January 26, 2025 • 24 mins
Is TikTok truly a national security threat, or was it just a target in a personal vendetta by former (& now current) President Donald Trump? Join me, Daijné Jones, on The Napkin In Between Podcast as we unravel the tangled web of politics and personal grievances that fueled the explosive debate over the TikTok ban in the United States. This episode promises a thorough exploration of the contentious journey from Trump's initial claims to the potential sale to Microsoft, all while questioning the real motives behind the headlines. Was it all about safeguarding data, or did it have more to do with Trump’s portrayal on the app?
Travel with us through a timeline marked by high-stakes political maneuvers, from the routing of U.S. TikTok traffic to Oracle to the controversial bipartisan bill linking its fate to international aid. We lay bare the strategic decisions of political leaders, including President Biden's pivotal role, and reflect on TikTok CEO's actions under pressure. Were they strategic defenses or mere surrenders? This episode is a comprehensive guide to understanding the political theatre and business interests that have shaped TikTok's turbulent history in the U.S., offering insights into the broader implications for free speech and user privacy.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Daijné (00:00):
Is this thing on?
Hello, hello, uh-oh, anotheryapper with a mic.
Hello everyone, and welcomeback to The Napkin In Between
Podcast.
I'm your host, Daijné Jones,and, girl, you already know what
we're going to talk about todaythis TikTok ban and everything
(00:24):
that surrounds it.
Okay, I've just done like sixhours.
I'm not kidding, that is not anexaggeration.
I have just done six hours ofresearch.
I have like 10 pages here,front and back, of the entire
timeline from when this wholeTikTok ban thing first started
(00:46):
to present day, because I needy'all to understand that Donald
Trump did not save TikTok.
Donald Trump is, in fact, thereason that the security of
TikTok and this conversationabout China stealing our data is
happening in the first place.
He started this entireconversation, so let's get into
(01:08):
it.
It is a lot of information here.
I'm gonna try to make this flowas as good as possible, but,
girl, my brain is spinning rightnow.
There's so much information, solet's get into it.
So in 2020 was the first timethat the us government announced
it was considering banningtiktok, upon request from then
President Donald Trump, whoviewed the app as a national
security threat.
(01:28):
So let's talk about thisnational security threat.
Tiktok is owned by ByteDance,which is a company based in
China.
Now, this claim of nationalsecurity threat comes from the
fact that when you downloadTikTok and you create a profile
different things like that ithas access to some of your data.
Now, most of the data is justabout your phone, and the thing
(01:51):
that they're trying to say is anational security threat is that
, in its privacy policies,ByteDance reserves the right to
share any information withChinese authorities.
Now, there's never been, to myknowledge, any actual data that
they've shared with the Chinesegovernment, but they reserve the
right to.
Now why would China want toshare US user data with the
(02:11):
Chinese government?
The threat that they're sayingis that they can manipulate
content in order to influencethe user to essentially like
revolt against the US government.
So Trump starts thisconversation that TikTok is a
national security threat.
In July of 2020, Donald Trumpannounced his decision ordering
China's ByteDance to divestownership of TikTok and
(02:34):
threatened to shut down USoperations through executive
action as soon as August 1st ifthey didn't comply.
So, after that, Microsoft isreported to be in talks with
acquiring TikTok, and Trumpannounces that he plans to ban
TikTok in the US and he signalsopposition to any sale.
He is again trying to say thatit's a national security threat.
So even the sale to a UScompany is not good enough.
(02:57):
But the real tea is that therewas really no evidence of a
national security threat.
He just didn't like his image onthe app.
That's number.
He didn't like how people werecriticizing him on the app and
because of TikTok's algorithm,it's easier to get information
out, because typically TikTokwill give you content that
you've interacted with in thepast or content that they think
(03:18):
that you may like, and so hedidn't like the virality of his
negative image on TikTok.
Number two people were pullingY'all are so fucking unserious.
People were pulling pranks onDonald Trump and they were going
viral through TikTok.
So one of the biggest ones washe was having a rally in
(03:39):
Oklahoma and so many people hadsigned up saying that they were
going to attend the rally tomake the size of his rally seem
that it was going to be waybigger, and then on the date of
the actual rally, it was muchsmaller than he had expected it
to be, and you know how Trump isabout his rally sizes and how
many people are there.
He do not play that shit.
(04:00):
He wants his rallies to be bigbecause he's a narcissist and he
needs a big stage, anyway.
So that's what TikTok userswere arguing was that the
national security threat wasjust a cover to justify the ban.
But what the actual issue wasthat he didn't like his image on
the app and he didn't like that.
People were pulling pranks onhim.
Security researchers at the timealso expressed concerns about
(04:23):
limitations on free speech ifthe app were to be banned.
So they were basically sayinglike there was no real national
security threat.
It was more of a limitation ofspeech.
For um American users, however,initially ByteDance was just
kind of like okay, we, you know,we're not going to really fight
this.
So on October or, I'm sorry, onAugust 1st, they agreed to
(04:46):
divest TikTok outright toprevent a ban in the US and
other countries like Japan,Pakistan and Australia, where
restrictions were also beingconsidered.
So initially they were justlike all right, girl, you got it
, we will sell, chill out, youdon't need to ban the app.
So they initially sought tomaintain a minority interest in
the sale to a US buyer, and apreliminary deal of TikTok to
(05:06):
Microsoft was submitted toDonald Trump for review.
The deal basically said thatMicrosoft would assume data
management responsibilities, andthe preliminary terms also
allowed American investors inTikTok to eventually acquire
minority stakes in TikTokpost-sale.
Then one day later, on August2nd 2020, the Wall Street
Journal reports that Microsofthas paused talks with ByteDance.
(05:28):
And then later that day,microsoft confirmed that talks
were paused until a conversationbetween CEO of Microsoft, Satya
Nadella, and Donald Trump washeld.
So then White House advisorspersuaded Donald Trump to hold
off on an outright ban becauseof possible legal and political
repercussions.
