Discussion

• @samaugustdean @samaugustdean on x

  Video game companies owned by Tencent will NOT be affected by this executive order! White House official confirmed to the LA Times that the EO only blocks transactions related to WeChat So Riot Games (League of Legends), Epic Games (Fortnite), et al are safe (pending updates)

• @hunterw Hunter Walker on x

  BREAKING: President Trump just issued an executive order “on Addressing the Threat Posed by TikTok.” It takes effect in 45 days, prohibits “any transaction” with ByteDance, the Chinese company that owns TikTok, and will almost certainly face legal challenges. https://twitter.com/…

• @alexdobie Alex Dobie on x

  This is absolutely wild. While WH has clarified it's only going after WeChat + not all of Tencent, that still means WeChat being pulled from Google Play & App Store in 45 days. MUCH bigger deal on iOS vs Android given the lack of sideload options (thread) https://www.androidcentr…

• @reckless Nilay Patel on x

  Trump going after WeChat / Tencent is a lot different than going after TikTok — Tencent is an absolute force in gaming, movies, and music. @345triangle explains, in a story that started by just making a list. Top Gun! https://www.theverge.com/... https://twitter.com/...

• @sarthakgh Sar Haribhakti on x

  All true : 1) CCP started this war two decades ago 2) Trade reciprocity is a reasonable expectation 3) Algiorithmic & info control is a dangerous tool in hands of CCP given its track record 4) POTUS has been a whimsical bafoon in handling this situation & has a trust deficit http…

• @arielbogle Ariel Bogle on x

  Trump's executive order incorrectly claims WeChat is banned or restricted in Australia. It is not, or at least, not currently. https://www.whitehouse.gov/... https://twitter.com/...

• @katherineykwu Katherine Wu on x

  I have tears steaming down my face trying to figure out what the hell this means. WeChat is the only form of communication between me and my parents and grandparents- my entire family in China. It's always been so goddamn hard to be so far from them, and especially this year. htt…

• @paulmozur @paulmozur on x

  Also...WeChat absolutely is a security issue. Chinese police widely use WeChat to intimidate the diaspora community and in China use it to follow/detain their families. The domestic censorship makes it an international filter bubble of CCP propaganda. https://www.nytimes.com/...

• @nbcnightlynews @nbcnightlynews on x

  In orders targeting TikTok and Tencent, Pres. Trump argues that the apps developed and owned by companies in China “threaten the national security, foreign policy, and economy of” of the US by making US citizens data vulnerable to Chinese Communist Party. https://www.nbcnews.com/…

• @ruima @ruima on x

  So WeChat has something like 3mm users in the US mostly Chinese diaspora. Kindly do explain to me the threat.

• @byyourlogic @byyourlogic on x

  Donald Trump despises the current Fortnite meta https://twitter.com/...

• @mikeisaac Rat King on x

  tencent acknowledges the EO, but not much more for now: ""We are reviewing the executive order to get a full understanding." — Tencent spokesperson

• @annafifield Anna Fifield on x

  All the focus has been on TikTok because Americans use it. But for China, WeChat is a much much bigger deal. It's impossible to function in China without WeChat https://www.washingtonpost.com/ ...

• @ericgarland Eric Garland on x

  India bans TikTok. Microsoft might buy TikTok. If it does...it wants to expand...into India. Can anyone explain this to me? 🤔https://www.ft.com/ ...

• @thr @thr on x

  “These risks are real,” reads Trump's order, which cites the International Emergency Economic Powers Act as its basis. “The United States must take aggressive action against the owners of TikTok to protect our national security” https://thr.cm/6euHhUW

• @kalhanr Kalhan on x

  🗣CAN WE STOP WITH THE TIKTOK NEWS WHEN IT'S SUPPOSED TO BE MY WEEKEND https://twitter.com/...

• @soonergrunt @soonergrunt on x

  He doesn't actually have the authority to tell private citizens what to do here. He can order the executive branch to not engage in transactions. interesting that after all the gifts Facebook gives Trump and Republicans he did this today as FB launches their TikTok competitor. ht…

• @thetomzone @thetomzone on x

  this trump EO should not be taken seriously but if i'm reading this correctly, it bans any transaction with a business unit of Tencent within “the jurisdiction of the United States,” thus more or less banning any Tencent America games https://twitter.com/...

