Opinion | Here's how China can stop a TikTok theft

By Tom Fowdy

The TikTok Merry Go Round is back.

Republican politicians have never quite got past their mass hysteria over the viral Chinese social media application and their demented obsession with banning it. Now, equally unhinged Representative Mike Gallagher has introduced a "bill" which he claims would effectively force China to sell TikTok to an American owner for it to continue to operate, and it will face a ban if it refuses to comply. Now Gallagher is personally not worth taking seriously and his congressional "committee" effectively amounts to little more than diatribes and unhinged ranting about the Communist Party which in retrospect makes little contribution to American policy at all, let alone legislation.

It might be added of course that the attempt to ban TikTok by legal means is hardly anything new, there have been numerous congressional bills aimed at doing so, Marco Rubio mentions it at least every other week, and who can forget when the Trump administration attempted to do so by an executive order in 2020 which also forced it to sell or face a ban. The order was defeated in court. Why would this be any more successful this time? To try and force a foreign company to sell you their cherished global renowned asset under legal force is a form of coercion, which of course demonstrates the sheer arrogance of US politicians to think they're entitled to TikTok.

There's one easy solution to this, don't cave and don't let them have it. The US think they have a god given right to undermine and sabotage the technological and commercial achievements of China, of which they attribute no recognition. When it comes to social media, the United States has undoubtedly been a world leader and pioneer which generated most of the critical platforms, applications and systems of our day. We should not overlook the fact that the likes of Microsoft, Apple, "X", facebook, etc have been revolutionary products which have changed the world we live in completely, yet with them has also added to Washington's arrogance and entitlement that it should be sustain its monopoly indefinitely.

The rise of China in this regard has been an unwelcome gamechanger as TikTok is the world's first ever leading social media platform which is not in fact American and has established itself as a form of popular culture which has hypnotised young people. In the broader geopolitical context this has been a wound to the American ego which has led to a political obsession with pushing the narrative that really, TikTok is not just a popular video application but is in fact some kind of malign Communist Conspiracy that should be banned or forcibly sold to American hands out of spite. While the Trump administration was unhinged in general, the Biden admininistration recognised wisely it would be an unpopular move to touch a platform like this, and while it has paid lip service, quickly avoided the topic.

In the unlikely scenario anything ever comes of this bill, the Chinese government should legally prohibit bytedance from selling TikTok to an American owner and veto any attempted transaction, which is for all intents and purposes a threat of extortion at gunpoint. It's simply not for sale, and while Gallagher thinks that this is smart because it will amount to a ban, in reality the political consequences of this would be disastrous as it would upset millions of young people and amount to dramatic unpopularity amongst politicians, which is precisely why the Biden administration skirts the issue.

His assumption is TikTok will want to avoid the ban, but the reality is he has not thought about the repercussions of that and it is absolutely worth calling his bluff over it. Washington D.C must come terms with the existence of TikTok as a leading social media power of which they do not control, and owing to how entrenched it is, it is simply unthinkable and irrational that it can be wiped out purely on the basis of political spite and McCarthyist paranoia. There will be more major Chinese apps in the future, and Silicon Valley, while globally acclaimed for its achievements, cannot be the centre of all things on the internet forever.

The author is a well-seasoned writer and analyst with a large portfolio related to China topics, especially in the field of politics, international relations and more. He graduated with an Msc. in Chinese Studies from Oxford University in 2018.

The views do not necessarily reflect those of DotDotNews.

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