So basically, they knew thatjust outright banning the app
could have legal repercussionsfrom TikTok and ByteDance.
(05:49):
They also talked about thepolitical repercussions because
of so many Americans who were onthe app.
If he banned the app, it wouldhurt him for reelection for a
second term.
So then Donald Trump agreed toput a 45 day hold on any action
against TikTok to allowByteDance to divest the platform
to Microsoft or anotherAmerican-owned corporation.
Then, on August 6, 2020, DonaldTrump signs an executive order
(06:11):
banning TikTok in 45 days if notsold by ByteDance.
And then I'm not sure whatreally happened between August 6
and August 14, but on August 14, he issues a new executive
order giving ByteDance 90 daysto sell or be banned.
In the order, Donald Trump saidthat there was credible
evidence that ByteDance mighttake action that threatens the
national security of the UnitedStates.
(06:32):
So now people are racing.
They're trying to buy TikTok.
On August 17th, Oracle entersthe race to buy TikTok
operations in Canada, US,Australia and New Zealand.
Then, at this point, TikTok andByteDance are like you know
what?
We're not just gonna sell anddo what you want us to do.
We're gonna fight this.
So on August 21st 2020, TikTokannounces plans to file legal
(06:53):
action against the Trumpadministration.
They argued that the order tosell was motivated by Donald
Trump's efforts to boostre-election support through
protectionist trade policiesaimed at China.
They also said that TikTok andByteDance were deprived of due
process rights under the fifthamendment that applied to
foreign and domestic businesses.
They said that the presidentialorder failed to provide
evidence that TikTok was anational security threat.
(07:15):
They also said that the orderrelied on a May 2019 national
emergency declaration withrespect to securing the
information and communicationtechnology and services supply
chain, rather than involving anew emergency declaration.
They said that the purportednational security threat
identified by the Committee onForeign Investment in the United
States was based on outdatednews articles and did not
(07:35):
address demonstrative datasecurity documentation provided
by TikTok.
So, basically, they haveprovided documentation which
showed that there was nonational security threat and
this order for it to be bannedwas based off of outdated news
articles that were found to bebaseless.
ByteDance pointed out that manyof its top personnel, including
then CEO, Kevin Mayer, was basedin the US and not subject to
(07:56):
Chinese aw, and contentmoderation was led by
independent US-based technicalstaff.
So then, on September 13th 2020, ByteDance tells Microsoft that
it will not sell TikTok's USoperations to them because
Microsoft wanted to acquireTikTok's algorithm and other AI
technology.
So, basically, the initial dealthat ByteDance had agreed to
(08:16):
with Microsoft was that it wouldsell, you know, the management
of US user data and differentthings like that.
Microsoft got greedy, as thesefucking billionaires do, and
they also wanted the algorithmand other artificial
intelligence that was connectedto TikTok.
So, basically, how I'm seeingit and what I think happened is
it kind of became like TikTokand ByteDance were Mr.
(08:37):
Krabs and Microsoft becamePlankton and he basically was
like we want your secret formula.
The TikTok algorithm is so muchbetter than algorithms on any
other social media platform.
Tiktok shows you what you wantto see.
I said this in another episode.
The way that the algorithm isset up, the way that their app
is set up unprecedented and theycouldn't figure out how to do
(08:59):
it.
So they wanted the algorithm.
So Microsoft wanted the secretformula.
And ByteDance said bitch hell,no, you are not getting tickets
to that show, but I love yourenthusiasm.
And so, at this point, wasByteDance's first suggestion
that it would rather shut downin the US than sell to a US
company.
And then, on the same day,September 13th of 2020, TikTok
(09:20):
reported that it had chosenOracle to sell to.
So, with this, partnershipByteDance would transfer the
management of TikTok's US userdata to Oracle's cloud services
and possibly offer it and otherinvestors expanded minority
stakes in US operations, whileallowing ByteDance to keep
control of TikTok's businessassets and intellectual property
.
So, basically, ByteDance wouldstill have the algorithm and the
(09:43):
artificial intelligence, butOracle would have management of
US user data and it would betransferred to Oracle's cloud
services.
But that wasn't enough.
The Trump administration didn'tlike that deal.
It wasn't good enough for them,and so, on September 18th 2020,
the Associated Press reportedthat the US would proceed with
the ban on TikTok.
So the first thing that wouldhappen would be that on
September 20th 2020, youwouldn't be able to download
(10:05):
TikTok anymore, so it would beremoved from the App Store, so
you wouldn't be able to find iton, you know, the apple app
store, google play, any of that.
And then on November 12th, itwould become a complete ban and
even if you had the appdownloaded on your phone, you
wouldn't be able to use the app.
So then, one day after thisreport, on September 19 2020,
TikTok and ByteDance filed acomplaint in Washington
challenging Donald Trump'sadministration's recent moves to
(10:27):
prevent the app from operatingin the US and said that he did
it for political reasons ratherthan the national security
threat.
In response to this filedcomplaint, the Trump
administration delayed the banby one week, but then, on
September 23rd 2020, tiktokfiled a request for a
preliminary injunction toprevent the ban and on September
27th, the preliminaryinjunction was approved by Judge
Carl J Nichols.
(10:48):
Then we jump to Biden'sadministration, because on
January 20th 2021, Trump leavesoffice and Biden is sworn in.
So then, in June of 2021, Bidensigns an executive order which
revokes the Trump administrationban on TikTok and instead
orders the Secretary of Commerceto investigate the app to
determine if it actually poses anational security threat.
And on June 25th 2021, CNBCreports that direction of
(11:11):
approvals for all kinds ofdecision making come from
ByteDance leadership, which isbased in China, and, according
to Jim Lewis, who is a strategictechnologies researcher at the
Center for Strategic andInternational Studies, "if the
Chinese government wants to lookat the data that ByteDance is
collecting, they can do so andno one can say anything about it
.