• @panama_tj @panama_tj on x

  The end of Tik Tok in the US. https://twitter.com/...

• @josh_emerson Josh Russell on x

  This will die in court https://twitter.com/...

• @briannawu Brianna Wu on x

  Tencent owns League of Legends and PubG, meaning neither two of the biggest games on the market can't make money. Tencent also has a 40 percent stake in Unreal Engine, which makes Fortnite. This is so incredibly stupid. https://twitter.com/...

• @yuanfenyang Yuan Yang on x

  The best side-effect of the WeChat ban could be to get more Chinese diaspora onto @signalapp and other end-to-end encrypted apps. That would be a concrete step towards better security. BUT WAIT, the US govt is also defunding the creators of secure apps! https://www.theverge.com/.…

• @mr_berman Matt Berman on x

  It's fun with news with Trump sometimes that you expect one thing, and then you get that one thing, but you also get a weird twist that you did not see coming, sorry to Fortnite. https://www.buzzfeednews.com/ ...

• @paulmozur @paulmozur on x

  WeChat is now in play as the Trump admin looks to break a 20-year custom of mostly ignoring Chinese internet blocks. The executive order lays the groundwork for an eye-for-eye reprisal aimed at what is China's most groundbreaking internet product. https://www.nytimes.com/...

• @originalspin Jeff Yang on x

  Trump getting even with the TikTok kids who turned his Covid-infested Tulsa rally into a humiliation. What's next, a ban on BTS? Not sure Donnie wants to wake this dragon https://twitter.com/...

• @genepark @genepark on x

  Will this tiktok ban affect fortnite then?! Call of Duty mobile?! https://twitter.com/...

• @goldman Jason Goldman on x

  Won't invoke the Defense Production Act to produce the PPE needed by doctors and nurses. Won't encourage a national mask mandate. Won't respond to Russia paying bounties to kill US soldiers. But this is the emergency. https://twitter.com/...

• @seldo Laurie Voss on x

  Is blocking financial transactions with TenCent also about national security or are we finally admitting the mask is off this blatant nationalism? https://www.theverge.com/...

• @reckless Nilay Patel on x

  Fire from ⁦@sarahjeong⁩ this morning https://www.theverge.com/... https://twitter.com/...

• @evan_greer Evan Greer on x

  “I am going to fight the Chinese Internet companies by making our Internet more like China's.” https://twitter.com/...

• @emilydparker Emily Parker on x

  The executive order is basically describing TIkTok and WeChat as a “national emergency” https://www.whitehouse.gov/...

• @alexhern Alex Hern on x

  If I'm reading this EO correctly, it obliges Apple to remove WeChat from the Chinese App Store, which would effectively kill the company's phone business in China. China represents a little under 15% of Apple's global revenue https://www.whitehouse.gov/...

• @meghupdates @meghupdates on x

  India showed the way .... Details of the order .... https://www.whitehouse.gov/...

• @aynrandpaulryan Holly Figueroa O'Reilly on x

  What a man-baby. 😂 The tweens on TikTok really hurt his feelings when they punked him in Tulsa. Trump Targets WeChat and TikTok, in Sharp Escalation With China https://www.nytimes.com/...

• @jbursz Jessica Bursztynsky on x

  A WeChat ban would be devastating for so many people in China who have relatives/friends in the U.S. and vice versa I don't think some ppl understand how important and prevalent the app is for SO many people in their day-to-day lives, who just want to check-in across the world ht…

• @chandrarsrikant Chandra R. Srikanth on x

  Trump cites India's actions against Chinese apps in both his executive orders on WeChat and TikTok. Thee TikTok order even quotes @GoI_MeitY. Fact that US seems to be following India on how it regulates Chinese Internet cos is remarkable in itself. https://twitter.com/...

• @doctorjohn_md DoctorJohn on x

  WeChat is the only way I can communicate with my *entire* extended family. My mom, dad, and sister are my only family in the States. Oh also, TenCent has a significant financial stake in over a dozen major game publishers & developers. Trump's a fucking asshole https://twitter.co…

• @alexhern Alex Hern on x

  That would be substantially more damaging for Apple in China than losing Google services was for Huawei in the west, I think. And yet this is the US government doing it to both.

• @fordm Matt Ford on x

  Uh, Tencent has stakes in Activision Blizzard, Ubisoft, Supercell, and Epic Games. It owns Riot Games outright. That's a huge swath of the gaming industry. https://twitter.com/...

