Tick Tock Goes the Clock on China, the ByteDance Social Media Platform TikTok, and Cyber Hackers. Related items (posted 12/28/24)

→ American Thought Leaders: The Future of TikTok and the Collapsing Chinese Economy. Host: Jan Jekielek. Guest: Kyle Bass (12/26/24, podcast/video 49:29)

• Podcast: podcasts.apple.com/us/p…

• Video (includes transcript, may require Epoch Times subscription): theepochtimes.com/epoch…

Kyle Bass is the founder and chief investment officer of Hayman Capital Management. He’s known for his prescient bets on major global economic events.

Bass explains why he believes China’s economy is collapsing, why Bytedance hasn’t sold TikTok yet despite a January 2025 deadline, and what the key economic and financial priorities of Trump's administration should be.

The interview includes some material that’s relevant to the next article about Trump asking the Supreme Court to pause the TikTok ban.

Host Jekeliek asks Bass whether TikTok is actually a digital Trojan Horse and why it should be banned. Bass summarizes the TikTok ban as follows (edited excerpt from the transcript — any mistakes below are the editor’s):

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) decided in the early 1930s to not allow foreign ownership or foreign majority ownership of our broadcast licenses. As the world has evolved from broadcast journalism into more social media and other kinds of journalism, a foreign adversarial government (China) now controls most social media companies and they’re almost all public companies.

Every broadcaster has Chinese Communist Party officials in their office. CNBC China, for example, has Ministry of State Security people in the studio. If broadcasters ever say anything wrong on CNBC China, the Ministry just cuts the feed.

TikTok can “broadcast” directly into our kids’ bedrooms using a highly addictive algorithm. China has banned TikTok. And yet they push it here where they can influence the entire population. There’s no reciprocity. We’re not allowed to connect our social networking companies to the Chinese population. It’s a one-way street.

The Chinese Communist Party calls the ban an infringement on free speech, when in reality, this is a state-controlled adversarial algorithm that is broadcasting directly into our kids’ bedrooms. So this is a national security issue. The D.C. Circuit appellate court supported the ban on TikTok based on national security issues, not free speech issues.

Bass then goes on to explain why TikTok hasn’t sold ByteDance and how it could relate to the Chinese economy’s current state.

→ Trump Asks Supreme Court to Pause TikTok Ban So He Can Negotiate Resolution. By Sam Dorman (12/27/24)

theepochtimes.com/us/tr… (may require Epoch Times subscription)

President-elect Donald Trump is asking the Supreme Court to block a law that could ban TikTok within the United States, stating that he would like to pursue negotiations to resolve some of the issues involved and salvage the platform.

Trump’s brief said the law raised questions about legislative encroachment on executive authority.

The deadline for TikTok’s parent company to either divest from the platform in the United States or face an effective ban is Jan. 19, 2025. The Supreme Court is expected to hear oral arguments on Jan. 10, 2025.

According to Trump's 12/27/24 amicus brief:

President Trump alone possesses the consummate dealmaking expertise, the electoral mandate, and the political will to negotiate a resolution to save the platform while addressing the national security concerns.

This timing binds the hands of the incoming Administration on a significant issue of national security and foreign policy, and thus it raises significant questions under Article II.

NOTES:

• Amicus briefs from the Cato Institute and the American Civil Liberties Union supported TikTok’s desire to continue broadcasting in the US.

• A group of former national security officials backed the D.C. Circuit’s decision to allow the ban.

• Article II refers to the section of the constitution vesting executive authority with the President: constitution.congress.g…

→ US Adds 9th Company to List of Salt Typhoon Telecom Victims. Senior national security official said the United States looks to ‘lock down’ telecom infrastructure with stricter cybersecurity rules. By Eva Fu (12/27/24)

(may require Epoch Times subscription)

Edited excerpts from the Epoch Times morning brief:

• The Salt Typhoon hacking operation has affected major telecommunications companies and dozens of nations, including Verizon, AT&T, and CenturyLink. As of early December, the hackers are still embedded in U.S. infrastructure.

• Anne Neuberger, deputy national security adviser for cyber and emerging technology, said the hackers had focused on “very senior” American political figures and stolen vast troves of American data.

• In a new rule, the Justice Department named China, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Russia, and Venezuela as countries of concern over their ambitions to exploit sensitive U.S. personal and government-related data by bulk. Individuals deemed as “threat actors” are barred from transactions involving U.S. data including social security numbers or government identification numbers, precise geolocation data, biometric identifiers, human genetic or molecular data, personal health data, and personal financial data.