TikTok is preparing to shut down on Sunday, and the Supreme Court has yet to issue a ruling on whether or not they can continue to operate in the United States. What will this mean for the millions of users who rely on TikTok?
00:01:54.380And the question is, how did this happen?
00:01:57.540Why now is Donald Trump saying, actually, hold on, let's keep TikTok around?
00:02:02.840We're going to deep dive into this issue.
00:02:04.140I'm going to break down the whole story for you, why TikTok is being banned, why Trump says don't do it, and why some Democrats are saying let's hold off as well.
00:02:12.540How did the narrative flip so quickly?
00:02:14.380And how are we barreling towards the permanent ban of a massive social media platform?
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00:03:10.280The first story that we have, breaking down where we're at.
00:03:13.460TikTok prepares for U.S. shutdown from Sunday, sources say.
00:03:18.820Reuters reports, TikTok plans to shut its app for U.S. users from Sunday when a federal ban on the social media app could come into effect unless the Supreme Court moves to block it, people familiar with the matter said.
00:03:31.600The outcome of the shutdown would be different from that mandated by the law.
00:03:35.560The law would mandate a ban only on new TikTok downloads on Apple or Google app stores, while existing users could continue to use it for some time.
00:03:45.540Under TikTok's plan, people attempting to open the app will see a pop-up message directing them to a website with information about the ban that people said, requesting anonymity as the matter is not public.
00:03:56.540The company also plans to give users an option to download all their data so they can take a record of their personal information.
00:04:04.040Shutting down such a service does not require longer planning, one of the sources said, noting that most operations have been continuing as usual as of this week.
00:04:12.760If the ban gets reversed later, TikTok would be able to restore service for U.S. users in a relatively short time, the source said.
00:04:19.100So, why shut down if they can keep operating?
00:04:23.780Well, according to the rumor, TikTok wants to shock you.
00:04:29.460They know that if they say, we're going to pull from the app store and still allow those with the app to keep using it, well, most people are just going to keep on keeping on.
00:04:39.460There's not a ruffling of feathers, as it were.
00:04:41.820But if they take away the platform from you, sort of in protest, they force many prominent, influential young people to speak up in outrage and go after members of Congress, lead protests and demand the restoration of their platform.
00:05:25.080So, I can give you the gist of what this law says and talk about how it came to be and why we are even discussing banning TikTok in the first place.
00:05:36.420Senate passes bill forcing TikTok's parent company to sell or face ban and sends the bill to Biden for signature.
00:05:44.040Shortly after, President Biden signed the new law to ban TikTok nationwide unless it is sold.
00:05:50.000On April 24th of last year, NPR reported President Biden on Wednesday signed a law that would ban Chinese owned TikTok unless it is sold within a year.
00:05:59.980It is the most serious threat yet to the video streaming app's future in the U.S., intensifying America's tech war with China.
00:06:06.420Still, the law is not expected to cause any immediate disruption to TikTok as a forthcoming legal challenge and various hurdles to selling the app will most likely cause months of delay.
00:06:14.580The issue at play is that TikTok, according to Wikipedia and, well, the news, is...
00:07:51.700But if China is going to have access to manipulating an algorithm by which young people get their news and collect and store private data of Americans, that is a threat to our national security.
00:08:05.680And thus, many people on both sides said, yeah, actually, this makes a lot of sense.
00:08:11.140Here we have the bill, H.R. 7521 in the Senate of the United States, an act to protect the national security of the United States from the threat posed by foreign adversary controlled applications, such as TikTok and any successor application or service and any other application or service developed or provided by ByteDance LTD or an entity under the control of ByteDance LTD.
00:08:33.140It reads, in general, prohibition of foreign adversary controlled applications.
00:08:39.800It shall be unlawful for an entity to distribute, maintain or update or enable the distribution, maintenance or updating of a foreign adversary controlled application by carrying out within the land or maritime borders of the United States.
