The impending TikTok ban represents a War of Rules

It will behoove the US Congress' efforts to contemplate a more relatable method to socialize national security issues to Americans.

Executive Summary: The impending TikTok ban represents a War of Rules. It will behoove the US Congress' efforts to contemplate a more relatable method to socialize national security issues to Americans. The USG nixing TikTok is not a question of China equals bad while America equals good. It is a confrontation between our governance systems which are not playing by the same rules in the game of capitalism. The looming TikTok ban is suggestive of a wider battle to protect citizens and industries that fall under U.S. and European governmental systems.

The implications of foreign owned social media on US national security

The U.S. Congress targets TikTok, more importantly its parent company ByteDance, not simply for its high performing algorithm. It is a matter of means and methods employed the PRC, facilitated by Chinese companies, to achieve global power from competitive edge. The PRC and the USG have different standards when it comes to data regulation and privacy. The PRC's modus operandi has broader implications across industry, posing concerns for U.S. national and international security.

The US House of Representatives passed the bill to remove TikTok from the App store in 6 months. The time frame allows a proposed alternative for US TikTok to remain operational. ByteDance must sell its stateside subsidiary to a U.S. held company. Analysts forecast the Senate will likely pass the bill; however, if time changes the winds of perception, the bill may fail.

TikTok CEO Shou Chew, a Singaporean native, is urging customers to make 'constitutional rights' testimonies to friends and Senators. A grassroots movement utilizing a social media campaign on an advanced platform can generate momentum quickly.  The straightforward message "to protect Americans” may not be clever enough. The Cambridge Analytics-Facebook and Twitter files scandals left Americans feeling burned, a remerging reactive sentiment to the TikTok ban.

The Chinese Foreign Affairs Ministry He Yadong summed the "bill to ban" as contradictory to the principles of market economy, “bullying", and flatly "unfair".  The clips showing Senator Cotton's questioning of Mr. Chew on social media gives an anti-China impression. For some, the narrative of Mr. Chew's nationality seems racist. The questioning comes across with unbalanced prejudice without socializing the context.

Evidently, the PRC appreciates the USG's concerns. The Chinese App Store banned Didi Global in 2021 over fears its American board would divulge personal data of Chinese nationals. Government collection on citizens, data security, economic policies and industry regulation are intertwined in China's communist system. In a sense, the Church (CCP) and State (PRC) are married. There are no practical means for the USG to regulate how the PRC may use your data.

Content suppression critical of the PRC or unaligned with CCP values is muted in and outside of China. The #metoo was banned algorithmically so Chinese women ingeniously outthought censorship by using phonetics and irreplaceable words. Using Mandarin for Rice 米 (mi) and Bunny 兔 (tu) while combining emojis and cartoons gave two options for #mitu and memes. Necessity is the mother of all invention.

There is an analytical reason for China's advancement in the use of AI for automation, robotics, and other technologies to include defense. Setting aside industry advantage from IP theft and espionage, Chinese companies benefit from enormous data training sets. The PRC permits and requires these companies to surveil and collect. The US has specific laws forbidding and regulating data collection and state surveillance. In terms of data, Western companies like Meta cannot compete with TikTok.

The PRC and CCPs doctrines, plans, initiatives, data policies, security rules, and regulations are hefty, dense documents. Anticipating Americans, with neither the time nor the background, to decipher the criticality is akin to a layperson comparing TikTok's algorithm to that of Meta's.

The collective prosperity of the Chinese nation shapes the mentality of the PRC and CCP. Policies, laws, and regulations are not for today, rather to move forward an entire population for better global positioning. The PRC thinks in terms of 5, 20-, 30-, 40- and 50-year increments. This makes the 1-child only policy, which targeted females, an immeasurable gaff.

However, the Chinese communist mentality begets control and eliminates individual rights. Diametrically, the American system prioritizes the rights of the individual with the collective. Arguably, for Americans the individual is more important than the collective. The now is imperative. The future is ambiguous.

NYC-based comedian Ronny Chieng of the Daily Show performs a bit on the TikTok ban. Paraphrasing a little, "The American government is just angry. Because China did capitalism better than America!" It is funny because it is true. All things being equal, China is beating the U.S. in pure capitalism.

There is a theory circulating that the US Congress is conspiring to drive competition back to Meta. If the TikTok ban were an isolated case of nepotism it may merit more consideration. Meta could not compete with TikTok's parent company ByteDance even if it tried. U.S., European, Australian, and Japanese businesses are consistently out-priced, out-gunned in the global capitalist market by China-based businesses.

America understands how to do capitalism. We created Monopoly, a game praising capitalism derived from Elizabeth J Magie's The Landlord's Game in 1904. Capitalism forges America's GDP. A key component to our global power.

It took American capitalism less than 100 years for the U.S. to go from zero to hero. Subsequently, the great strides of infrastructure and abundance in the 1800s contrasted sharply with 3rd world realities. Today, industrial museums dedicate space to children, mostly orphans, employed to work inside coal mines. The Tenement Museum on Mulberry Street preserves the memory of NYC’s absolute slum squalor. Famines swept the nation between the cataclysmic Dust Bowl and Great Depression during the 1920s and 1930s.

If the U.S. Constitution is America's moral compass, then the American government found a social compass in the 21st century. Franklin D. Roosevelt helped desperate citizens with a temporary measure in the New Deal. Over time, U.S. companies were obligated to follow an array of rules, laws, and regulations to protect environments, consumers, and employees. Consequently, production costs rose to the occasion.

During COVID, we experienced a chip crisis. Today, many electronics malfunction. Crummy chips. The refining process of rare earth minerals and elements creates significant pollution at levels intolerable for US or European standards. The cost for high grade refinement prices Western and Asian businesses out of the competition. In 2022, the Biden Administration awarded MP Materials $35 million for eco-friendly refinement of earth minerals in Mountain Pass, CA. Hopefully, MP Materials solves this Rubik's Cube or China will continue to dominate in critical manufacturing.

If the Senate passes the TikTok ban, the San Diego Zoo may as well give up on China sending those pandas across the Pacific. That is, if President Xi Jin Ping is truly cross at the USG over the bill. To Americans who are upset over the TikTok ban. Try this perspective: at least the Republicans and Democrats forged alliances for an actionable decision during a churlish presidential election cycle.

If the bill does not pass the Senate, remind me to edit that last sentence.

~E

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