IPFS

Banning Chinese Enterprises Part of US War on the Country by Other Means

Written by Subject: China

Banning Chinese Enterprises Part of US War on the Country by Other Means

by Stephen Lendman (stephenlendman.org - Home - Stephen Lendman)

Since Trump took office, over 150 tech-related Chinese companies were blacklisted from doing business in the US.

Falsely accused of threatening US national security, banning them from the US market is all about wanting China's economic, industrial, and technological development weakened to give corporate America a competitive advantage — along with wanting the main challenge to US hegemonic aims undermined.

Blacklisted firms are barred from purchasing US technology without Washington's permission.

Trump regime war on Chinese tech giant Huawei and its 70 affiliate companies by consigning them to the so-called US entity list is the most significant example of its anti-China dirty tricks.

Banning video-sharing TikTok from operating in the US under Chinese ownership, and the WeChat mobile text and voice messaging communication service, are the latest examples of hostile US war on China by other means.

They keep mounting with no likely end to hostile US actions. China's only option is fighting fire with fire, the only language hardliners in Washington understand.

Time and again, diplomatic outreach accomplishes nothing when tried. Hegemons demand subservience, rejecting mutual cooperation.

TikTok's general manager Vanessa Pappas responded to Trump's unacceptable executive order.

She accused the Trump regime of acting "without any due process," inventing phony accusations about the company posing a US national security threat — a bald-faced Big Lie.

Since last year, TikTok's management "sought to engage with the US government in good faith to provide a constructive solution to the concerns that have been expressed," adding: 

"What we encountered instead was that the (Trump regime) paid no attention to facts, dictated terms of an agreement without going through standard legal processes, and tried to insert itself into negotiations between private businesses."

Trump's EO invented its own reality that's polar opposite the real thing, citing no evidence backing its hostile accusations and allegations.

Nothing suggests the company "share(s) user data with the Chinese government, nor censors content at its request."

TikTok's Transparency Center makes available its "moderation guidelines and algorithm source code, maintaining "a level of accountability no peer company has committed to."

Banning TikTok and other Chinese companies from the US market "undermine(s) trust in (its) commitment to the rule of law" it long ago abandoned on the world stage in pursuit of its imperial interests extrajudicially.

Pappas vowed to pursue all legal avenues judicially to reverse the Trump regime's hostile action.

Around 100 million Americans use the platform. No evidence suggests its management violates their rights, safety, security and trust.

Pappas urged them to express their opinions about the platform and Trump's hostile action to their representatives in Congress and the White House.

Separately, Pappas announced "three new measures to combat misinformation, disinformation, and other content that may be designed to disrupt the 2020 election" as follows:

"1. We're updating our policies on misleading content to provide better clarity on what is and isn't allowed on TikTok." 

"2. We're broadening our fact-checking partnerships to help verify election-related misinformation, and adding an in-app reporting option for election misinformation."

"3. We're working with experts including the US Department of Homeland Security to protect against foreign influence on our platform."

The company is also partnering with the National Association for Media Literacy Education in launching its "safety video series."

Its "Community Guidelines prohibit misinformation that could cause harm to our community or the larger public, including content that misleads people about elections or other civic processes, content distributed by disinformation campaigns, and health misinformation." 

A new policy "prohibits synthetic or manipulated content that misleads users by distorting the truth of events in a way that could cause harm." 

Its "intent is to protect users from things like shallow or deep fakes, so while this kind of content was broadly covered by our guidelines already, this update makes the policy clearer for our users."

Company guidelines and terms of service "apply to everyone who uses TikTok and all content they post."

No political ads are accepted. Fact-checking eliminates misinformation and disinformation.

TikTok works with DHS to "help stop the threat and dangers of foreign influence on elections" — even though no credible evidence suggests it ever interferes in the US electoral process, polar opposite US meddling in scores of elections worldwide.

The company understands that "(m)isinformation, disinformation, and threats to civic engagement are challenges no platform can ignore." 

"By working together as an industry with experts and civil society organizations, we can better protect the civic processes that are so essential to our users."

Banning TikTok from the US market under Chinese ownership, along with scores of other Chinese tech companies, reflects unacceptable Trump regime war on China by other means that surely won't go unanswered.

VISIT MY WEBSITE: stephenlendman.org (Home - Stephen Lendman). Contact at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.

My two Wall Street books are timely reading:

"How Wall Street Fleeces America: Privatized Banking, Government Collusion, and Class War"

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"Banker Occupation: Waging Financial War on Humanity"

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