Bytes and pieces: America’s Chinese-tech attack
Economist Podcasts
The Economist
4.3 • 5K Ratings
🗓️ 10 August 2020
⏱️ 21 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
First it was Bytedance’s app TikTok, now it’s Tencent’s WeChat: the Trump administration’s fervour to ban or dismantle wildly popular Chinese apps is increasing. In these straitened times, employees naturally worry that robots and software are coming for jobs—but the pandemic may actually slow that transition. And Britain’s government suggests slimming down even as it subsidises meals out.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello and welcome to the Intelligence on Economist Radio. I'm your host, Jason Palmer. |
| 0:10.0 | Every weekday, we provide a fresh perspective on the events shaping your world. |
| 0:18.0 | Employees everywhere are worried. There's a crippling recession, furloughs, and job cuts to come. |
| 0:24.7 | One thing not to worry too much about, though, is more automation, robots and software taking jobs. |
| 0:31.2 | Turns out the pandemic might actually slow that transition. |
| 0:35.5 | And since his time as a COVID-19 patient, Britain's Prime Minister has taken an unusual interest |
| 0:41.4 | in matters of obesity. It's a known risk factor. But at the same time, his government is |
| 0:46.7 | giving away cash for people to dine out. Guess we'll eat and run. |
| 1:03.2 | But first, as the heads of Amazon, alphabet, Facebook, and Apple were being berated in Congress last month. |
| 1:04.1 | How many competitors did Facebook end up copying? |
| 1:06.6 | We called it Amazon heroin. |
| 1:08.8 | Why does Google steal content from honest businesses? |
| 1:12.6 | TikTok, the goofy, funny video sharing app, was having an altogether better time of it. |
| 1:17.6 | Couples be box. |
| 1:19.6 | I'm not so much anymore. |
| 1:28.1 | We're looking at TikTok. |
| 1:29.4 | We may be banning TikTok. |
| 1:31.3 | On Thursday, the Trump administration issued a deadline of September 20th for ending |
| 1:35.6 | all American transactions with bite dance, TikTok's parent company, as well as with WeChat, |
| 1:41.2 | which is owned by China's second most valuable tech company, Tencent. |
| 1:45.1 | With parent companies based in China, apps like TikTok, WeChat, and others, |
| 1:49.2 | are significant threats to personal data of American citizens, |
... |
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