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The Lawfare Podcast

A TikTok Tick Tock

The Lawfare Podcast

The Lawfare Institute

History, News, National Security, Law, Terrorism, Current Events, Military, International Law, Foreign Policy, Intelligence, International Relations, Politics, Diplomacy, Rule Of Law, Government, Constitutional Law

4.7 • 6.4K Ratings

🗓️ 17 June 2021

⏱️ 59 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

TikTok has rapidly become one of the most popular apps for teenagers across the world for dancing, lip-syncing and sharing details about their lives. But if you cast your mind back to last year—specifically, August 2020—you may recall that the app’s future in the United States suddenly fell into doubt. The Trump administration began arguing that the app’s ownership by the Chinese company ByteDance raised problems of national security for the United States. ByteDance was ordered to divest from TikTok, and the app, along with the popular China-based chat app WeChat, faced U.S. sanctions.

But you might have noticed that your teenager is still making TikTok videos. And President Biden issued his own executive order last week revoking Trump’s sanctions. So, what on earth is happening?

On this week’s episode of our Arbiters of Truth series on our online information ecosystem, Evelyn Douek and Quinta Jurecic spoke to Bobby Chesney, Lawfare co-founder and Charles I. Francis Professor in Law at the University of Texas School of Law, about what’s happened to TikTok over the past year. Bobby brought us up to speed with the Trump administration’s offensive on TikTok, why the app has survived so far and why TikTok shouldn’t breathe easy just yet about Biden’s executive order.

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Transcript

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0:00.0

The following podcast contains advertising.

0:04.0

To access an ad-free version of the LawFair podcast,

0:08.0

become a material supporter of LawFair at patreon.com slash law fair.

0:14.0

That's patreon.com slash law fair.

0:18.0

Also, check out LawFair's other podcast offerings,

0:22.0

rational security, chatter, law fair no bull, and the aftermath.

0:29.0

But notice that nothing's really pulled back here,

0:37.0

except that you don't see reference to content moderation as a vector for national security risk.

0:43.0

They're not saying it's not, but it's just not being highlighted the way that data collection is clearly being highlighted.

0:51.0

I'm Quinted Jurassic, and this is the LawFair podcast, June 17, 2021.

0:58.0

TikTok has rapidly become one of the most popular apps for teenagers across the world to dance, lip sync, and share details about their lives.

1:08.0

But if you cast your mind back to last year, specifically, August 2020,

1:14.0

you may recall that the apps future in the United States suddenly fell into doubt.

1:19.0

The Trump administration began arguing that the apps ownership by the Chinese company Bike Dance raised problems of national security for the United States.

1:27.0

Bike Dance was ordered to divest from TikTok, and the app, along with the popular China-based chat app, WeChat, faced U.S. sanctions.

1:37.0

But you might have noticed that your teenager is still making TikTok videos.

1:42.0

And President Biden issued his own executive order last week revoking Trump's sanctions.

1:48.0

So what on earth is happening?

1:51.0

On this week's episode of our Arbiter's of Truth series on our online information ecosystem, Evelyn Duwick and I spoke to Bobby Chesney,

1:59.0

LawFair co-founder and Charles-I-Francis professor-in-law at the University of Texas School of Law, about what's happened to TikTok over the past year.

2:09.0

Bobby brought us up to speed with the Trump administration's offensive on TikTok, why the app has survived so far, and why TikTok shouldn't breathe easy just yet,

2:19.0

about Biden's executive order.

...

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