US will ban WeChat and TikTok downloads on Sunday

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: CNN

Washington (CNN Business)The Commerce Department plans to restrict access to TikTok and WeChat on Sunday as the Trump administration's executive orders against the two apps are set to take effect.

The Department said Friday that as of Sunday, any moves to distribute or maintain WeChat or TikTok on an app store will be prohibited.

In addition, the Department said, it will be illegal to host or transfer internet traffic associated with WeChat beginning Sunday. The same will be true for TikTok as of Nov. 12, it said. Further restrictions could still be announced later, including against other apps if they are seen to be used as workarounds.

"Today's actions prove once again that President Trump will do everything in his power to guarantee our national security and protect Americans from the threats of the Chinese Communist Party," said Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross in a release. "At the President's direction, we have taken significant action to combat China's malicious collection of American citizens' personal data, while promoting our national values, democratic rules-based norms, and aggressive enforcement of U.S. laws and regulations."

Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2020/09/18/tech/tiktok-download-commerce/index.html

---

[MaryMagdaline]

1. If this doesn't get GenZ to the polls nothing will

[Illumination]

30. Right. He's such a vengeful dumb a** that he'll lose lots more voters right there! Are we living

in China or Russia? Sure feels like it... Doesn't seem too constitutional either! I sense more lawsuits coming on...

[samnsara]

2. that ought to cinch the new 18 yr old voters!

[irisblue]

3. Still pissed the K-Pop fans pranked him and his campaign in Tulsa.

[Talitha]

15. THIS

[BadGimp]

32. agreed

[onetexan]

26. exactly, he's revengeful & petty. It will backfire spectacularly as it w/ fire up the young people

all the more to vote en masse. I certainly hope they will help us do him in.

[Bengus81]

4. I thought Republicans didn't want Guberment in our lives?!?!

So now Trump is the decider if I want to watch dance videos??

[treestar]

29. +1

Proves again they are hypocrites.

[Roy Rolling]

5. Dumbasses

It’s like they are trying to piss people off and lose. Is this Putin’s latest final demand?

[johnp3907]

6. How very China-like.

[George II]

7. I guess he's now selectively in favor of the First Amendment. Note that everyone....

....from his administration throws in that "Communist Party" dig.

To parallel this with wearing masks, those who sign up with either "know what they're doing and know the risks" and it's their own personal decision.

[BumRushDaShow]

9. I had the thought that

they wanted to distract from the warnings about "data" being harvested by Russia for election interference while claiming it was all China's fault.

(the one thing that is consistent about the GOP is that they always "project" onto someone else, what they are guilty of doing themselves)

[TomVilmer]

8. I hope the European Union will follow...

... but also includes Facebook and Twitter in their ban.

[BumRushDaShow]

10. And add Instagram and SnapChat while they're at it.

[Tom Traubert]

11. How is this not a violation of the First Amendment?

It clearly will impair a kind of speech.

[BumRushDaShow]

13. I expect someone will file suit and request an emergency TRO.

[ArizonaLib]

16. And yet money remains free speech

The right wingers have their own bill of rights just like they have their own Bibles

[BumRushDaShow]

18. Money and corporations

have suddenly become "people" as RMoney once declared, with all the "individual" rights as the flesh and blood.

[Tom Traubert]

14. Looks like at least one action has been commenced.

Haven’t read any papers, but the EFF reports on it here: https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2020/09/trumps-ban-tiktok-violates-first-amendment-eliminating-unique-platform-political

[progressive nobody]

12. This is retaliation against Sarah Cooper

Maybe Stephen Colbert will give her a regular slot especially leading up to the election or better yet CNN and MSNBC.

[ArizonaLib]

17. If they can ban those, they can ban Diebold voting machines and their software

In fact, ban paperless voting.

[Firestorm49]

19. ...significant action to combat China's malicious collection of American citizens' personal data,

As if our own government doesn’t know on which day we wash our dirty socks.

The Patriot Act’s earliest ramifications was unauthorized spying on individuals who had no terrorist threat whatsoever. This to me simply adds censorship to the dictators bucket list. One more item to be checked off in the overthrow of America by the idiot President, his sycophant Senate, and his stupid base.

