Say What Now with the Tik Tok?

We haven’t had much discussion here about the Tik Tok ban, probably because none of the front pagers seem to be heavy Tik Tok users. I’d say that this is mostly reflective of the demographics of this blog, although I have good friends who are also committed Tik Tok users, so who really is to judge? Anyway, the ban smells unconstitutional AND dumb to me, but it seems that either Paul or Scott are better situated to judge the legalities of the situation. Anyway, the US would not be the first country to ban Tik Tok:

In June 2020, TikTok users in India bid goodbye to the app, which is operated by Chinese internet firm ByteDance. New Delhi suddenly banned the popular app, alongside dozens other Chinese apps, following a military clash along the China-Indian border. Twenty Indian and four Chinese soldiers were killed, and ties between the two Asian giants plunged to a new low. The government cited privacy concerns and said that Chinese apps pose a threat to India’s sovereignty and security. The move mostly drew widespread support in India, where protesters had been calling for a boycott of Chinese goods since the deadly confrontation in the remote Karakoram mountain border region…

At the time, India had about 200 million TikTok users, the most outside of China. And the company also employed thousands of Indians. TikTok users and content creators, however, needed a place to go – and the ban provided a multi-billion dollar opportunity to snatch up a big market. Within months, Google rolled out YouTube Shorts and Instagram pushed out its Reels feature. Both mimicked the short-form video creation that TikTok had excelled at.

This seems like the best case scenario, the most likely scenario, and probably the strongest practical defense of the ban; the good that Tik Tok provides is easily and immediately replaced by a wide variety of alternative platforms, none of which have the same degree of vulnerability to the government of the People’s Republic of China.