TikTok's Defense Strategy Involves Throwing Shein and Temu Under the Bus

It is simply a valid ineligible strategy, Alan Rozenshtein, an subordinate prof of instrumentality astatine the University of Minnesota Law School, explains to WIRED, arsenic the First Amendment tin see a instrumentality unconstitutional “if the instrumentality hinges connected solving a peculiar problem, does truthful successful an highly constricted way, and leaves the instrumentality unsolved.”

But the justice didn’t look to bargain the argument. “It’s a alternatively blinkered presumption that the statute conscionable singles retired 1 company,” said Judge Douglas Ginsburg during the hearing. “It describes a class of companies, each of which are owned by oregon controlled by adversary powers, and subjects 1 institution to an contiguous necessity due to the fact that it’s engaged successful 2 years of dialog with that company, held innumerable hearings, gathering aft gathering aft meeting, [and] an effort to scope an statement connected a nationalist information statement which failed.”

The DOJ besides replied to TikTok’s occupation with the exclusion clause, saying successful a tribunal little that if the clause were to beryllium recovered problematic, the close solution would beryllium to simply instrumentality retired that clause astir excluding businesses, alternatively of invalidating the full law.

In caller years, information information concerns person go 1 of the main friction points successful tech policies successful the US and China. While the Chinese authorities passed a instrumentality that regulates cross-border information transfers, the US authorities has taken a much piecemeal approach, investigating risks posed by products similar TikTok and Chinese-made astute cars.

Some experts and lawmakers advocator for a much broad ineligible model to lick this issue. “This measure not lone fails to lick the problem, but besides jeopardizes the escaped code and livelihoods of 170 cardinal Americans who usage the app. Instead, Congress should walk a measure to forestall apps, whether it's TikTok oregon immoderate different societal media platform, from collecting oregon transferring information and marque overseas interference successful societal media algorithms illegal,” said Representative Ro Khanna successful an emailed statement. Khanna voted nary connected the PAFACA bill.

For now, Chinese ecommerce sites similar Shein and Temu person faced overmuch little scrutiny astir information information than TikTok. But TikTok’s ineligible strategy of highlighting the alleged information information risks of different Chinese companies volition nary uncertainty enactment much unit connected them. If TikTok fails its ineligible situation and is banned from operating successful the US unless it is sold, it’s not hard to ideate that lawmakers mightiness crook their attraction to different salient Chinese tech companies.

“There mightiness beryllium immoderate benignant of ineligible strategy down this, but successful presumption of however the nationalist volition present comprehend TikTok, it has voluntarily opted to beryllium associated with Temu and Shein and has undone a batch of the communicative enactment it has been trying to do,” says Ivy Yang, the laminitis of Wavelet Strategy, a strategical PR consultancy who has worked successful Alibaba’s PR department.

By comparing TikTok’s information information concerns to Shein’s and Temu’s, the institution fundamentally has labeled itself among a fig of Chinese companies considered information risks.

So far, Shein and Temu person not made immoderate connection astir the PAFACA measure and its imaginable implications connected their businesses. A Shein spokesperson responded successful an emailed statement: “SHEIN has robust information information policies and practices successful enactment with manufacture standards, and we are committed to lone collecting and utilizing the minimum magnitude of information needed to fulfill orders. SHEIN stores US lawsuit information wrong Microsoft’s US-based Azure cloud-based solution and wrong AWS’s US-based cloud-based solution.” Temu and TikTok did not reply to requests for comment.