China condemns US TikTok deal as ‘unpalatable’
Chinese state media outlets are urging Beijing to kill what they call an “unfair” and “unpalatable” deal intended to keep TikTok operating in the US.
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Chinese media is urging Beijing to terminate what they are describing as a “dirty” and “unpalatable” deal intended to keep TikTok afloat in the United States.
Prominent state-run publications China Daily and the Global Times have lambasted an arrangement that would give American companies short-term partial ownership of the video-sharing app, whose parent company is Beijing-based ByteDance.
“What the United States has done to TikTok is almost the same as a gangster forcing an unreasonable and unfair business deal on a legitimate company,” China Daily wrote in an editorial.
The editorial described the tentative American ownership deal as a “dirty and underhanded trick.”
The terms of the deal have caused some confusion.
The initial announcement suggested that ByteDance would continue to own a majority of TikTok but it was unclear how the Trump administration would allay its fears of Chinese interference in national security via Beijing’s control of the app and its data.
US President Donald Trump has stated that investors Walmart and Oracle would “own the controlling interest.”
According to CNN, a new US entity — TikTok Global — will be partially owned by ByteDance’s international and Chinese investors, but that ByteDance itself will hold zero per cent of the company to be created by the deal to run the app outside of China.
“It seems as if TikTok can remain in the US. But only if ByteDance allows Oracle and Walmart to effectively take over the company,” China Daily concluded.
“China has no reason to give the green light to such a deal.”
The Global Times, also run by Beijing, called on Chinese regulators to block the deal.
“It’s hard for us to believe that Beijing will approve such an agreement,” the Global Times stated.
The publication called the deal “extortion” and an “unpalatable gambit”.
The editorials were published in English, suggesting that they were intended for an international audience.
It is not clear if Beijing still needs to or has the power to review the deal.
Experts have pointed out that new regulations would likely require ByteDance to obtain government permission before selling TikTok to a foreign company.
While ByteDance has said that Oracle would be able to review the app’s source code, the deal will not involve the transfer of algorithms and technologies.
TIKTOK SAYS ‘DARK WEB’ TO BLAME FOR SUICIDE
A video of man committing suicide that appeared on popular video platform TikTok this month was “the result of a co-ordinated raid from the dark web”, the company says.
Deeply disturbing footage of 33-year-old American man Ronnie McNutt ending his life was first shown on Facebook live before it went viral on TikTok, shocking users when it automatically played in their “For You” video stream without warning.
Its spread was particularly harmful given TikTok’s large audience of young teens.
Since appearing on Facebook on August 31, parts of the six-minute video have also appeared on sites including Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube.
TikTok’s European director of public policy, Theo Bertram, told British MPs the video was shared on the video app in a “co-ordinated attack” a week after it was originally recorded.
“We learned that groups operating on the dark web made plans to raid social media platforms, including TikTok, in order to spread the video across the internet,” Mr Bertram, said according to The Guardian.
“What we saw was a group of users who were repeatedly attempting to upload the video to our platform, and splicing it, editing it, cutting it in different ways.”
Mr Bertram said TikTok has proposed a “global coalition” with Facebook, Instagram, Google, YouTube, Twitter, Twitch and Snapchat, Pinterest and Reddit to share information to help protect users against harmful content.
TIKTOK DENIES SPYING ON AUSSIES
Besieged social network TikTok has denied it censored or shared information from thousands of Australian users with the Chinese Government, and claimed it was under “more scrutiny” than any other social network “due to the company’s origins”.
The video-sharing platform’s Australian general manager Lee Hunter made the comments in a submission to Australia’s inquiry into Foreign Interference Through Social Media on Monday, just days before the company’s executives were due to appear before the Senate committee.
It also comes a day after TikTok narrowly avoided a ban on app downloads in the United States by striking a deal to shift responsibility for its American users to Oracle and Walmart.
The short video-sharing service, popular for everything from dance videos to scathing political commentary, has amassed more than 680 million users worldwide, including more than 1.6 million users in Australia, Roy Morgan estimates.
But TikTok has also been widely criticised over potential national security risks, with Liberal Senator and former army major general Jim Molan pointing to claims that it could be a “data collection service disguised as social media,” and Labor Senator Jenny McAllister, chair of the social media inquiry, warning Australians about how the app could use their information.
“There have been credible reports that TikTok takes more data than its users would expect, and moderates content for reasons that its users may not be comfortable with,” she warned.
“We want Australians to have confidence that the only thing to worry about when using TikTok is the quality of their dance moves.”
In a statement to the inquiry, Mr Hunter said the company had received more attention than any other social network due to ownership by Chinese firm ByteDance and it did not “want TikTok to be a political football”.
But Mr Hunter said TikTok would endeavour to provide more transparency around its operations to address concerns around security issues, and denied it had received requests for users’ personal information from Chinese officials.
“To date, we have not received any (mutual legal assistance treaty) requests in respect of Australian user data, nor have we received requests to censor Australian content from, the Chinese Government,” he said in the statement.
Under the 2017 Chinese National Intelligence Law, Chinese organisations and citizens are obligated to provide intelligence for government officials who ask for it.
TikTok currently requests access to a user’s phone number, email address and contacts, as well as location, camera, microphone and files on their smartphone.
Over the weekend, TikTok narrowly avoided a ban on downloads of its app in the United States after President Donald Trump demanded the company divest its American operations over national security fears.
TikTok has since reached a deal with software firm Oracle and retail chain Walmart that has received “in concept” approval from President Trump.
It’s not yet clear how this will affect local users, however, with the company’s Australian, New Zealand and Canadian operations initially included in a potential Microsoft deal.
Mr Hunter said TikTok would ”provide the Select Committee updates on such changes as and when appropriate”.
TikTok executives are due to appear before the Australian Senate on Friday.
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Meanwhile, a US judge blocked the government’s ban on WeChat downloads, hours before it was due to take effect in an ongoing technology and espionage battle between Washington and Beijing.
The Trump administration had ordered a ban on downloads of the messaging platform WeChat, owned by Chinese technology giant TenCent. The ban has now been suspended.
A California court ruling said it granted a “motion for a nationwide injunction against the implementation” of the government order on WeChat, with the judge citing concerns over free speech.
The order would have slowed WeChat down and made it unusable in the United States for video chats with family and friends, according to experts.
WeChat has around 19 million active daily users in the US.
WHAT TO DO IF YOU NEED HELP:
* If a life is in danger, ring triple-0
* Kids Helpline: 1800 55 1800. Online support is open from 8am-midnight
• Suicide Callback Service: 1300 659 467
• eHeadspace: 1800 650 890
• Lifeline: 13 11 14. Online support 7pm-4am daily
• Beyondblue. 1300 22 4636. Online support 3pm-midnight
Originally published as China condemns US TikTok deal as ‘unpalatable’