Trump proposes US gov acquire half of TikTok, which thanks him, restores service | Hacker News Reader

Trump proposes US gov acquire half of TikTok, which thanks him, restores service

theregister.com

9 pointsrntn6 comments

Forgive an ignorant not-a-lawyer question, but if the US government owns 50% of something, does that increase it's 1st amendment rights to be considered a free speech channel? Because right now, it [isn't] Elon's playground and subject to contract and his whims. For the americans amongst us (I am not one) this might mean that some things said and done on tiktok [previously I said X] would be protected in law. Including ugly things.

[Edit: As has been quite rightly pointed out: It's not Elon's toy. Yet.]

> Because right now, its Elon's playground and subject to contract and his whims.

Tiktok is not twitter.

Thank you. My question has been edited, because the point at play about 50% government equity remains.

Also not a lawyer, but TikTok is a prominent mode of media, nonetheless. We are slowly turning into China and Russia, with fully governed state controlled media which is the opposite of free speech. As a US taxpayer, I'm appalled that by money would be spent on a volatile stock, enriching a company (ByteDance) intertwined-by-necessity with a government that wants to forcably overthrow democracies.

Awesome decision making.

As a US gov't contractor, I guess I don't have to worry about organizational conflicts of interest or "buy american" clauses anymore.

Wouldn't TikTok become that bugbear of free market economies, State Run Media?

> Trump has since made reducing wasteful government spending a signature policy and his Republican generally argues for that and for small government. The incoming President’s post does not explain how acquiring half of a social media company meets those goals, or how the acquisition would be funded.

"It's not wasteful government spending if it means I get to play with taxpayer money in a way that enriches myself and my cronies, or maybe I'll just keep it from competing with my good buddy Elon's product."

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