Jon Penney, research fellow at The Citizen Lab and an associate professor at the Osgoode Hall Law School at York University, writes an insightful opinion piece in the Globe and Mail critiquing U.S. President Donald Trump’s attempt to delay the enforcement of the TikTok ban.
Penney argues that Trump’s executive order is legally flawed because it lacks a foundation in the existing PAFACA Act, which only allows delays in the event that ByteDance (TikTok’s parent company) takes substantial steps towards divesting. He questions the effectiveness of the TikTok ban, arguing that it will not address broader issues related to data privacy and Chinese surveillance. It also points out that banning TikTok could force users towards other, riskier apps, like RedNote. Instead, the ban is most likely going to serve as a blunt instrument for Trump to weaponize tech and state power.
Read the piece here.