How crony is the Trump/TikTok situation?
The ban is a mix of factors, but crony capitalism is likely one of them
At ACC we are champions of free speech. We believe that it is absolutely vital to a free society. There is almost no room for nuance here. There is the “fire in a crowded theater” exception, but short of that there are very few examples where the government has any right to restrict speech. This is one of the reasons what was revealed in The Twitter Files was so important. The government (under Biden) appears to have pressured social media companies via various means to restrict the speech of its users. This is as far as we can understand a clear violation of the Constitution. Frankly, the people who carried out the censorship should be held accountable legally.
But what of a ban on TikTok? Is this not a government sponsored effort to limit the speech of Americans?
Additionally is it possible that such a ban has been initiated because crony interests want to get their hands on the platform?
The first question first.
Is a potential ban on TikTok a violation of free speech? We think one can make a pretty good argument that it is. Consider that even at the height of the Cold War communist publications, backed by the Soviet Union and people who sought to harm the United States published freely (at least officially). The same can be said for the Nazis etc. Why then restrict TikTok which is a platform that others use to publish themselves just because it might be used as a propaganda and intel gathering tool by China? Don’t Americans have the right to express themselves even through the Chinese social medium?
Perhaps in our view, but the Supreme Court has ruled that the ban can go ahead and that the ban does not violate the First Amendment. Much of this decision stems from the fact that TikTok may indeed be used by China (in theory) to foment unrest (less problematic free-speech wise), but more importantly as an intel gathering tool. Consider if the CCP had instant access to the TikTok profiles of every junior enlisted member of the military. What are they watching? Where are they watching it? With whom are they watching? Etc. This would be highly valuable to a military launching an attack. (God forbid.)
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to Against Crony Capitalism to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.