Also, in 2021, there was aninternal data leak released by
(11:32):
whistleblower francis hagen fromthen known company facebook,
which is now meta, which showedthat it was aware of harmful
societal effects from itsplatform, yet prioritized profit
over addressing the harms.
The report revealed the companywas fully aware of negative
impacts on teen users ofinstagram and of a contribution
of Facebook activity to violencein developing countries.
(11:53):
The leak also included theimpact of the company's platform
spreading false information andFacebook's policy of promoting
inflammatory posts.
Also, facebook was fully awarethat harmful content was being
pushed through Facebookalgorithms reaching young users.
This content included postspromoting anorexia and self-harm
photos.
So essentially, there was aleak by someone who worked at
Facebook, basically showing thatFacebook and Instagram were
(12:15):
aware of harmful effects thatwere happening on their app.
However, instead of addressingthis harm, they prioritized
money.
Facebook or Meta, to myknowledge, have never faced a
ban, though, so that's crazy.
So, following this leak, whichbecame known as facebook files,
in Cctober 2021, a bipartisangroup of lawmakers pressed
(12:37):
TikTok, YouTube and Snapchat onquestions of data privacy and
moderation for age appropriatecontent.
Lawmakers questioned MichaelBeckerman, who was the head of
US policy a t TikTok, about apossible national security
threat and whether ByteDancecould expose consumer data to
Beijing.
During this questioning, TikToktold US lawmakers it doesn't
give information to the Chinesegovernment and that data on US
(13:00):
users is stored in the US withbackups in Singapore.
A TikTok company representativealso says that TikTok has no
affiliation with subsidiaryBeijing.
Bying by dance technology,which the Chinese government has
minority stake and a board seatin.
Then, in June of 2022, reportsemerged that ByteDance employees
in China could access US dataand repeatedly access the
(13:21):
private information of TikTokusers.
So basically, ByteDanceemployees in China say like hey,
we do have access to your dataand we can see the private
information of TikTok users.
Um, like what if I said I don'tgive a fuck, then what, like my
thing, is this whole thingabout like they can access our
data and blah, blah, blah.
I and maybe it's just becauseI'm ignorant and I've tried to
(13:45):
research it and I haven't gottenan answer that I care about,
but it's just like.
What data?
Like what are you gonna see onmy phone photos of me and my dog
?
Like I don't, I'm notunderstanding why it's such a
big deal if they can access ourdata because, mind you, facebook
and Mark Zuckerberg wereselling our data to China.
(14:08):
So it's just like y'all didn'tgive a fuck then why do you give
a fuck now?
Like don't they already haveour data, or some of it at least
?
If, if Mark Zuckerberg wasselling it to them?
Like I just don't understandwhy I should give a shit.
There's nothing on my phonethat they would, they would care
about.
And I seen this one explanationof people being like, like they
(14:29):
can manipulate the content toessentially make US users not
like America, and it's just liketoo late, but that's not
China's fault, that's America'sfault.
Like I already don't trust thegovernment, I already don't like
those bitches, and that again,is not China's fault, but anyway
.
So, following the reports thatByteDance employees in China
(14:50):
could access user data and hadseen private information on
TikTok users.
Tiktok announced that 100% ofUS user traffic would be routed
to the Oracle cloud and intendedto delete US users' data from
their own data centers.
And then, on June 24th and 28thof 2022, Federal Communications
Commissioner Brendon Carrcalled for Google and Apple to
(15:11):
remove TikTok from its appstores, citing a national
security threat.
And then, in November of 2022,senators Mark Warner and Tom
Cotton called for a greateraction against TikTok, and
Representative Mike Gallagherannounced intentions to
introduce legislation to banTikTok.
In December of 2022, FBIDirector Chris Wray warned about
security threats posed byTikTok and, in response, South
(15:34):
Dakota and many other states,many of which were controlled by
the republican party, bannedthe use of TikTok on government
computers and smartphones.
Now see, that makes sense to me.
If you're so worried about theChinese stealing our data, then
ban the use of TikTok ongovernment phones and computers.
That's where they would be ableto get information that
actually matters, not my littlephone, where I'm just have
(15:55):
pictures of me and my dogs andmy friends.
Why would I care if they havethose?
Those are posted all over theinternet anyway, so it's like
why are you worried about me?
I'm not a government officialand, mind you, us government
officials have their ownaccounts on TikTok.
Like, be so fucking for realanyway.
And and then later, in Decemberof 2022, congress passes a bill
(16:16):
to ban TikTok on federaldevices.
And again, that makes sense tome.
If you're worried about anational security threat, then
just don't have it ongovernment-issued bones and
computers.
That's where all the importantinformation is now Like, not on
my phone.
And then in March of 2023 2023Trump posted social media saying
both the democrats andrepublicans had "come to realize
(16:38):
that I was right regardingtiktok and it needing to be
banned because it was nationalsecurity threat.
Of course he needed to postabout it because he needs an ego
boost, whatever.
But then, in march of 2024,trump reverses his position on
banning tiktok and advocates forthe app to not be banned, while
he was arguing that the app'snational security and data
privacy concerns still neededaddressed.
(16:59):
Banning TikTok would empowerFacebook, which he labeled the
enemy of the people.
This announcement came afterTrump had a meeting with Jeff
Yass, who is a Republican donorwho owns a significant stake in
ByteDance.
Very convenient that his switchin position comes after he has
a meeting with a Republicandonor who has a lot of stakes in
ByteDance.
(17:20):
And then, in April of 2024,Biden signed public law 118-50,
effectively banning TikTok inthe US in 2025 unless sold from
its parent company.
Now let's talk about this lawthat Biden signed into effect.
So bill 118-50 was introducedin the house by Kathy McMorris
Rodgers, a republican fromWashington, in February of 2023.
(17:43):
The bipartisan bill includedthe 21st century peace through
strength act, which itselfincluded the protecting
americans from foreignadversaryations Act, the act
that would ban TikTok.
