TikTok flip-flop: What’s the president’s power over foreign companies?

Sidebar

The Washington Post

News, True Crime, Politics

4.1 • 4.6K Ratings

🗓️ 6 August 2020

⏱️ 25 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

If you’d never heard of TikTok before the coronavirus pandemic sent us all into our homes for months, you’ve probably heard of it now. With little to do at home, millions of Americans turned to TikTok to create and watch short, fun videos of mostly teenagers mostly dancing, lip syncing or pranking their parents.

While this social video app may seem harmless when you’re somehow mindlessly scrolling through hours of 30-second antics, the Trump administration insists it might not be so harmless after all.

See, TikTok is owned by a Chinese company, ByteDance. For months, the Trump administration has worried that the Chinese government could gain access to to the user data of Americans who use the app. The United States has also raised concerns over the potential for Chinese censorship on TikTok.

Late last week, in response to all of this, President Trump said that he planned to ban TikTok altogether — that he would outright ban a very popular social media app used by 100 million Americans. So, naturally, many of our listeners asked,“Can he do that?”

It turns out, that answer might be moot. Because, in typical Trump fashion, pretty soon after he threatened the ban, the president changed his mind.

On Sunday, Trump backtracked and said he might not ban the app altogether. Instead, he might force ByteDance to sell its U.S. portion of TikTok. Microsoft confirmed that it is in talks with ByteDance to buy those U.S. assets, and the president says the two companies have 45 days to come to a deal.

So, how does the president have the power to force a foreign company to sell a portion of itself? And TikTok is a social media tool — a speech tool — used by individual Americans … how does that complicate the president’s power over it? Plus, and perhaps most critically, is TikTok a serious national security threat to the United States?

On this episode of the“Can He Do That?” podcast, technology reporter Rachel Lerman explains why the president wants to block TikTok and James Lewis, senior vice president at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, explains how he can take steps to change things for the Chinese-owned app.

Related episodes

Trump’s latest trade war escalation: Ordering businesses out of China. Can he do that?

Trump threatened to"take a look" at Google for"rigged" results. Can he do that?

Does Trump’s urging China to investigate the Bidens complicate the impeachment inquiry?

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Allison here, after we recorded this episode, late Thursday night, President Trump issued two
0:05.7	executive orders against TikTok and messaging app WeChat, citing national security concerns.
0:11.2	The orders could prevent TikTok and WeChat from doing most business in the United States,
0:15.9	so not exactly banning the apps, but making it very difficult for them to operate as we know them.
0:21.2	But the order doesn't take effect for 45 days, so it shouldn't affect a deal if
0:25.8	Microsoft or another US company manages to buy TikTok before the 45 days are up.
0:31.7	But how might that deal happen? And what might things look like if Trump's executive order does
0:36.3	take effect? We have all those details in this episode. Have a listen.
0:43.1	If you've never heard of TikTok before the coronavirus pandemic sent us all into our homes for months,
0:49.2	you've likely heard of it now. With little to do at home, millions of Americans turn to TikTok
0:54.7	to create and watch short fun videos of mostly teenagers, mostly dancing, lip syncing, or
1:00.8	prinking their parents. And while this social video app may seem harmless when you are somehow
1:05.9	mindlessly scrolling through hours of 30-second antics, the Trump administration insists it might
1:11.6	not be so harmless after all. See, TikTok is owned by a Chinese company, Bite Dance.
1:17.7	And for months, the Trump administration has worried that the Chinese government could gain access
1:22.7	to the user data of Americans who use the app. The US has also raised concerns over the potential
1:28.0	for Chinese censorship on TikTok. Late last week, in response to all of this, President Trump said
1:34.0	that he planned to ban TikTok altogether, that he would outright ban a very popular social media
1:40.1	app used by 100 million Americans. So naturally, many of our listeners asked, can he do that?
1:46.9	It turns out that answer, which we'll get to, might be mood, because in typical Trump fashion,
1:52.3	pretty soon after he threatened the ban, the president changed his mind. On Sunday, Trump
1:57.6	backtracked and said he might not ban the app altogether. Instead, he might force Bite Dance to
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from The Washington Post, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of The Washington Post and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.