• @thetweetofjohn John FitzGerald on x

  The loophole that could render all the rest of this BS: “to the extent permitted under applicable law.” Why put that in? It's almost like saying, I don't even know if I can do this. https://www.whitehouse.gov/...

• @harrymccracken Harry McCracken on x

  I loved visiting Microsoft's Beijing lab in 2004. Given the locale, it had an amazingly Redmondian vibe to it, and they were doing some things with image-processing technology that seemed amazing at the time. https://www.ft.com/...

• @yuanfenyang Yuan Yang on x

  I started working on this story a year ago, and this is the right week to get it out. How Microsoft laid roots in China, and seeded its future tech leaders, including TikTok's Zhang Yiming. “The soft power of Microsoft in China is immense.” (thread) https://www.ft.com/...

• @tculpan Tim Culpan on x

  Tencent responds to ⁦@POTUS⁩ executive order. In summary: “we're looking into it” https://twitter.com/...

• @quinnypig HydroxyCoreyQuinn on x

  Ninecent. https://twitter.com/...

• @danprimack Dan Primack on x

  Two notes on the @realDonaldTrump order: 1. It doesn't make sense. MSFT led to believe it had 45 days to strike a deal that was amenable to all sides (including WH). Almost impossible to believe it could now close deal in that timeframe — there is still tons to be negotiated.

• @kidcrawf @kidcrawf on x

  oh please i cant be in irish tik tok https://twitter.com/...

• @danprimack Dan Primack on x

  TikTok: “This Executive Order risks undermining global businesses' trust in the United States' commitment to the rule of law, which has served as a magnet for investment and spurred decades of American economic growth.” https://newsroom.tiktok.com/en- us

• @mattnavarra Matt Navarra on x

  Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg refused to answer employee questions regarding company potentially acquiring TikTok, but said ban on TikTok would be bad long-term precedent and doubted it would help Facebook https://www.buzzfeednews.com/ ...

• @rmac18 @rmac18 on x

  Mark Zuckerberg was asked by employees today if Facebook would acquire TikTok. He said he wouldn't comment on M&A but said that a ban on TikTok would be “a really bad long-term precedent” and doubted that it would help Facebook in the long run. https://www.buzzfeednews.com/ ...

• @petesweeneypro Pete Sweeney on x

  U.S. sort-of-firewall goes up. Chinese telcos, cloud providers are blocked. Chinese apps are kicked out of app stores. Submarine data traffic will get a look. U.S. app makers are instructed not to put apps on Huawei's store. 1/2 https://www.state.gov/...

• @swodinsky Shoshana Wodinsky on x

  the internet's economy is *specifically built* to cross international lines. banning “chinese apps” like tiktok or shifting their ownership won't do shit to keep our data “safe.” if anything, it'll make things worse i did my best to break down why: https://gizmodo.com/...

• @samfbiddle Sam Biddle on x

  the idea that the United States has any sort of moral authority when it comes to condemning China's internet is absolutely insane. There is nothing “clean” about us and there never has been https://theintercept.com/...

• @matthewstoller Matt Stoller on x

  There's plenty of American hypocrisy but moral equivalence is silly. On the Chinese internet that Intercept piece would be taken down and the author put in jail. Unless you think that's the same as not being in jail these are not moral equivalents. https://twitter.com/...

• @adschina Adam Segal on x

  So did the US just announce it is building a great firewall? Announcing the Expansion of the Clean Network to Safeguard America's Assets - United States Department of State https://www.state.gov/...

• @daokedao1234 Peter Hansen on x

  The absurdity of this situation is that it's the “hawks” who are effectively pushing to make Chinese standards on internet policy globally accepted. The global standard should be a free and open internet. We're going in the opposite direction now. https://twitter.com/...

• @jgriffiths @jgriffiths on x

  “Arguments for a national ban against dishonest tech companies that harvest as much data as possible and backchannel with spy agencies and police hold up pretty well no matter which company is slotted into the national security mad libs.” https://theintercept.com/...

• @state_e Under Secretary Keith Krach on x

  Yesterday, @SecPompeo announced the expansion of the Clean Network. He launched 5 new lines of effort to safeguard America's assets from aggressive intrusions by the CCP. Learn more: https://www.state.gov/... https://twitter.com/...