It also included US aid forUkraine, Israel and Gaza.
So the issue with TikTok wasfolded into this bill with other
(18:06):
bigger things.
So I think had it been a billall by itself, it probably
wouldn't have gotten passed, butunfortunately it was folded
into this bigger bill and by notsigning the bill, there would
have been no aid for, you know,Israel, Gaza, Ukraine.
So the bill is signed into lawand now we're here with the app
(18:27):
going dark for what?
14 hours and then coming back.
And then today, January 20th, iswhat I'm filming this, Trump
signed an executive order togive TikTok a 75 day extension.
So since he signed thisexecutive order and we got that
stupid fuck ass message fromwhen TikTok was restored,
basically saying like thank you,President Trump, for saving
(18:50):
TikTok.
You don't get to be the herofor a problem that you started.
This entire bullshit about theChinese stealing our data
started with Trump.
I really need people tounderstand.
This is a classic manipulation,abusive tactic For the abuser to
(19:12):
cause a problem, fix saidproblem and then be like look,
I'm good for you because I fixedthis problem.
Mind you, I wouldn't have thisproblem in the first place if
you had not created it, and I'm.
I've gone back and forth on howI feel about Shou.
I can't decide if I feel likehe bent the knee and kissed the
(19:35):
ring or if he is essentiallylike playing in Donald Trump's
face.
Because here's my thing whenyou're in an abusive
relationship, sometimes you haveto tell the abuser what they
want to hear to, in some cases,stay alive.
So, if we look at it throughthe lens of like Shou and TikTok
, he wants TikTok to stay alivein the US.
(19:56):
So is he genuinely just tellingTrump what he wants to hear to
boost his ego, or did heactually sell out?
I don't know.
I've seen arguments for bothsides and I can kind of see it
going either way.
First of all, he's a man, so Idon't trust him.
Second of all, he's amillionaire, so I don't trust
him.
But I just hope that I feellike he fought so hard and I
(20:19):
just hope that he wouldn'tswitch up at the very end.
But I mean, we've seen switchups before with Snoop performing
at the crypto ball.
Like what the fuck that hurt meso bad seeing seeing Snoop do
that.
But I hope that this timelinewas helpful.
I understand it was a lot ofinformation and if I missed
anything, please feel free toadd it in the comments or
(20:39):
anything like that.
But I felt like it wasimportant to go through the
entire timeline because I needpeople to understand Trump is
the reason this entireconversation started and you
don't get to be the hero for anissue that you yourself started
so I don't give a shit what theytry to sell me.
I don't care how much they tryto make me thank Trump for
(21:01):
bringing TikTok back.
Call it a JLo concert ticketbitch.
I'm not fucking buying it.
Now that TikTok has beenrestored and Trump kind of has
his hand in it.
I am a little bit scared for thefuture of the app.
I definitely don't think itwill be the same, even after
it's only been a day at thispoint, when I'm filming this and
(21:21):
the app is already not the same.
I was seeing videos of peoplesaying that you know, if you try
to search up Donald Trumprigged election no videos show
up for users in the US, and I'veseen people in the comments of
those videos being like I'm in,you know this other country and
I'm searching it and I can stillsee everything, but if you're
in the US and you search it, youcan't see it.
So I fear that the censorshiphas already started, which is
(21:45):
why I kind of feel like maybeShou did sell out and he's not
just telling Trump what he wantsto hear in order to save his
app.
Ugh, I hate to say it, but itcould very well turn into like
another Twitter or Instagram ofjust being heavily censored if
you say anything in oppositionto Elon Musk or Donald Trump,
and that is a violation of freespeech You're supposed to.
(22:07):
Free speech is protection fromthe government.
I'm trying to stay hopeful, butI also have to be realistic and
I really do worry that show mayhave sold government.
I'm trying to stay hopeful, butI also have to be realistic and
I really do worry that Shou mayhave sold out.
I'm also afraid for the futureof the app because Donald Trump
did sign the 75 day extensionbut he's also talked about, you
know, the US should have 50%ownership of TikTok and I really
(22:28):
really don't want that.
I really really don't.
I think I think again it'lljust go into us being censored
and any opposition to Trump orElon Musk.
I feel like with tiktok, blackcreators are already censored
and limited on what we can say,especially those who post, like
the social issues, content likeracism and homophobia and
(22:49):
different things like that, andso with Trump's hand in it, I
think the censorship is justgoing to go from bad to worse.
So, depending on what happenswith TikTok, my goal has always
kind of been to get off ofTikTok, just because of the
censorship that it's had alreadywith with my content and things
that I say.
But if Trump has his hand in it, I will be getting off TikTok
sooner rather than later.
(23:09):
So I don't know, we'll have tosee what happens, but I just
hope that people will stay alert.
Now more than ever, we need tobe alert, we need to be mindful,
we need to be watching becauseshit's getting weird.
Shit's getting weird and I'mI'm so upset because I already
know that so many people aregonna fall for this trump save
tiktok bullshit.
They did it with the stimuluschecks.
(23:31):
You know, Trump didn't evenwant stimulus checks to go out.
He postponed them because hedidn't want them and then
eventually he wanted to just puthis name on it so that people
could be like this money camefrom Trump.
He did it with yhe bordercrisis.
There was a bipartisan bill andTrump called I believe it was
republicans in the senatebasically told them to kill the
bill because he wanted to run onthe promise of fixing the
(23:52):
border.
So I mean, mean, it's workedfor him in the past and I'm sure
it'll continue to work for himuntil he is able to brainwash as
many people as he can.
But I just hope that you guyswill continue to do the research
and continue to look into.
You know everything that'shappening.
Yes, TikTok is back for now,but at what cost?
You know what are the changes,what's what is really going on
(24:14):
with the app?
So I will supply as muchinformation as I can, but I also
want to encourage you all to doyour own research and just be
vigilant and be mindful of whatis happening, because shit's
getting weird and shit's onlygoing to continue to get weirder
.
