CONLEY COMMENTARY (WSAU) – There will never be an American-owned social media app “Liberty-Toc” available in China. China’s leaders won’t allow it.
American companies that want a presence in China know that they have to make huge concessions to “red approved”. Amazon, Google and Facebook have modified their own offerings so something similar can be offered in China. Apple makes special phones for the Chinese market, where everything that’s searched is known and where movement can be tracked.
It’s a one-way street. Tic-toc gets unlimited access to the data on millions of Americans’ phones. Now they’re not interested in how much your daughter likes Justin Beiber. They’re hoping she shares something with her father, perhaps someone who has security clearance within the military.
Banning Tic-Toc from government devices means nothing. College students are not going to give their favorite social media channel. Honestly, their desire to be entertained is much stronger than any thought of privacy.
And in the last few weeks there have been signs that Tic Toc’s owners are not going quietly into the night. Maybe you’ve heard the “Tic Toc sparks business” commercials where a craftsman says he promotes his company on Tic Toc and sales are up. You’ve probably noticed the online ads for Temu, which is China’s e-commerce site in the United States. It cleverly has a U.S. office in Boston, and runs its transactions through the Cayman Islands. It allows Chinese merchants to ship directly to U.S. consumers and will give China access to all of its customers’ banking data.
And every American company that does business in China knows that they’re in a precarious position. If the Red Chinese announce tomorrow that Super Dragon Coffee is now the party-perferred drink, every Starbucks in Bejing would be empty. If Red Star Burger is now preferred over McDonalds, the Golden Arches would close. China has learned that their system of social scores, which determine which jobs, housing, and schools its citizens qualify for, is a powerful manipulator of consumer behavior too.
China has given itself advantages in the online and consumer markets. Now ask yourslf which American leader is best able to manage this brave new world. There is Donal Trump, who announced tariffs if China wouldn’t level the playing field, or Joe Biden, whose son was partnered into a Chinese real-estate trust. We are still unraveling how much of the China money flowed to Hunter Biden’s father.
Chris Conley
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