This week on the podcast we analyse a US plan to force TikTok owner ByteDance to divest or sell the platform, or be banned from US platforms.

The move - strongly supported by the US House of Representatives - follows years of proposed plans and attempts to ban TikTok in various ways.

We unpack the concerns about the wildly popular social media platform, and explore criticisms of the ban ranging from its likely ineffectiveness in preventing Chinese data collection to the claims of hypocrisy.

Links:

Article about US Congress bill to force divesture of TikTok (Guardian) https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2024/mar/13/house-passes-tiktok-bill-ban#:~:text=The%20House%20of%20Representatives%20passed,favor%20and%20only%2065%20against.

Article about analysts describing China's proposed intent to reshape global public opinion (AFR) https://www.afr.com/world/asia/tiktok-can-radically-reshape-global-opinion-security-adviser-warns-20231205-p5ep6l

Article about data brokers bill (Politico) https://www.politico.com/news/2024/03/26/biden-administration-tiktok-data-practices-00149139?mkt_tok=MTM4LUVaTS0wNDIAAAGSH9l90fDDEaaVJnu43JPpYnTR2PTq3r16bfNsLEfeJITr9Y4MMkdVK2rkw39S1p4RdnPoj7bTixTwQnshW3r5rIHnKurST3jfuv-_ovReTx94

Article sceptical of impact of TikTok ban (Scientific American) https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/tiktok-ban-data-privacy-security/
Samantha Floreani oped on TikTok ban (Guardian) https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/mar/20/the-tiktok-ban-moral-panic-usa-senate-protect-us-tech-hegemony-china

The German tongue twister song that's been all over Jordan's TikTok https://www.tiktok.com/@colortalkcreations/video/7339989417165163809

Credits: Editing and post-production by Martin Franklin (East Coast Studio) eastcoaststudio.com.au Music by Bensound.com

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