>>20564272

Remember that "archive offline?"

General Research #23075 >>18802004

TIKTOK: CHINESE “TROJAN HORSE” IS RUN BY STATE DEPARTMENT OFFICIALS

https://www.mintpressnews.com/tiktok-chinese-trojan-horse-run-by-state-department-officials/284353/

Amid a national hysteria claiming the popular video-sharing app is a Chinese Trojan Horse, a MintPress News investigation has found dozens of ex-U.S. State Department officials working in key positions at TikTok. Many more individuals with backgrounds in the FBI, CIA and other departments of the national security state also hold influential posts at the social media giant, affecting the content that over one billion users see.

While American politicians demand the app be banned on national security grounds, try to force through an internet surveillance act that would turn the country into an Orwellian state, make clueless statements about how TikTok is dangerous because it connects to your Wi-Fi, it is possible that TikTok is already much closer to Washington than it is to Beijing.

STATE DEPARTMENT-AFFILIATED MEDIA

>>20564956

In 2020, President Donald Trump signed an executive order mandating the sale of TikTok to a U.S. company within forty-five days. But the order was held up in court, and Trump left office before a final ruling was issued. In 2021, President Joe Biden revoked that executive order and signed his own calling for better data privacy controls on social media apps, though the order did not mention TikTok by name. Biden has also launched a security review of apps that could be exploited by foreign adversaries and ordered the Commerce Department to develop a strategy to address the issue, but neither directive has produced specific recommendations yet. Meanwhile, a bipartisan group of lawmakers has introduced a bill that would ban TikTok altogether.

Full article:

https://www.cfr.org/in-brief/us-government-banned-tiktok-federal-devices-whats-next

>>20565010 (me)

How a US TikTok ban could impact other countries, according to a public policy professor

From CNN's Antoinette Radford

A US TikTok ban could set a “radical” precedent for how social media is regulated worldwide, Dr. Georgios Samaras, an assistant professor in public policy at King's College London, says.

A bill that could ban the app passed the House 352-65 on Wednesday, although it's unclear what the fate of the measure will be in the Senate. The bill would prohibit TikTok from US app stores unless the social media platform is spun off from its Chinese parent company, ByteDance.

Speaking to CNN, Samaras said a ban would be a “bold political move” that could affect not just TikTok, but other social media platforms, too.

“It opens a path towards a very specific focus … Instead of regulating social media platforms, just getting rid of them.”

Already, TikTok has been restricted from government devices in several Western nations, including countries that are a part of the five eyes intelligence group – the US, UK, Canada, New Zealand and Australia – and the European Commission and NATO employees.

“Anything is possible when it comes to seeing the reactions from other countries if the US show the way. Because this is going to be a first in the Western World,” Samaras added.

https://edition.cnn.com/politics/live-news/tiktok-ban-bill-house-vote-03-13-24/h_ac08743cb139f775ae42397d582c8aa8

Labor Unions Propose Fees on Chinese-Built Ships Calling at U.S. Ports

Mike Schuler March 13, 2024

US Labor unions are calling for a fee to be imposed on vessels constructed in China that dock at US ports in response to what they perceive as unfair shipbuilding practices by the People’s Republic of China (PRC).

According to the proposal, funds generated from these fees would be used to establish a shipbuilding revitalization fund to support investments in the domestic shipbuilding industry, including its capacity, supply chains, and workforce.

The proposal is included in a petition filed on Tuesday by the United Steelworkers (USW), along with other unions and support from Senators Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) and Bob Casey (D-PA), under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974. The petition urges United States Trade Representative (USTR) Katherine Tai to launch a comprehensive investigation into the PRC’s trade unfair practices in the shipbuilding sector. The unions argue that these anti-competitve practices undermine American workers and pose a threat to national security.

Biden Eyes Chinese Shipbuilding Subsidies as Tensions Simmer

The petition proposes a handful of remedies, including a fee on vessels constructed in China that dock at US ports, as a means to both level the playing field from China’s unfair practices and incentivize their elimination.

Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 allows the USTR to respond to foreign government acts, policies, or practices that are deemed unreasonable or discriminatory and which burden or restrict US commerce. The USTR has a range of actions at its disposal, including the imposition of duties or other import restrictions and fees.

The petition suggests that the USTR should impose a fee on every Chinese-built vessel that docks at a US port. The proposal states the fee should be based on the tonnage of the Chinese vessel docking in the US, with larger and heavier ships bearing a greater cost. To incentivize China to eliminate its unfair practices, the fee should take into account the age of the vessel, with higher fees for newer vessels.

The unions also propose the creation of a “US Commercial Shipbuilding Revitalization Fund”, funded by the fees collected from Chinese-built ships. This fund would be used to support the Construction Differential Subsidy (CDS) program, which played a crucial role in maintaining the domestic commercial shipbuilding industry for nearly 50 years amid unfair foreign competition. The CDS program was defunded in 1982, precipitating the decline in the US commercial shipbuilding industry.

Under the program, the U.S. government paid U.S. shipyards and shipowners up to 50 percent of the difference between cost of building a vessel in the United States and the cost of construction outside of the United States.

The 125-page Section 301 petition can be found here.

https://gcaptain.com/labor-unions-propose-fees-on-chinese-built-ships-calling-at-u-s-ports/