Microsoft’s takeover would be a win for TikTok and tech giants – not users
In this crossposting from The Conversation, Paul Haskell-Dowland and Brianna O’Shea explore the reported deal between Microsoft and Tiktok’s parent company, Bytedance.
In what seems to be a common occurrence, Chinese video-sharing app TikTok is once again in the headlines.
After months of speculation about national security risks and users’ data being harvested by the Chinese Communist Party, US President Donald Trump has announced plans to ban TikTok in the United States any day now.
In response, a deal is being negotiated between TikTok’s parent company ByteDance and US software giant Microsoft. If successful, Microsoft will take over the app’s operations in the US and potentially also in Canada, Australia and New Zealand.
Tik Tok have no choice but to obey Chinese law. What Tik Tok are not talking about is China’s “National Intelligence Law” Article 7.
Article 7 of the law “creates the obligation of Chinese citizens to support national intelligence work.”
Article 7
“Any organization or citizen shall support, assist and cooperate with the state intelligence work in accordance with the law, and keep the secrets of the national intelligence work known to the public.”