News for hackers. Stuff that matters.

A comment on The TikTok War.

Re:The TikTok War by eclipsetheworld on Tuesday July 14, 2020 @11:28AM (#23833066)
Why is TikTok allowed to gain market share in Western countries? China banned Google, YouTube, Facebook, etc. while Chinese companies such as Baidu, Sina Weibo, WeChat were able to capture the entire Chinese market share.

It seems that companies not adhering to censorship cannot expand into China, however, Chinese companies adhering to censorship (e.g. TikTok) are able to expand into Western countries. Isn't this anti-competitive?

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:The TikTok War by rvz on Tuesday July 14, 2020 @11:53AM (#23833383)
Good question. If you want to get into the Chinese market, you must comply with its laws and not get in the way of angering the CCP. China is one of Apple's largest markets due to its access to over 1B+ people and it now has its hands tied and anything the CCP wants removed, Apple will do it. [0][1][2]

Like you just said, TikTok already compiles with this security law and censors/bans whatever the CCP requests. By moving outside of China it can either lose access to the Chinese market and get banned by China or still comply with its laws and get banned by the US.

The thing is, TikTok has offices out side of China due to the Musical.ly acquisition (Located in the US) so can still operate there whilst Bytedance being headquartered in Beijing.

A takedown request can be made to the App Store owner. Apple and Google.

[0] https://9to5mac.com/2017/01/04/new-york-times-apps-removed-i...

[1] https://9to5mac.com/2017/11/21/skype-china-app-store/

[2] https://9to5mac.com/2019/10/10/protest-app/

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:The TikTok War by throw57654 on Tuesday July 14, 2020 @02:13PM (#23835550)
TikTok is banned in China.

The company has an isolated version called Douyin that is only available in China.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:The TikTok War by Udik on Tuesday July 14, 2020 @01:18PM (#23834780)
> or still comply with its laws and get banned by the US.

How does complying with China's laws in China will get you banned from the US? The US has all the right to establish the laws for products distributed on its own territory, as China does for its own.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:The TikTok War by mciancia on Tuesday July 14, 2020 @12:01PM (#23833499)
Why someone should tell me what I can or cannot install on my phone?
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:The TikTok War by kube-system on Tuesday July 14, 2020 @11:54AM (#23833397)
Yes, this is the trade war everyone is talking about.

Note: TikTok doesn't write Chinese law, so they're not the ones being anti-competitive, even if they benefit from it.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:The TikTok War by xapata on Tuesday July 14, 2020 @12:25PM (#23833929)
I'd call it an information war, rather than a trade war.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:The TikTok War by kube-system on Tuesday July 14, 2020 @12:51PM (#23834381)
Restrictions on foreign-owned companies operating domestically in China applies to many industries -- this is not something unique to TikTok, information companies, or even tech companies. This is something that is often discussed in regards to trade negotiations.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:The TikTok War by xapata on Tuesday July 14, 2020 @07:55PM (#23839580)
Yes, but China makes a special effort to block information. That's what the article discussed.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:The TikTok War by Wohlf on Tuesday July 14, 2020 @02:49PM (#23836034)
I have no clue how The Great Firewall is not considered a straight up blockade.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:The TikTok War by Barrin92 on Tuesday July 14, 2020 @02:15PM (#23835588)
because you don't actually gain anything from banning it in the West too. Banning apps remains a bad thing even if China does it.

That China bans Google is bad for customers in China. What do we gain if we ban TikTok?

[ Parent | on HN ]