Ok, I feel like I've saideverything I need to say on this
topic, so I'm done talking now.
Thank you for tuning in to thisweek's episode.
(24:35):
I hope everyone is having agood day, except for that orange
drink lady, and I will see youguys in the next episode.
Peace and love.
Talk to you later.
The Napkin in Between, hostedby Daijné Jones, produced by
Daijné Jones, post-production byDaijné Jones, music by Sam
Champagne and graphics by IsmaVidal.
Is this thing on?
Hello, hello, uh-oh, anotheryapper with a mic.
Hello everyone, and welcomeback to The Napkin In Between
Podcast.
I'm your host, Daijné Jones,and, girl, you already know what
we're going to talk about todaythis TikTok ban and everything
(00:24):
that surrounds it.
Okay, I've just done like sixhours.
I'm not kidding, that is not anexaggeration.
I have just done six hours ofresearch.
I have like 10 pages here,front and back, of the entire
timeline from when this wholeTikTok ban thing first started
(00:46):
to present day, because I needy'all to understand that Donald
Trump did not save TikTok.
Donald Trump is, in fact, thereason that the security of
TikTok and this conversationabout China stealing our data is
happening in the first place.
He started this entireconversation, so let's get into
(01:08):
it.
It is a lot of information here.
I'm gonna try to make this flowas as good as possible, but,
girl, my brain is spinning rightnow.
There's so much information, solet's get into it.
So in 2020 was the first timethat the us government announced
it was considering banningtiktok, upon request from then
President Donald Trump, whoviewed the app as a national
security threat.
(01:28):
So let's talk about thisnational security threat.
Tiktok is owned by ByteDance,which is a company based in
China.
Now, this claim of nationalsecurity threat comes from the
fact that when you downloadTikTok and you create a profile
different things like that ithas access to some of your data.
Now, most of the data is justabout your phone, and the thing
(01:51):
that they're trying to say is anational security threat is that
, in its privacy policies,ByteDance reserves the right to
share any information withChinese authorities.
Now, there's never been, to myknowledge, any actual data that
they've shared with the Chinesegovernment, but they reserve the
right to.
Now why would China want toshare US user data with the
(02:11):
Chinese government?
The threat that they're sayingis that they can manipulate
content in order to influencethe user to essentially like
revolt against the US government.
So Trump starts thisconversation that TikTok is a
national security threat.
In July of 2020, Donald Trumpannounced his decision ordering
China's ByteDance to divestownership of TikTok and
(02:34):
threatened to shut down USoperations through executive
action as soon as August 1st ifthey didn't comply.
So, after that, Microsoft isreported to be in talks with
acquiring TikTok, and Trumpannounces that he plans to ban
TikTok in the US and he signalsopposition to any sale.
He is again trying to say thatit's a national security threat.
So even the sale to a UScompany is not good enough.
(02:57):
But the real tea is that therewas really no evidence of a
national security threat.
He just didn't like his image onthe app.
That's number.
He didn't like how people werecriticizing him on the app and
because of TikTok's algorithm,it's easier to get information
out, because typically TikTokwill give you content that
you've interacted with in thepast or content that they think
(03:18):
that you may like, and so hedidn't like the virality of his
negative image on TikTok.
Number two people were pullingY'all are so fucking unserious.
People were pulling pranks onDonald Trump and they were going
viral through TikTok.
So one of the biggest ones washe was having a rally in
(03:39):
Oklahoma and so many people hadsigned up saying that they were
going to attend the rally tomake the size of his rally seem
that it was going to be waybigger, and then on the date of
the actual rally, it was muchsmaller than he had expected it
to be, and you know how Trump isabout his rally sizes and how
many people are there.
He do not play that shit.
(04:00):
He wants his rallies to be bigbecause he's a narcissist and he
needs a big stage, anyway.
So that's what TikTok userswere arguing was that the
national security threat wasjust a cover to justify the ban.
But what the actual issue wasthat he didn't like his image on
the app and he didn't like that.
People were pulling pranks onhim.
Security researchers at the timealso expressed concerns about
(04:23):
limitations on free speech ifthe app were to be banned.
So they were basically sayinglike there was no real national
security threat.
It was more of a limitation ofspeech.
For um American users, however,initially ByteDance was just
kind of like okay, we, you know,we're not going to really fight
this.
So on October or, I'm sorry, onAugust 1st, they agreed to
(04:46):
divest TikTok outright toprevent a ban in the US and
other countries like Japan,Pakistan and Australia, where
restrictions were also beingconsidered.
So initially they were justlike all right, girl, you got it
, we will sell, chill out, youdon't need to ban the app.
So they initially sought tomaintain a minority interest in
the sale to a US buyer, and apreliminary deal of TikTok to
(05:06):
Microsoft was submitted toDonald Trump for review.
The deal basically said thatMicrosoft would assume data
management responsibilities, andthe preliminary terms also
allowed American investors inTikTok to eventually acquire
minority stakes in TikTokpost-sale.
Then one day later, on August2nd 2020, the Wall Street
Journal reports that Microsofthas paused talks with ByteDance.
(05:28):
And then later that day,microsoft confirmed that talks
were paused until a conversationbetween CEO of Microsoft, Satya
Nadella, and Donald Trump washeld.
So then White House advisorspersuaded Donald Trump to hold
off on an outright ban becauseof possible legal and political
repercussions.
So basically, they knew thatjust outright banning the app
could have legal repercussionsfrom TikTok and ByteDance.
(05:49):
They also talked about thepolitical repercussions because
of so many Americans who were onthe app.
If he banned the app, it wouldhurt him for reelection for a
second term.
So then Donald Trump agreed toput a 45 day hold on any action
against TikTok to allowByteDance to divest the platform
to Microsoft or anotherAmerican-owned corporation.
