TikTok says it offered the US government the power to shut the platform down in an attempt to address lawmakers’ data protection and national security concerns.

It disclosed the “kill switch” offer, which it made in 2022, as it began its legal fight against legislation that will ban the app in America unless Chinese parent company ByteDance sells it.

The law has been introduced because of concerns TikTok might share US user data with the Chinese government - claims it and ByteDance have always denied.

TikTok and ByteDance are urging the courts to strike the legislation down.

“This law is a radical departure from this country’s tradition of championing an open Internet, and sets a dangerous precedent allowing the political branches to target a disfavored speech platform and force it to sell or be shut down,” they argued in their legal submission.

They also claimed the US government refused to engage in any serious settlement talks after 2022, and pointed to the “kill switch” offer as evidence of the lengths they had been prepared to go.

  • NevermindNoMind@lemmy.world
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    4 months ago

    Yes, good thing all our data is now perfectly private. No corporations sucking it up and selling it to databrokers who then launder it to the CCP. Now that tik tok is gone, our privacy is completely protected!

    • piecat@lemmy.world
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      4 months ago

      Hell if it isn’t being sold, it’s being hacked. How many major data beaches have there been? My identity keeps getting stolen, accounts hacked. Did you know that entirely too many major CC companies will reset your account password and security question over the phone using data that is in those leaks?

    • Kusimulkku@lemm.ee
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      4 months ago

      This is like when people complain that measures directed to lessen global warming don’t solve it and say they’re useless.