TikTok launches website to address allegations against the company / Aug 24: TikTok files lawsuit against US gov't

[Delicieuxz]

Yesterday, TikTok launched a new website to address the US executive order against their business and various misinformation about their company.

 

https://www.tiktokus.info/

Quote

Setting the Record Straight

TikTok is the daily destination for millions of people to express themselves creatively, enjoy entertaining content, and engage with a diverse global community that transcends borders. With rumors and misinformation about TikTok proliferating in Washington and in the media, let us set the record straight. Here’s what the TikTok creator community and industry experts are saying across cybersecurity, media and academia.

 

The website covers topics such as:

 

- On the Administration’s Executive Order

- On Combating Misinformation and Election Interference

- On Fair Competition and Transparency

- On TikTok’s Security Roadmap

 

And others.

 

Under the sites headline news section, the first one I see there is a NYT article claiming that the CIA found no evidence that the Chinese government has had access to TikTok user data, and that US intel agencies don't see TikTok as a security threat: Is TikTok More of a Parenting Problem Than a Security Threat?

 

TikTok also launched a Twitter account last week to promote their platform: https://twitter.com/tiktok_comms

 

 

With this website and the lawsuit TikTok is launching against the US government, it seems clear they haven't given in to the idea that they'd have to sell the company. I think that's good, and I hope that they succeed in holding-on to their company and their right to operate in the US.

 

On 8/20/2020 at 3:52 AM, Delicieuxz said:

US TikTok employees are also preparing to sue the US government over its executive order.

 

TikTok employees ready legal challenge in response to Trump order

 

6 minutes ago, Delicieuxz said:

TikTok has now filed their promised lawsuit against the US government, claiming that the executive order violates due process protections in the US constitution's 5th amendment.

 

 

TikTok Sues the U.S. Government

 

Why we are suing the Administration

 

 

[Pixel5]

they have no right to operate in the US, they are merely allowed to unless they get banned.

All tiktok would need to do it move its headquarters and cut all ties to the CCP which they wont do cause the CCP wont allow it.

[NLamki]

4 minutes ago, Delicieuxz said:

Yesterday, Tik Tok launched a new website to address the US executive order against their business and various misinformation about their company.

 

https://www.tiktokus.info/

 

The website covers topics such as:

 

- On the Administration’s Executive Order

- On Combating Misinformation and Election Interference

- On Fair Competition and Transparency

- On TikTok’s Security Roadmap

 

And others.

 

Under the sites headline news section, the first one I see there is a NYT article claiming that the CIA found no evidence that the Chinese government has had access to Tik Tok user data, and that US intel agencies don't see Tik Tok as a security threat: Is TikTok More of a Parenting Problem Than a Security Threat?

 

Tik Tok also launched a Twitter account last week to promote their platform: https://twitter.com/tiktok_comms

 

 

With this website and the lawsuit Tik Tok is launching against the US government, it seems clear they haven't given in to the idea that they'd have to sell the company. I think that's good, and I hope that they succeed in holding-on to their company and their right to operate in the US.

I have a theory, what if all of this is made up. Why? because tik tok refused to give the US government their data, so the government launches all these security threat allegations to fight tik tok as a way of punishing it..???

[Beerzerker]

I'll be honest - If the company or it's parent is owned by the CCP I woudn't trust it.

In this case it is since any and all companies/corporations in China are state-owned, that's just how it is but also lends creedence to the suspected problems, esp since China has been caught repeatedly doing all kinds of nefarious stuff anyway.

I can't blame the current admin for having such suspicions and it would be foolish to assume "All is well" with the CCP's proven track record about such things.

[Arika]

On 8/19/2020 at 9:58 PM, NLamki said:

I have a theory, what if all of this is made up. Why? because tik tok refused to give the US government their data, so the government launches all these security threat allegations to fight tik tok as a way of punishing it..???

wouldn't be the first time. It's exactly what they are doing to Huawei. there has still been zero evidence of back door or spying chips, and yet the US is trying to

destroy them as a company by trade sanctions and tell other US based companies that they cannot do business with them. It's all "what ifs" because they are a Chinese Company.

 

On 8/19/2020 at 9:58 PM, Beerzerker said:

I'll be honest - If the company or it's parent is owned by the CCP I woudn't trust it.

no one should trust ANY company that holds personal information. Just look at Facebook and their Cambridge Analytica breach, Twitter's recent Data breach, everything Edward Snowden revealed, the hundred and hundreds of claims about Microsoft's telemetry.

 

I don't trust the claims made by the US towards China any more than i trust the claims made by China about China

[Jurrunio]

21 minutes ago, NLamki said:

I have a theory, what if all of this is made up. Why? because tik tok refused to give the US government their data, so the government launches all these security threat allegations to fight tik tok as a way of punishing it..???

If anything, CCP has been doing the same as well

[Tech_Dreamer]

did they address the invasive mac id harvesting rumor they caught doing as well?