Then, on August 6, 2020, DonaldTrump signs an executive order
(06:11):
banning TikTok in 45 days if notsold by ByteDance.
And then I'm not sure whatreally happened between August 6
and August 14, but on August 14, he issues a new executive
order giving ByteDance 90 daysto sell or be banned.
In the order, Donald Trump saidthat there was credible
evidence that ByteDance mighttake action that threatens the
national security of the UnitedStates.
(06:32):
So now people are racing.
They're trying to buy TikTok.
On August 17th, Oracle entersthe race to buy TikTok
operations in Canada, US,Australia and New Zealand.
Then, at this point, TikTok andByteDance are like you know
what?
We're not just gonna sell anddo what you want us to do.
We're gonna fight this.
So on August 21st 2020, TikTokannounces plans to file legal
(06:53):
action against the Trumpadministration.
They argued that the order tosell was motivated by Donald
Trump's efforts to boostre-election support through
protectionist trade policiesaimed at China.
They also said that TikTok andByteDance were deprived of due
process rights under the fifthamendment that applied to
foreign and domestic businesses.
They said that the presidentialorder failed to provide
evidence that TikTok was anational security threat.
(07:15):
They also said that the orderrelied on a May 2019 national
emergency declaration withrespect to securing the
information and communicationtechnology and services supply
chain, rather than involving anew emergency declaration.
They said that the purportednational security threat
identified by the Committee onForeign Investment in the United
States was based on outdatednews articles and did not
(07:35):
address demonstrative datasecurity documentation provided
by TikTok.
So, basically, they haveprovided documentation which
showed that there was nonational security threat and
this order for it to be bannedwas based off of outdated news
articles that were found to bebaseless.
ByteDance pointed out that manyof its top personnel, including
then CEO, Kevin Mayer, was basedin the US and not subject to
(07:56):
Chinese aw, and contentmoderation was led by
independent US-based technicalstaff.
So then, on September 13th 2020, ByteDance tells Microsoft that
it will not sell TikTok's USoperations to them because
Microsoft wanted to acquireTikTok's algorithm and other AI
technology.
So, basically, the initial dealthat ByteDance had agreed to
(08:16):
with Microsoft was that it wouldsell, you know, the management
of US user data and differentthings like that.
Microsoft got greedy, as thesefucking billionaires do, and
they also wanted the algorithmand other artificial
intelligence that was connectedto TikTok.
So, basically, how I'm seeingit and what I think happened is
it kind of became like TikTokand ByteDance were Mr.
(08:37):
Krabs and Microsoft becamePlankton and he basically was
like we want your secret formula.
The TikTok algorithm is so muchbetter than algorithms on any
other social media platform.
Tiktok shows you what you wantto see.
I said this in another episode.
The way that the algorithm isset up, the way that their app
is set up unprecedented and theycouldn't figure out how to do
(08:59):
it.
So they wanted the algorithm.
So Microsoft wanted the secretformula.
And ByteDance said bitch hell,no, you are not getting tickets
to that show, but I love yourenthusiasm.
And so, at this point, wasByteDance's first suggestion
that it would rather shut downin the US than sell to a US
company.
And then, on the same day,September 13th of 2020, TikTok
(09:20):
reported that it had chosenOracle to sell to.
So, with this, partnershipByteDance would transfer the
management of TikTok's US userdata to Oracle's cloud services
and possibly offer it and otherinvestors expanded minority
stakes in US operations, whileallowing ByteDance to keep
control of TikTok's businessassets and intellectual property
.
So, basically, ByteDance wouldstill have the algorithm and the
(09:43):
artificial intelligence, butOracle would have management of
US user data and it would betransferred to Oracle's cloud
services.
But that wasn't enough.
The Trump administration didn'tlike that deal.
It wasn't good enough for them,and so, on September 18th 2020,
the Associated Press reportedthat the US would proceed with
the ban on TikTok.
So the first thing that wouldhappen would be that on
September 20th 2020, youwouldn't be able to download
(10:05):
TikTok anymore, so it would beremoved from the App Store, so
you wouldn't be able to find iton, you know, the apple app
store, google play, any of that.
And then on November 12th, itwould become a complete ban and
even if you had the appdownloaded on your phone, you
wouldn't be able to use the app.
So then, one day after thisreport, on September 19 2020,
TikTok and ByteDance filed acomplaint in Washington
challenging Donald Trump'sadministration's recent moves to
(10:27):
prevent the app from operatingin the US and said that he did
it for political reasons ratherthan the national security
threat.
In response to this filedcomplaint, the Trump
administration delayed the banby one week, but then, on
September 23rd 2020, tiktokfiled a request for a
preliminary injunction toprevent the ban and on September
27th, the preliminaryinjunction was approved by Judge
Carl J Nichols.
(10:48):
Then we jump to Biden'sadministration, because on
January 20th 2021, Trump leavesoffice and Biden is sworn in.
So then, in June of 2021, Bidensigns an executive order which
revokes the Trump administrationban on TikTok and instead
orders the Secretary of Commerceto investigate the app to
determine if it actually poses anational security threat.
And on June 25th 2021, CNBCreports that direction of
(11:11):
approvals for all kinds ofdecision making come from
ByteDance leadership, which isbased in China, and, according
to Jim Lewis, who is a strategictechnologies researcher at the
Center for Strategic andInternational Studies, "if the
Chinese government wants to lookat the data that ByteDance is
collecting, they can do so andno one can say anything about it
.
Also, in 2021, there was aninternal data leak released by
(11:32):
whistleblower francis hagen fromthen known company facebook,
which is now meta, which showedthat it was aware of harmful
societal effects from itsplatform, yet prioritized profit
over addressing the harms.
The report revealed the companywas fully aware of negative
impacts on teen users ofinstagram and of a contribution
of Facebook activity to violencein developing countries.
(11:53):
The leak also included theimpact of the company's platform
spreading false information andFacebook's policy of promoting
inflammatory posts.
