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TikTok responds to Trump executive order: "We are shocked"

07 August 2020
Dan Ackermann

TikTok said Friday that it was "shocked" by President Trump's executive order that will ban Americans from dealing with ByteDance, its China-based owner, in 45 days.

Why it matters: TikTok argued that Trump's move "risks undermining global businesses' trust in the United States' commitment to the rule of law, which has served as a magnet for investment and spurred decades of American economic growth."

  • It added that "it sets a dangerous precedent for the concept of free expression and open markets."

The state of play: TikTok said it had tried to deal with the administration in good faith but found it "paid no attention to facts, dictated terms of an agreement without going through standard legal processes, and tried to insert itself into negotiations between private businesses."

  • Trump's order claims the app's "data collection threatens to allow the Chinese Communist Party access to Americans' personal and proprietary information."
  • TikTok has long said that it stores all data belonging to U.S. customers in facilities outside of China that are not subject to Chinese law.

The big picture, via Axios' Scott Rosenberg: TikTok's response hints that it recognizes that the U.S. government is starting to see the internet more like China does — as a network that countries can and should control within their borders.

  • In this fight, U.S. nationalism may make a weaker case to the world than the ideal of internet freedom and open networks that the U.S. once evangelized.

What's next: TikTok said it would "pursue all remedies available to us in order to ensure that the rule of law is not discarded and that our company and our users are treated fairly," hinting that it would begin a court battle if the Trump administration doesn't back down.

Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times

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Newly released transcripts of bodycam footage from the Minneapolis Police Department show that George Floyd told officers he could not breathe more than 20 times in the moments leading up to his death.

Why it matters: Floyd's killing sparked a national wave of Black Lives Matter protests and an ongoing reckoning over systemic racism in the United States. The transcripts "offer one the most thorough and dramatic accounts" before Floyd's death, The New York Times writes.

The state of play: The transcripts were released as former officer Thomas Lane seeks to have the charges that he aided in Floyd's death thrown out in court, per the Times. He is one of four officers who have been charged.

  • The filings also include a 60-page transcript of an interview with Lane. He said he "felt maybe that something was going on" when asked if he believed that Floyd was having a medical emergency at the time.

What the transcripts say:

  • Floyd told the officers he was claustrophobic as they tried to get him into the squad car.
  • The transcripts also show Floyd saying, "Momma, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I'm dead."
  • Former officer Derek Chauvin, who had his knee on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes, told Floyd, "Then stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk."

Read the transcripts via DocumentCloud.