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Comment by fc417fc802 | Hacker News Reader

Agreed with your first point. Regarding TikTok though the argument was never (AFAIK) that they were actively breaking the law but rather that their structure and ownership posed a threat to US interests. That's pretty reasonable and largely mirrors China's stance against the US.

If anything the surprising thing is how lenient western governments tend to be towards foreign corporations. They seem to prioritize free trade above all else.

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The US is lying about tiktok, the only reason is to mirror China's strategy towards American app. After watching the tit-for-tat video of Veritasum[1] I agree with America's strategy of banning Chinese apps until China allows American apps. That being said, I wish the US was more transparent about why they're doing this instead of lying.

I'm guessing the reason why they're lying is that they don't want to scare ALL Chinese companies.

[1]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mScpHTIi-kM

The reason they’re lying is because they’ve been lying for so long it just happens reflexively. It’s all they know anymore.

> that their structure and ownership posed a threat to US interests.

This is pretty much as vague as it gets "they're doing _something_ wrong".

The exact behaviour that is prohibited needs to be codified into law. Then you can go after organisations what break such law.

In this case, they've just been found guilty of an unwritten crime.

> If anything the surprising thing is how lenient western governments tend to be towards foreign corporations

Corporations in general rather. I do agree that we should be stricter of foreign corporations, and on non-foreign ones equally so.

I find this so confusing. Rupert Murdoch and Elon Musk are foreigners who are both demonstrably influencing American politics through media they control. What makes Tiktok different?

Rupert Murdoch has exclusively been a US citizen for 40 years.

But really, what makes Tiktok different is China.

TikTok probably didn’t make friends and pay bribes to the right people.

The same thing that would make a platform with ties to Russia different. It falls under the influence of a sophisticated geopolitical adversary.

Tesla is headquartered and has most operations based in the US. Murdoch's ventures are similar AFAIK.

Given how much surveillance modern vehicles do I wouldn't be surprised if imports start being subjected to additional scrutiny at some point. But at least most vehicles can't be used to subtly and intentionally manipulate the owner's perception of the world so I guess the stakes are a bit lower.

Rupert Murdoch and Elon Musk are both American citizens. In fact, one of Murdoch's primary reasons for becoming an American citizen in 1985 was to comply with the Communications Act of 1934, which prevented him (or any non-citizen) from owning more than 25% of a broadcasting company.

Here's a piece of history from 1985 that talks about it: https://archive.ph/HlHrx

The idea that Murdoch and Musk are not really American and are instead foreigners is a disgusting anti-immigrant sentiment.

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