Also, facebook was fully awarethat harmful content was being
pushed through Facebookalgorithms reaching young users.
This content included postspromoting anorexia and self-harm
photos.
So essentially, there was aleak by someone who worked at
Facebook, basically showing thatFacebook and Instagram were
(12:15):
aware of harmful effects thatwere happening on their app.
However, instead of addressingthis harm, they prioritized
money.
Facebook or Meta, to myknowledge, have never faced a
ban, though, so that's crazy.
So, following this leak, whichbecame known as facebook files,
in Cctober 2021, a bipartisangroup of lawmakers pressed
(12:37):
TikTok, YouTube and Snapchat onquestions of data privacy and
moderation for age appropriatecontent.
Lawmakers questioned MichaelBeckerman, who was the head of
US policy a t TikTok, about apossible national security
threat and whether ByteDancecould expose consumer data to
Beijing.
During this questioning, TikToktold US lawmakers it doesn't
give information to the Chinesegovernment and that data on US
(13:00):
users is stored in the US withbackups in Singapore.
A TikTok company representativealso says that TikTok has no
affiliation with subsidiaryBeijing.
Bying by dance technology,which the Chinese government has
minority stake and a board seatin.
Then, in June of 2022, reportsemerged that ByteDance employees
in China could access US dataand repeatedly access the
(13:21):
private information of TikTokusers.
So basically, ByteDanceemployees in China say like hey,
we do have access to your dataand we can see the private
information of TikTok users.
Um, like what if I said I don'tgive a fuck, then what, like my
thing, is this whole thingabout like they can access our
data and blah, blah, blah.
I and maybe it's just becauseI'm ignorant and I've tried to
(13:45):
research it and I haven't gottenan answer that I care about,
but it's just like.
What data?
Like what are you gonna see onmy phone photos of me and my dog
?
Like I don't, I'm notunderstanding why it's such a
big deal if they can access ourdata because, mind you, facebook
and Mark Zuckerberg wereselling our data to China.
(14:08):
So it's just like y'all didn'tgive a fuck then why do you give
a fuck now?
Like don't they already haveour data, or some of it at least
?
If, if Mark Zuckerberg wasselling it to them?
Like I just don't understandwhy I should give a shit.
There's nothing on my phonethat they would, they would care
about.
And I seen this one explanationof people being like, like they
(14:29):
can manipulate the content toessentially make US users not
like America, and it's just liketoo late, but that's not
China's fault, that's America'sfault.
Like I already don't trust thegovernment, I already don't like
those bitches, and that again,is not China's fault, but anyway
.
So, following the reports thatByteDance employees in China
(14:50):
could access user data and hadseen private information on
TikTok users.
Tiktok announced that 100% ofUS user traffic would be routed
to the Oracle cloud and intendedto delete US users' data from
their own data centers.
And then, on June 24th and 28thof 2022, Federal Communications
Commissioner Brendon Carrcalled for Google and Apple to
(15:11):
remove TikTok from its appstores, citing a national
security threat.
And then, in November of 2022,senators Mark Warner and Tom
Cotton called for a greateraction against TikTok, and
Representative Mike Gallagherannounced intentions to
introduce legislation to banTikTok.
In December of 2022, FBIDirector Chris Wray warned about
security threats posed byTikTok and, in response, South
(15:34):
Dakota and many other states,many of which were controlled by
the republican party, bannedthe use of TikTok on government
computers and smartphones.
Now see, that makes sense to me.
If you're so worried about theChinese stealing our data, then
ban the use of TikTok ongovernment phones and computers.
That's where they would be ableto get information that
actually matters, not my littlephone, where I'm just have
(15:55):
pictures of me and my dogs andmy friends.
Why would I care if they havethose?
Those are posted all over theinternet anyway, so it's like
why are you worried about me?
I'm not a government officialand, mind you, us government
officials have their ownaccounts on TikTok.
Like, be so fucking for realanyway.
And and then later, in Decemberof 2022, congress passes a bill
(16:16):
to ban TikTok on federaldevices.
And again, that makes sense tome.
If you're worried about anational security threat, then
just don't have it ongovernment-issued bones and
computers.
That's where all the importantinformation is now Like, not on
my phone.
And then in March of 2023 2023Trump posted social media saying
both the democrats andrepublicans had "come to realize
(16:38):
that I was right regardingtiktok and it needing to be
banned because it was nationalsecurity threat.
Of course he needed to postabout it because he needs an ego
boost, whatever.
But then, in march of 2024,trump reverses his position on
banning tiktok and advocates forthe app to not be banned, while
he was arguing that the app'snational security and data
privacy concerns still neededaddressed.
(16:59):
Banning TikTok would empowerFacebook, which he labeled the
enemy of the people.
This announcement came afterTrump had a meeting with Jeff
Yass, who is a Republican donorwho owns a significant stake in
ByteDance.
Very convenient that his switchin position comes after he has
a meeting with a Republicandonor who has a lot of stakes in
ByteDance.
(17:20):
And then, in April of 2024,Biden signed public law 118-50,
effectively banning TikTok inthe US in 2025 unless sold from
its parent company.
Now let's talk about this lawthat Biden signed into effect.
So bill 118-50 was introducedin the house by Kathy McMorris
Rodgers, a republican fromWashington, in February of 2023.
(17:43):
The bipartisan bill includedthe 21st century peace through
strength act, which itselfincluded the protecting
americans from foreignadversaryations Act, the act
that would ban TikTok.
It also included US aid forUkraine, Israel and Gaza.
So the issue with TikTok wasfolded into this bill with other
(18:06):
bigger things.
So I think had it been a billall by itself, it probably
wouldn't have gotten passed, butunfortunately it was folded
into this bigger bill and by notsigning the bill, there would
have been no aid for, you know,Israel, Gaza, Ukraine.
So the bill is signed into lawand now we're here with the app
(18:27):
going dark for what?
14 hours and then coming back.
