America is finally getting rid of TikTok (maybe). The kids on TikTok have decided to move to an even *more* Chinese spyware app.
TikTok is best understood as an intelligence operation that managed to (a) run in broad daylight and (b) make money. In just a few years it became the go-to news source for an entire generation of Americans under 30. It’s one of the greatest ops in the history of intel.² Respect. 👊
The U.S. government recognized this reality and called China’s bluff. The TikTok legislation basically said, “Hey, we know that this is an op and not a business. But if you want to pretend TikTok is just a business, fine. We’re going to make you sell it. This is a thing that a legitimate business would be happy to do, because legitimate businesses are motivated entirely by money and when ByteDance sells TikTok it’s going to get paid absolute bank.”
In response, ByteDance/ChiComs said, “Actually, no. We don’t want to let anyone see under the hood of our tradecraft. We’ll just shut the op down. We don’t care about the money.”
I cannot be clear enough about this:
If TikTok were a business and not an intelligence operation—and if ByteDance were an independent company and not a wholly-owned government subsidiary ultimately answering to Xi Jinping—then ByteDance would have sold it and pocketed hundreds of billions of dollars.
The fact that ByteDance is shutting TikTok down is an admission of guilt.
The only people who don’t understand this are the kids on TikTok.
