ONu Montana, the sky is vast, bounded only on the west by the Rocky Mountains. But, one thing is clear, the horizon of “Big Sky Country”, as it is nicknamed, stops at the border of China. Lest Beijing indulge in heated discussions among teenagers in Billings, its largest city, Montana has become the first US state to ban TikTok.
Favorite apps of those under 25 (60% of their audience) will be banned from downloading in all their regions from 1uh January 2024. In retaliation, the Chinese company officially filed a complaint on Monday, May 22. According to the group, this decision violates America’s First Amendment on free speech.
Like Captain Haddock’s band-aid, the TikTok affair clings to American politicians’ fingers without them knowing how to get out of it. Donald Trump first tried to ban the app, back in August 2020, then bought it by an American company. The US Congress took up the case, listening to the app’s CEO, Shou Zi Chew, at length.
Addictive character
With two major complaints. On the one hand, the data collected by its 150 million users in the United States is transmitted to China. On the other hand, its content and addictive nature tend to mislead America’s youth.
In fact, the app has, over the course of more than two years, literally dethroned Facebook, and even Instagram, in the hearts of American teens and around the world. If the content is not fundamentally different, then it is the nationality of the company that causes this fever. Hatred of China is the only cross-partisan issue in the United States today. This accusation was baseless like his boss’ claims.
In a very detailed article, Cristina Criddle, journalist at Financial timing, told how he was spied on via his TikTok account, by tracking his movements and communications in an effort to identify internal sources who provided him with details about the company’s managerial practices. And also on data exchange with Beijing.
However, after more than two years of swearing and lawsuits, nothing has happened in Washington. India was the first state to ban the app, in 2020, and several Western countries have banned it from civil servants’ phones. But touching a teenager’s smartphone is another matter. It seems that this soft de-globalization, affecting the culture of an entire generation, is even more difficult to achieve than with electronic chips.
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