> You can’t hold TikTok legally accountable.

Sure you can. You follow the law or you are banned from doing business. This law just skipped the first part because the authors didn't want to write any actual regulations.

Why wait until TikTok breaks the law to ban them? Banning an app after it’s been used for nefarious reasons to either spread propaganda or incite chaos in the upcoming elections is too late. It’s like saying “let’s not patch a zero day we found because no one has abused it”.

TikTok being owner by Bytedance means you don’t have who to prosecute for misdeeds, besides some fall guy.

> Why wait until TikTok breaks the law to ban them?

Why wait until a homeless guy steals some bread to throw him in jail?

The foundation of the rule of law is that the law applies to everyone equally, not arbitrarily. That includes a presumption of no wrongdoing and due process.

It should be mentioned that TikTok already has its full US data and source code audited by Oracle, a level of scrutiny higher than any of the domestic tech companies. Combined with the FBI and NSA watching them like a hawk, if they were breaking the law, it would be old news by now.

Didn’t know the homeless guy is a rising superpower with imperialist aspirations. Didn’t know the homeless guy is actively attempting to destabilise the US in order to become the new hegemon.

It’s not about the data or the code. Data brokers exist everywhere, it’s about a platform with reach to the eyeballs of 170 million users controlled by an adversary state.

You can’t use “foundation of the rule of law” wrt an actor that blatantly disregards rule of law.

Interesting that you think breaking the laws is justification for banning a Platform. I wonder how the US would feel about the EU banning every last US tech company for the plethora of violations.

Last I checked the EU and US are not in the pre- stages of hot war.

Are you trolling?

I'm not. from my POV, we are spinning up the economy for war. we're already in world War III, we're just waiting for someone to officially declare it.

US defence spending is still below its 2010s level. Besides, you mentioned EU banning US apps. Last I checked, with some exceptions, all EU nations are in NATO, and directly procure weapons from the US.

It’s absurd to compare banning a Chinese-owned app to EU banning US apps.

the EU banning apps wasn't me i don't think

That is false. Companies can be held legally accountable in the US regardless of whether they are owned by Americans or not.