Is this about divestment, banning or digital sovereignty (or a little mix of everything)?
In a landmark move, United States President, Joe Biden, has signed into law a bill demanding TikTok‘s Chinese parent company, ByteDance, to divest its U.S. operations or face a ban.
Security concerns vs. free speech.
The U.S. (and many other countries) has expressed longstanding fears that TikTok could serve as a conduit for the Chinese government to harvest data from its 170 million American users or manipulate the app’s algorithm to influence public opinion.
There has been voiced concerns about ByteDance’s alleged ties to the Chinese government, suggesting that TikTok could be used for espionage or to sway public sentiment.
TikTok’s defense…
The company robustly denies any wrongdoings or influence from the Chinese government.
The company argues that a ban would infringe on Americans’ First Amendment rights, a stance previously upheld by a Montana judge who blocked a state-level TikTok ban for violating free speech.
TikTok has vowed to challenge the new law in court, arguing its unconstitutionality.
The legal battles will likely hinge on the government’s ability to demonstrate a clear and present national security threat that justifies such a drastic measure.
The outcome could set a precedent not only for TikTok but for international business operations and digital sovereignty on a global scale.
Some personal musings about this (I should have made a TikTok!):
- Meta and Google are popping corks.
- If this happens, big tech consolidates the media.
- Billions of dollars and a tremendous amount of (additional) power goes to the same companies that this government has been eyeing for having too much power (not sure how this becomes a “win”).
- What’s good for TikTok must be good for everyone else.
- If one of the main concerns is that TikTok is brainwashing the youth or holding back on certain perspectives as a form of propaganda, those same rules should apply not just to TikTok’s competition but all media (good luck with that).
- TikTok’s issues around moderation and data privacy concerns are hardly unique to this one platform (would anyone disagree with that?).
- It’s all about the algorithm.
- Anyone who has spent any time on TikTok knows that the success of the platform is rooted in the algorithm.
- ByteDance will never sell the algorithm.
- So, someone will be buying just the users and the content (which – as anyone in media knows – rarely works out well).
- Why does the ownership have to be US-based?
- Could it not be owners from Canada, the UK, Australia, etc. (if TikTok is one of the most power media companies right now, is this really about data and security… or power?).
- Pay close attention the creators and their audience.
- TikTok is excellent at recommending videos from accounts without a huge audience/following (thanks, algorithm) and these creators (and most of them are not media professionals) might lose their voice and potential to build differing perspectives if they even could do the same on other platforms.
We are in the digital age.
Data and these AI tools are as strategic a resource as oil once was.
This TikTok saga is a bellwether for how deeply digital platforms can embed themselves into the social fabric of a nation — and how fiercely governments might fight to control them.
So… we will have to decide…
Privacy and security or power and control?
This is what Elias Makos and I discussed on CJAD 800 AM. Listen in right here.
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Mitch Joel Mitch Joel lives at the intersection of technology, business transformation and consumer culture. He is the Executive Director of Next Era Institute, a strategic intelligence platform helping leaders understand the forces reshaping business, technology, culture and society. The Institute identifies which shifts matter, explores their wider significance and translates them into strategic direction and momentum. Mitch is also a globally recognized keynote speaker. He has delivered thousands of presentations across both B2B and B2C industries to organizations including Google, Walmart, LEGO, Shopify, Microsoft, Procter & Gamble and Unilever. Strategy Magazine has called him “one of North America’s leading visionaries.” Mitch built his career by working directly inside the waves of change that reshaped modern business. He founded and built a digital marketing agency that worked with some of the world’s largest brands and was later acquired by WPP, where he served as President of a firm operating in 25 countries with almost 3,000 employees. Mitch is the bestselling author of Six Pixels of Separation and CTRL ALT Delete, and the host of Thinking With Mitch Joel, one of the longest-running business podcasts in the world. His writing and commentary appear in outlets including Harvard Business Review, Fast Company and Inc. Magazine. He is a member of Dr. Marshall Goldsmith’s 100 Coaches and was named to the Thinkers50 Radar. Mitch also hosts Groove – The No Treble Podcast, documenting the oral history of electric bass players. Mitch is also Co-Founder of ThinkersOne, a platform that enables companies to bring personalized thought leadership from world-class experts into meetings, events and off-sites in focused 15-minute bursts.