China Changes The Rules To Try And Block A Sale Of TikTok
The latest plot twist in the ongoing saga of Trump vs. TikTok is that the Chinese government has changed its rules on tech exports so that could outlaw the proposed TikTok sale to a US company. The Guardian has the details:
Late on Friday, Beijing issued new restrictions or bans on tech exports, requiring companies to seek government approval – a process that can take up to 30 days. In mid-August, Trump gave the company 90 days to sell up or face a shutdown.
The rules, which hadn’t been updated since 2008, are believed to be aimed at delaying the sale of TikTok to US buyers, as ordered by the US president.
Some technologies were removed from the list of regulated exports, including vaccine technologies, but the 23 new additions included tech relating to AI interfaces, voice recognition, and content recommendation analysis.
TikTok’s recommendation algorithm relies on domestic technology that might need to be transferred to a new overseas owner.
Well, that’s pretty crafty. And Professor Cui Fan, an expert on Chinese Trade had this to say:
Cui told news agency Xinhua China was not in favour of “decoupling” from the US, but “some forefront technologies, however, might impact national security and public welfare, and need to be included in catalogue management”.
Cui said ByteDance should “seriously and cautiously consider whether it is necessary to suspend the [TikTok sale negotiations]”.
Well, that’s likely to scare off potential buyers as well as inflame the situation. I would expect a response from Trump via his favorite medium to speak which is Twitter at any time as he’s likely not going to accept this.
September 13, 2020 at 7:13 pm
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