[Beerzerker]

5 hours ago, Arika S said:

wouldn't be the first time. It's exactly what they are doing to Huawei. there has still been zero evidence of back door or spying chips, and yet the US is trying to

them as a company by trade sanctions and tell other US based companies that they cannot do business with them. It's all "what ifs" because they are a Chinese Company.

 

no one should trust ANY company that holds personal information. Just look at Facebook and their Cambridge Analytica breach, Twitter's recent Data breach, everything Edward Snowden revealed, the hundred and hundreds of claims about Microsoft's telemetry.

 

I don't trust the claims made by the US towards China any more than i trust the claims made by China about China

That's an obvious "Duh-Huh" thing.
That's a BIG reason why back when I had a job that wanted me (As part of my so-called "Benefits") to give permission to have a company get my personal info so they could provide me with identity protection...

I refused to allow it.

Same said company got hacked later and personal info on folks they had on file was pilfered.
Hackers can do quite alot but they can't get it if it's never there in the first place and that's why I always refused - I already knew better than to just allow it.
 

I also have to say in terms of who trusts whom, it's nobody for good reason.

[Delicieuxz]

US TikTok employees are also preparing to sue the US government over its executive order.

 

TikTok employees ready legal challenge in response to Trump order

Quote

 

A TikTok employee is mounting a legal challenge on behalf of the company’s U.S.-based workers in response to President Trump’s order banning American transactions with ByteDance, the Chinese firm that owns the wildly popular short-form video app.

 

The march toward a lawsuit comes amid growing uncertainty regarding the company’s fate in the U.S. following recent executive actions that targeted social media apps with links to China over national security concerns.

 

Patrick Ryan, a technical program manager at TikTok, told The Hill that his lawsuit will focus on the constitutional right to due process, arguing it’s not the president’s decision “to permit or to not permit entire businesses on a whim.”

 

He said about 1,500 TikTok and ByteDance employees are at risk of not receiving paychecks when Trump's orders take effect next month.

 

Ryan started a crowdfunding campaign to help pay for legal representation. He said the complaint will seek an injunction preventing the government from enforcing the order against U.S. workers. A GoFundMe to support the cost of litigation has raised about half of its $30,000 goal since launching on Wednesday.

 

 

[BuckGup]

Yet people don't bat an eye when Facebook cannot be uninstalled from their Android phones and the NSA has backdoors in every app they use. Not defending China but it's extremely hypocritical and naive to say TikTok is the only "bad" app

[Lii]

Frankly I don't see what is all of this fuss

 

I mean china has actually banned several us companies (and futhermore imposed clones of those), if china does this with the us (and not only) companies, I don't see why the us shouldn't do it as well

[Arika]

45 minutes ago, Xvaster said:

I mean china has actually banned several us companies (and futhermore imposed clones of those), if china does this with the us (and not only) companies, I don't see why the us shouldn't do it as well

are you saying the US Government should become more like the CCP?

[Letgomyleghoe]

2 hours ago, Arika S said:

are you saying the US Government should become more like the CCP?

I mean they have the same tendencies lmao

[Guest]

TikTok launching a website from them about them on how correct they are and to trust them.

 

[Letgomyleghoe]

4 minutes ago, RorzNZ said:

TikTok launching a website from them about them on how correct they are and to trust them.

 

I mean the nsa search came up with nothing...

[Lii]

12 hours ago, Arika S said:

are you saying the US Government should become more like the CCP?

No

 

Just saying why should the us government ignore what the ccp does, if your opponent is playing dirty with you, why in the first place you should nicely play with them

An eye for an eye, a coin for coin

[vortextech77]

Kids who dropped out of school to make TikToks when the app gets banned: 

[Benjamin22044]

Honestly, TikTok is a big threat to the privacy of the smartphone users and I see why India stopped its services altogether in the country. Now to make sure that US does not follow the trails, TikTok is taking all the measures they can. But this is hardly of any use. I don't see it going anywhere with this. 

[LAwLz]

On 8/20/2020 at 2:16 PM, BuckGup said:

Yet people don't bat an eye when Facebook cannot be uninstalled from their Android phones and the NSA has backdoors in every app they use. Not defending China but it's extremely hypocritical and naive to say TikTok is the only "bad" app

Fun fact, a lot of the fear regarding TikTok was caused by Mark Zuckerberg speaking to US politicians.

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/facebooks-mark-zuckerberg-stoked-washingtons-fears-about-tiktok-2020-08-23

 

Some quotes from the article:

Quote

In a private dinner at the White House in late October, Zuckerberg made the case to President Donald Trump that the rise of Chinese internet companies threatens American business, and should be a bigger concern than reining in Facebook, some of the people said.

 

 

On 8/21/2020 at 12:37 PM, Xvaster said:

No

 

Just saying why should the us government ignore what the ccp does, if your opponent is playing dirty with you, why in the first place you should nicely play with them

An eye for an eye, a coin for coin

If we are really against the CCCP shouldn't we strive to be better than them? So why are we going "well it's okay for us to do what we hate the CCP for doing because they did it first!".