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

20. The most surprising thing about this article is that they attribute those quotes

to Wilber Ross. Because I could've sworn they've been "Weekend at Berniying" that lizard carcass for at least 2 years.

[leftofthestorm]

36. funny nt

[niyad]

21. I notice no such ban on russian bots, trolls, data mining, lpropaganda. But, we understand,

you traitorous murderer. We understand perfectly.

F'n puke hypocrites.

[melm00se]

22. There is nothing wrong saying that

any one who connects to the federal government can'y have Tik Tok or WeChat on their computing devices or their networks. Those apps might provide the foundation to access classified information or gain behind the firewall access to government assets.

If I or my wife have it and have zero to do with the federal government, Trump (or any politician for that matter) has no legal standing to say I can't use these apps.

[JonLP24]

23. K&R

[mahatmakanejeeves]

24. "This whole thing is a horrifying joke, but this ban surprised me: ..."

CompulsoryPatriotismHat Retweeted

This whole thing is a horrifying joke, but this ban surprised me: “Any utilization of the mobile application’s constituent code, functions, or services in the functioning of software or services developed and/or accessible within the U.S.”

Link to tweet

[Sapient Donkey]

25. Is this legal? Has anything like this been done in the US?

Last edited Fri Sep 18, 2020, 01:44 PM - Edit history (2)

As I've said before, I am not a fan of these apps and discourage anyone from using them, but I'm even less a fan of having my government tell me what apps I can and cannot use.

"Illegal to host/transfer traffic associated with WeChat". So, basically they are implementing our light version of China's great firewall? Or at least they hope to do so? I fully understand banning these apps from government devices and discouraging use, but this is backasswards to what we're supposed to be about.

"Further restrictions could still be announced later, including against other apps if they are seen to be used as workarounds."

This is probably even more concerning, as this is clearly directed toward VPNs and encryption.

[BumRushDaShow]

27. I found this article --

Judge Likely to Block Trump Ban on WeChat App
September 17, 2020 NICHOLAS IOVINO


SAN FRANCISCO (CN) — A federal judge signaled Thursday that she will likely block an executive order banning China’s most popular social media app, WeChat, in the United States because it is unconstitutionally vague and could violate Americans’ free speech rights. “I’m sympathetic to the anxiety that it creates for the people who are affected, and therein lies the vagueness concern which is really wrapped in a little bit that this is the only mode of communication for people,” U.S. Magistrate Judge Laurel Beeler said during a virtual court hearing. More than 19 million Americans use WeChat, one of the few social media apps the Chinese government allows to operate within its borders, and which enables people in the U.S. to communicate with friends and relatives in China.

Citing national security concerns, President Donald Trump signed two executive orders on Aug. 6 calling for a ban on Chinese apps WeChat and TikTok to take effect within 45 days. The directive relies on presidential authority under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, which enables the government to seek criminal penalties of up to 20 years in prison and $1 million fines against those who violate restrictions authorized under the law. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross is expected to issue regulations for the social media apps by Sunday, the same the day the bans are scheduled to take effect.

Nonprofit group U.S. WeChat Users Alliance and others sued the Trump administration on Aug. 21, claiming the ban violates their constitutional rights and erodes a critical communication bridge between China and the U.S. Appearing in Judge Beeler’s virtual courtroom Thursday, lawyers for the group asked for a preliminary injunction to block Trump’s exec ive order from taking effect. “Millions will lose the ability to check in on their relatives here and in China,” the plaintiffs’ attorney Michael Bien of Rosen Bien Galvan & Grunfeld said. But a Justice Department lawyer argued that WeChat users suffered no harm that would justify a preliminary injunction because the executive order hasn’t yet taken effect.

Commerce Department rules defining what is a restricted “transaction” are expected to be announced on Sunday. “Here we have an order that has no force or effect until the Commerce secretary makes his findings,” Justice Department lawyer Michael Drezner argued. On Wednesday, the Justice Department told Beeler in a sworn statement that the Commerce Department does not plan to define the “use or downloading of the app to convey personal or business information between users” as a restricted transaction in its forthcoming regulations. The plaintiffs say that assurance falls far short of addressing significant constitutional concerns related to the executive order. Other activities, such as using the app to store or manage data, could still be deemed a prohibited transaction under the new rules, they argue.

