telecommunications, including intercepts at high-levels.
Scott Pelley: They have been listening to the telephone calls of people in the United States government?Christopher Wray: Some people, we believe that they have collected their content, the actual communications of those people.
Wray wouldn't say it, but we have confirmed China gathered communications of U.S. national security officials, the Kamala Harris campaign and Donald Trump himself. It's part of a world of trouble, including the chaos in the Middle East—spawning new threats of terror.
But some of these people who voted for the legislation are getting cold feet because politicians have little to no spine to do anything that might be seen as unpopular. Put country first and do the right thing for national security! I'm sure there is way more troubling information about China's efforts to influence and undermine American society then they tell us.
Why worry about China spying when The People elected a Russian spy as President?
But really, the TikTok ban is probably a shot across the bow. I imagine China has more advanced ways of mining data than a video app for tweens.
But some of these people who voted for the legislation are getting cold feet because politicians have little to no spine to do anything that might be seen as unpopular. Put country first and do the right thing for national security!
What is really stupid about this is Trump issued the order to ban the app in 2020.
It's been upheld by every branch of government. Now Trump is the one talking about rolling that back, posting "SAVE TIKTOK".
So, buckle up for another 4 years of mind-numbing chaos.
Any way we can limit the influence of China is something worth doing in my opinion, and all these politicians and judges of different backgrounds seemed to agree this was something good to do back in spring of last year.
I think some people who use this app love it more than they love their country the way some of these people are reacting. And that is part of it right there; China is getting positive reinforcement, look how they can control some portion of us already. Acting like children who gets their toy taken away.
Now I understand that some people do have businesses, but also, how many of those users also have various social media accounts. Home Depot on TikTok and also on any number of other platforms. Not all the users are somebody doing business out of their house, how many corporations make up part of that 170 million number. People can conduct business on different apps, not saying it is easy to start over, but it's not the government priority or obligation to keep a social media app open so anyone can use it if there are reasons it should be shut down. One app goes away, more to choose from.
In my mind, good to not have this in our society from nations that have ill intent.
If "they" (as in anyone with the incoming administration) want to allow an extension to see if a buyer can step up I suppose that is ok since the Supreme Court ruling upholding was just this week, although I think Bytedance could've or should've been perusing buyers in the time before the court ruling, assuming they actually want to divest. Kind of think they don't want to.
Trump should not do anything more than granting a limited extension for that purpose. The bill has been passed and upheld as constitutional and the provisions of it should be followed.
But some of these people who voted for the legislation are getting cold feet because politicians have little to no spine to do anything that might be seen as unpopular. Put country first and do the right thing for national security!
What is really stupid about this is Trump issued the order to ban the app in 2020.
It's been upheld by every branch of government. Now Trump is the one talking about rolling that back, posting "SAVE TIKTOK".
So, buckle up for another 4 years of mind-numbing chaos.
Yes, it is really stupid.
He likes TikTok now because it helped him in the election, national security matters less to him because of that.