And then today, January 20th, iswhat I'm filming this, Trump
signed an executive order togive TikTok a 75 day extension.
So since he signed thisexecutive order and we got that
stupid fuck ass message fromwhen TikTok was restored,
basically saying like thank you,President Trump, for saving
(18:50):
TikTok.
You don't get to be the herofor a problem that you started.
This entire bullshit about theChinese stealing our data
started with Trump.
I really need people tounderstand.
This is a classic manipulation,abusive tactic For the abuser to
(19:12):
cause a problem, fix saidproblem and then be like look,
I'm good for you because I fixedthis problem.
Mind you, I wouldn't have thisproblem in the first place if
you had not created it, and I'm.
I've gone back and forth on howI feel about Shou.
I can't decide if I feel likehe bent the knee and kissed the
(19:35):
ring or if he is essentiallylike playing in Donald Trump's
face.
Because here's my thing whenyou're in an abusive
relationship, sometimes you haveto tell the abuser what they
want to hear to, in some cases,stay alive.
So, if we look at it throughthe lens of like Shou and TikTok
, he wants TikTok to stay alivein the US.
(19:56):
So is he genuinely just tellingTrump what he wants to hear to
boost his ego, or did heactually sell out?
I don't know.
I've seen arguments for bothsides and I can kind of see it
going either way.
First of all, he's a man, so Idon't trust him.
Second of all, he's amillionaire, so I don't trust
him.
But I just hope that I feellike he fought so hard and I
(20:19):
just hope that he wouldn'tswitch up at the very end.
But I mean, we've seen switchups before with Snoop performing
at the crypto ball.
Like what the fuck that hurt meso bad seeing seeing Snoop do
that.
But I hope that this timelinewas helpful.
I understand it was a lot ofinformation and if I missed
anything, please feel free toadd it in the comments or
(20:39):
anything like that.
But I felt like it wasimportant to go through the
entire timeline because I needpeople to understand Trump is
the reason this entireconversation started and you
don't get to be the hero for anissue that you yourself started
so I don't give a shit what theytry to sell me.
I don't care how much they tryto make me thank Trump for
(21:01):
bringing TikTok back.
Call it a JLo concert ticketbitch.
I'm not fucking buying it.
Now that TikTok has beenrestored and Trump kind of has
his hand in it.
I am a little bit scared for thefuture of the app.
I definitely don't think itwill be the same, even after
it's only been a day at thispoint, when I'm filming this and
(21:21):
the app is already not the same.
I was seeing videos of peoplesaying that you know, if you try
to search up Donald Trumprigged election no videos show
up for users in the US, and I'veseen people in the comments of
those videos being like I'm in,you know this other country and
I'm searching it and I can stillsee everything, but if you're
in the US and you search it, youcan't see it.
So I fear that the censorshiphas already started, which is
(21:45):
why I kind of feel like maybeShou did sell out and he's not
just telling Trump what he wantsto hear in order to save his
app.
Ugh, I hate to say it, but itcould very well turn into like
another Twitter or Instagram ofjust being heavily censored if
you say anything in oppositionto Elon Musk or Donald Trump,
and that is a violation of freespeech You're supposed to.
(22:07):
Free speech is protection fromthe government.
I'm trying to stay hopeful, butI also have to be realistic and
I really do worry that show mayhave sold government.
I'm trying to stay hopeful, butI also have to be realistic and
I really do worry that Shou mayhave sold out.
I'm also afraid for the futureof the app because Donald Trump
did sign the 75 day extensionbut he's also talked about, you
know, the US should have 50%ownership of TikTok and I really
(22:28):
really don't want that.
I really really don't.
I think I think again it'lljust go into us being censored
and any opposition to Trump orElon Musk.
I feel like with tiktok, blackcreators are already censored
and limited on what we can say,especially those who post, like
the social issues, content likeracism and homophobia and
(22:49):
different things like that, andso with Trump's hand in it, I
think the censorship is justgoing to go from bad to worse.
So, depending on what happenswith TikTok, my goal has always
kind of been to get off ofTikTok, just because of the
censorship that it's had alreadywith with my content and things
that I say.
But if Trump has his hand in it, I will be getting off TikTok
sooner rather than later.
(23:09):
So I don't know, we'll have tosee what happens, but I just
hope that people will stay alert.
Now more than ever, we need tobe alert, we need to be mindful,
we need to be watching becauseshit's getting weird.
Shit's getting weird and I'mI'm so upset because I already
know that so many people aregonna fall for this trump save
tiktok bullshit.
They did it with the stimuluschecks.
(23:31):
You know, Trump didn't evenwant stimulus checks to go out.
He postponed them because hedidn't want them and then
eventually he wanted to just puthis name on it so that people
could be like this money camefrom Trump.
He did it with yhe bordercrisis.
There was a bipartisan bill andTrump called I believe it was
republicans in the senatebasically told them to kill the
bill because he wanted to run onthe promise of fixing the
(23:52):
border.
So I mean, mean, it's workedfor him in the past and I'm sure
it'll continue to work for himuntil he is able to brainwash as
many people as he can.
But I just hope that you guyswill continue to do the research
and continue to look into.
You know everything that'shappening.
Yes, TikTok is back for now,but at what cost?
You know what are the changes,what's what is really going on
(24:14):
with the app?
So I will supply as muchinformation as I can, but I also
want to encourage you all to doyour own research and just be
vigilant and be mindful of whatis happening, because shit's
getting weird and shit's onlygoing to continue to get weirder
.
Ok, I feel like I've saideverything I need to say on this
topic, so I'm done talking now.
Thank you for tuning in to thisweek's episode.
(24:35):
I hope everyone is having agood day, except for that orange
drink lady, and I will see youguys in the next episode.
Peace and love.
Talk to you later.
The Napkin in Between, hostedby Daijné Jones, produced by
Daijné Jones, post-production byDaijné Jones, music by Sam
Champagne and graphics by IsmaVidal.
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