More: https://www.courthousenews.com/judge-likely-to-block-trump-ban-on-wechat-app/

[Sapient Donkey]

28. I hope it is blocked. It would be very concerning if it's allowed to go through.

If allowed, then I would expect to start hearing talk about banning encryption on personal devices.

[LudwigPastorius]

31. This appears to have gotten the attention of the libertarian, tech-bros.

These people are the "both sides are just as bad" nerds who rarely, or never, vote.

Maybe they'll get off their asses now and help to get Trump the fuck out of the People's House.

[mwooldri]

33. VPN usage among Chinese nationals will now increase.

Not by Chinese people in China wishing to bust through the Great Firewall of China... But to bust IN from the USA so they can continue to use WeChat.

Further restrictions on "other apps" if they're being used as workarounds? That is problematic as VPNs are the big workaround and VPNs are used in all kinds of scenarios.

[Aussie105]

34. Is there any actual evidence?

Has anyone decompiled the relevant code and worked out what unacceptable information is being collected?
Who is collecting it?
And what is done with this information?

Or is it pure speculation along the line of 'China is bad, so these programs are bad.'?

Still waiting to see evidence for banning a certain tech company from 5G?

[BumRushDaShow]

35. Many speculate that this is a result of what happened back in June

and is in retaliation.

Trump's campaign was trolled by TikTok users in Tulsa
Donie O'Sullivan

By Donie O'Sullivan, CNN

Updated 12:10 PM ET, Sun June 21, 2020
Stelter on Trump claim: That was a lie


(CNN) President Donald Trump didn't fill his rally arena to the more than 19,000-person capacity Saturday night, despite bragging about 1 million RSVP's to his Tulsa, Oklahoma, return to the campaign trail. Many of those who asked for tickets may have been trolling the President -- in a stunt organized mainly through the social media platform TikTok. Last week, Trump tweeted that "Almost One Million people requested tickets for the Saturday Night Rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma!" and one local official said they expected 100,000 to show up near the arena. But on Saturday, registered attendees didn't fill Tulsa's Bank of Oklahoma Center arena, which admitted rallygoers on a first-come, first-serve basis, and the Trump team abandoned plans for the President to speak to an "overflow" area outside the arena.

A coordinated effort was underway on TikTok in the days leading up to Trump's Saturday rally, encouraging people to register online for the free event and not show up. TikTok is normally thought of as a platform for dancing teenagers and not, necessarily, political action. Trump 2020 campaign manager Brad Parscale told CNN Sunday, "Leftists and online trolls doing a victory lap, thinking they somehow impacted rally attendance, don't know what they're talking about or how our rallies work." He added that "registering for a rally means you've RSVPed with a cell phone number and we constantly weed out bogus numbers, as we did with tens of thousands at the Tulsa rally, in calculating our possible attendee pool. These phony ticket requests never factor into our thinking."

CNN previously reported that a Trump campaign official had pushed back on the suggestion that such posts played a role in the turnout, telling CNN on Saturday, "We had legitimate 300k signups of Republicans who voted in the last four elections. Those are not [TikTok] kids. It was fear of violent protests. This is obvious with the lack of families and children at the rally. We normally have thousands of families."

While the TikTok effort seems to have overwhelmingly involved teens and other young people, Mary Jo Laupp, a 51-year-old grandmother living in Fort Dodge, Iowa, appears to have played a central role in encouraging people to go to Trump's website, register to attend the event -- and not attend. "All of those of us that want to see this 19,000 seat auditorium barely filled or completely empty go reserve tickets now and leave him standing alone there on the stage," Laupp told her then-1,000 or so followers on TikTok. And then, alongside the choreographed dances, comedic dares and schoolyard pranks, the grandmother's prompt became a challenge of its own. Inspired users began posting videos showing they too registered for the event. Similar posts on Instagram and Twitter clocked up thousands of likes.

https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/21/politics/tiktok-trump-tulsa-rally/index.html

[zanana1]

37. Can anybody say "censorship"?

[BumRushDaShow]

38. Well apparently this "distraction" was just negated by this announcement--

https://www.democraticunderground.com/10142585495