Organized Money Vikings at the Gate: The TikTok Sovereignty Fight
When Congress moved to force TikTok's sale from its Chinese parent company ByteDance, it sparked a complex battle over national security, free speech, and the future of tech regulation. Matt and David bring together unlikely allies Zephyr Teachout, a progressive law professor, and Joel Thayer, a conservative tech policy expert, who co-authored a Supreme Court brief supporting the law. They reveal how TikTok's case could reshape how we regulate Big Tech, exploring thorny questions about algorithmic control, foreign ownership of communications infrastructure, and whether Americans should trust Silicon Valley any more than Beijing.
The episode offers a surprisingly hopeful take on a watershed moment in the ongoing struggle to govern digital platforms, suggesting that meaningful tech regulation might finally be possible – if we're willing to try.