As a reminder of the timeline:
- November 2023: audio leaked of Apartheid Defense League CEO Jonathon Greenblatt saying they had a Tiktok problem [1] because Tiktok didn't sufficiently censor live broadcast of the genocide, unlike, say, Meta [2]
- 5 March 2024: the bill to ban Tiktok was introduced to the Senate [3];
- 7 March 2024: the bill passes the Senate;
- 13 March 2024: the bill passes the House;
- 24 April 2024: Biden signs the bill into law.
So yes the Tiktok "ban" was about a foreign government, just not the one usually stated.
Larry Ellison is the world's second richest man. His son, David Ellison, now heads Paramount Skydance and are key players in the Tiktok acquisition. David Ellison acquired CBS News and put Bari Weiss in charge of it. Why was CBS News for sale? Because 60 Minutes said one slightly negative thing about Israel's involvement in Gaza so Shari Redstone sold it to Paramount [4].
What I find both funny and depressing is that the US government is doing exactly what they accuse China of doing. It's not even a partisan issue. On foreign policy, America is uniparty, just like China.
For anyone who follows legislative affairs, this rocketed through.
[1]: https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/inside-adl-anti-defa...
[2]: https://www.hrw.org/report/2023/12/21/metas-broken-promises/...
[3]: https://nolabels.org/the-latest/tiktok-ban-timeline-how-trum...
[4]: https://www.cjr.org/feature/cbs-news-redstone-ellison-60-min...