"an eye for an eye and the world goes blind"

 

"I dislike what they did so I'll do the same thing towards them!" is kind of childish and won't lead anywhere. It just means you will become like the thing you hate.

[BuckGup]

44 minutes ago, LAwLz said:

Fun fact, a lot of the fear regarding TikTok was caused by Mark Zuckerberg speaking to US politicians.

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/facebooks-mark-zuckerberg-stoked-washingtons-fears-about-tiktok-2020-08-23

 

Some quotes from the article:

 

 

If we are really against the CCCP shouldn't we strive to be better than them? So why are we going "well it's okay for us to do what we hate the CCP for doing because they did it first!".

"an eye for an eye and the world goes blind"

 

"I dislike what they did so I'll do the same thing towards them!" is kind of childish and won't lead anywhere. It just means you will become like the thing you hate.

Wow I did not know that. Makes me hate ZuccZucc even more. 

[Delicieuxz]

Facebook is a state-affiliated outlet, being partnered with Atlantic Council, which is the propaganda and disinformation warfare branch of NATO. I wouldn't be surprised if Zuckerberg offered to give the US government increased access to their user data in exchange for going easy on them while going hard on Chinese companies.

[BuckGup]

2 hours ago, Delicieuxz said:

Facebook is a state-affiliated outlet, being partnered with Atlantic Council, which is the propaganda and disinformation warfare branch of NATO. I wouldn't be surprised if Zuckerberg offered to give the US government increased access to their user data in exchange for going easy on them while going hard on Chinese companies.

Makes sense. Same thing happened with Google and why they made a censored version specifically for China

[Delicieuxz]

TikTok has now filed their promised lawsuit against the US government, claiming that the executive order violates due process protections in the US constitution's 5th amendment.

 

 

TikTok Sues the U.S. Government

Quote

As promised, TikTok has sued the U.S. government for attempting to ban its social media app in the United States without due process.

“The Executive Order issued by the Administration on August 6, 2020 has the potential to strip the rights of [the TikTok] community without any evidence to justify such an extreme action, and without any due process,” the firm explains in a blog post. “We strongly disagree with the Administration’s position that TikTok is a national security threat and we have articulated these objections previously.”

 

Why we are suing the Administration

Quote

 

Today we are filing a complaint in federal court challenging the Administration's efforts to ban TikTok in the US. As a company we have always focused on transparency, so we want to explain why we are taking this step.

 

...

 

"The executive order seeks to ban TikTok purportedly because of the speculative possibility that the application could be manipulated by the Chinese government. But, as the U.S. government is well aware, Plaintiffs have taken extraordinary measures to protect the privacy and security of TikTok’s U.S. user data, including by having TikTok store such data outside of China (in the United States and Singapore) and by erecting software barriers that help ensure that TikTok stores its U.S. user data separately from the user data of other ByteDance products. These actions were made known to the U.S. government during a recent U.S. national security review of ByteDance’s 2017 acquisition of a China-based company, Musical.ly. As part of that review, Plaintiffs provided voluminous documentation to the U.S. government documenting TikTok's security practices and made commitments that were more than sufficient to address any conceivable U.S. government privacy or national security concerns..."

 

 

Further, as we note in our complaint, not only does the Executive Order ignore due process, it also authorizes the prohibition of activities that have not been found to be "an unusual and extraordinary threat," as required by the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), under which the Administration is purportedly acting:

 

"By banning TikTok with no notice or opportunity to be heard (whether before or after the fact), the executive order violates the due process protections of the Fifth Amendment.

"The order is ultra vires because it is not based on a bona fide national emergency and authorizes the prohibition of activities that have not been found to pose 'an unusual and extraordinary threat.'"

 

In the complaint we also point to the fact that the August 6 Executive Order is a misuse of IEEPA:

 

...

 

 

[ApexMeteor]

On 8/19/2020 at 12:58 PM, NLamki said:

I have a theory, what if all of this is made up. Why? because tik tok refused to give the US government their data, so the government launches all these security threat allegations to fight tik tok as a way of punishing it..???

The difference is that, although flawed, the US is still a democracy (according to the Democracy Index) while the CCP resembles a throwback of the Nazi Party, not excluding territorial invasion, minorities persecution, nationalist blustering and concentration camps. Even considering the setbacks the US has seen lately, I'd still trust the US government more, if the only other option was the Chinese regime.

[Kisai]

15 hours ago, Delicieuxz said:

Facebook is a state-affiliated outlet, being partnered with Atlantic Council, which is the propaganda and disinformation warfare branch of NATO. I wouldn't be surprised if Zuckerberg offered to give the US government increased access to their user data in exchange for going easy on them while going hard on Chinese companies.

What. No. North Atlantic Council is the NATO thing. Atlantic Council is a think tank that Facebook is a big donor of. 

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-facebook-cyber/u-s-think-tanks-tiny-lab-helps-facebook-battle-fake-social-media-idUSKBN1KS22N