00:08:53.020It's any of the following a providing services to distribute, maintain or update such foreign adversary controlled application through which users within the land or maritime borders, blah, blah.
00:09:03.540I'm not going to read all the intense legalese.
00:09:05.360The point is, if a foreign adversary is operating a platform in such a way, they must divest or be removed from U.S. servers.
00:09:14.160In the definition sections, it says controlled by a foreign adversary means with respect to a covered company or other entity that such company or other entity is a foreign person that is domiciled in, headquartered in, has its principal place of business in or is organized under the laws of a foreign adversary country, an entity with respect to which a foreign person or combination of foreign persons described in subparagraph A directly or indirectly own at least 20% stake.
00:09:42.240Or a person subject to the direction or control of a foreign person or entity described in subparagraph A or B.
00:09:50.540Now they go on to define foreign adversary controlled application specifically as any of ByteDance, TikTok, their subsidiaries or successors, entities controlled by them or a covered company that is controlled by a foreign adversary and that is determined by the president to present a significant threat to national security of the U.S. following the issuance of.
00:10:11.140And then they go on to add a public notice, a public report, there is an opportunity to challenge this that is in this, and they say foreign adversary country means a country specified in section 4872D2 of Title 10 U.S. Code.
00:10:26.500This law is about acquisition of materials from non-allied foreign nations, and in this they say covered nation means the Democratic People's Republic of North Korea, the People's Republic of China, the Russian Federation, and the Islamic Republic of Iran.
00:10:42.900So basically, if there's any app that has ownership or funding or is connected in some way to one of those four countries, the president could issue a report saying our national security is threatened, deliver the report to Congress, and then there would be a judicial review period.
00:10:58.780The bill states, in the case of a challenge, it can happen not later than 165 days after the date of the enactment of this act.
00:11:08.380And in the case of a challenge to any action or determination, not later than 90 days.
00:11:13.500So that means for TikTok and ByteDance, they had 165 days to challenge this bill specifically, and if Trump or whoever tries to go after any other company, they'll have only 90 days to file a challenge.
00:11:25.680Now, of course, TikTok said they won't shut down if the Supreme Court intervenes.
00:11:31.380Well, obviously, if the Supreme Court cuts them some slack, they won't need to.
00:11:34.840And it's looking like the Supreme Court may be skeptical, but we will see.
00:11:39.340As of today, the Supreme Court has not issued a decision, and today's supposed to be a decision day.
00:11:45.940They may still issue an injunction, but it's not looking good for TikTok in the short term or its users.
00:11:54.180Supreme Court skeptical of ban on TikTok.
00:11:58.200The Supreme Court on Friday was divided over the constitutionality of a federal law that would require social media giant TikTok to shut down in the U.S.
00:12:05.120unless its Chinese parent company can sell it by January 19th.
00:12:08.520During two hours of oral arguments, the justices raised questions about whether the law at the center of the case actually restricts TikTok's freedom of speech,
00:12:16.440as well as about what will happen if there is no sale by the deadline.
00:12:50.000The Supreme Court emphasized that the restrictions on TikTok could be lifted as soon as ByteDance sells it,
00:12:54.760which might be just the jolt that ByteDance needs to move forward.
00:12:59.300TikTok and ByteDance have been unnoticed since 2020.
00:13:02.700The parent company might need to sell TikTok, she stressed.
00:13:05.360ByteDance added that there was no basis for the Supreme Court to enter a preliminary injunction blocking the law unless it believes TikTok is ultimately likely to succeed on the merits of its challenge to the law.
00:13:15.800And today, SCOTUS blog reported there is no decision on TikTok, which means injunction or nothing.
00:13:24.720So, my friends, it looks like TikTok will be shut down.
00:13:29.160But I got to tell you my thoughts right now.
00:13:32.200I mean, I want to deep dive more into where this ban comes from because it goes left and right, up and down.
00:13:38.020But let me just say, China doesn't get free speech in the United States.
00:13:42.540Imagine going to the Founding Fathers with an originalist view of the Constitution, right, in mind.