Miscellaneous News
- Thread starter bd popeye
- Start date
If the US bans Chinese apps from iOS and Android, it will almost certainly lead to the collapse of those platforms in China. Since Google, Facebook, etc. are banned in China, your phone would become useless if both Chinese and American apps are banned. Maybe the opportunistic South Koreans would try to come in with LINE or Kakao, but if the Chinese government is smart, it'll close that loop by banning iOS and Android.
Obviously the global impact of such a move on the Chinese internet industry will be severe, but there is a silver lining. First, since the US is making all the aggressive moves, and this move will - unlike the chip move - disrupt the lives of the average Chinese citizen, it will be easy for China to leverage the public out rage against the US. The resulting boycott of American products, platforms, and services by Chinese citizens and companies should be used for maximum effect to institute permanent laws against relying on US services and supply chains. The global community outside of the West will likely support China in this and it'll be a nice PR win for the Global South strategy.
Second, presuming China does the right thing and kicks out iOS and Android - instead of allowing opportunistic third party countries to monopolize the apps market once Chinese apps are banned - it will ensure that Chinese companies retain dominant control over the Chinese market in platforms and services. It won't be great for these companies' global ambitions, but that's fine, at least it'll mean that the US will never hold this kind of leverage again (and hopefully it's taught to every Chinese school's history classes as a mandatory lesson to not trust the West). Mean while, countries that remain neutral should be capitalized on; the Chinese government should support the expansion of Chinese platforms and services to these countries.
Third, China will probably benefit from bringing the case to the WTO. The WTO will probably do nothing because the US will reject its ruling. This will be another easy PR win, though, because it'll justify China's banning of US platforms & services in the first place - ie "see, we banned US platforms precisely to prevent them from having this kind of leverage over us. Now, Global South, you realize why we were right." This will then justify cutting the US out of all future Chinese technology ecosystems.
All that said, it's possible the US won't be stupid enough to do a blanket ban on Chinese apps, but we will see - people like Marco Rubio are pretty crazy in their pursuit of domestic power and the American public, as always, is dumb enough to rally against the Enemy. It's just great politics in the US to create an Enemy that you can tell the public you're fighting. So it'll probably happen.
Nobody in china will buy a phone without wechat and tiktok
Looks like Apple is already opening its ecosystem to third-party downloads.
So TikTok would be available on Apple even without being on the App Store.
Edit: I also just realized that some Android apps (e.g. WeChat) now update themselves. So you don't need Google Play to update TikTok.
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$55 billion over how many years for the ENTIRE African continent? The BRI puts that into a few African countries. America really is broke....
Also, I find it hilarious that Blinken brought along a blackman to the summit. He should have had him in chains to genuinely reenact the slave auction theme.
Yeah, agree completely.
That is why I think this TikTok ban is all fake news.
Just consider what will happen.
If TikTok is banned from iOS or Google's android, what will happen next?
Two things should happen.
1) China could ban iOS and Google's android in China.
2) The rest of the world who still uses iOS and Google's android, could potentially still use TikTok, just like how you wrote about it.
The WeChat was able to incorporate everything online into one app.
Why not someone be able to make an app that will allow other apps to function on iOS and android without needing to go through their play store for downloads?
Not sure what the point is if China bans iOS and android, when the tradeoff is that people will still want to circumvent the TikTok ban. That is not a fair trade. That is close to lunacy.
Even my liberal friends started to think the US may become fascist. It is increasingly inconsiderate and bellicose. And increasingly offers nothing except violence. I am quite happy that the Chinese gov started taking military modernization more seriously and is expanding the nuclear arsenal. They see what everyone sees too. If things go in this trajectory (decreasing American economic influence) it is almost certain that the US will resort to brute force. It may cease its influence operations and go full empire mode. I hope Europe will see what America is too. There are no reasons why the USA won't try to kill European corporations. And believe me, Europe is a much softer target than China. China supports its companies and kept American influence limited. The same cannot be said for Europe.
An unrelated, or maybe it is related, thought.
Using a VPN, like who does that?
We all know who does that, people who want to jump over the Great Firewall.
The Great Firewall is there to prevent foreign political influences on the local population.
The new American firewall being built to keep out Chinese apps, is to prevent cat videos.
I guess if you're an elected US official in Congress, this all makes sense.
I think the European companies are just scared. Scared is too strong a word.
The idea is the same, they want no trouble.
So they go along with it halfheartedly, and pretend to not notice when they do not go along with it.
Not sure why the Americans are so willing to coerce their so-called friends.