• Buttons@programming.dev
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    5 months ago

    If ByteDance is a normal company they will seek profits and sell for as much as they can.

    But if TikTok is a Chinese psyop, they’ll just use any of the many legal tricks we allow to change the “owner” while China still retains control. Companies do this all the time, look at shell companies and such. It’s super easy for China to mask the true owner if they decide to.

    This is why we should make broadly applicable regulations instead of picking on one specific company.

    • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
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      5 months ago

      If ByteDance is a normal company they will seek profits and sell for as much as they can.

      If the sale is forced, the value of the property will be depressed. Why would they take pennies on the dollar to liquidate IP rather than fight it out in court and try to get the provision overturned?

      This is why we should make broadly applicable regulations instead of picking on one specific company.

      The law is not specific to TikTok. It is any company owned by a subsidiary of an “enemy” state, of which China is listed as such.

      And selling the company to a non-Chinese holding company wouldn’t work, because the dispute is over Chinese IP law affecting how ByteDance does business. Move the company overseas and it would no longer be covered by the IP provisions (something the Chinese investors don’t want, because they benefit from the IP provisions).