美国如何强制 TikTok 被出售

看到 WSJ 一个最新的介绍 TikTok 在美国的困局的视频,视频的标题也是很刺激很直接 — How TikTok Could Become a U.S. Company, 当然视频主要还是描述了目前的现状和如果美国要强制要求出售 TikTok,会遇到的法律挑战;并且目前美国相关的人员内部关于如何处理,意见也是不统一的

这里就把视频里的内容都听写下来再翻译一下,觉得这样可以更好的了解 TikTok 所面对的困局

但是可能里面有不少词汇导致一直发不出去,就只能把一些词汇换成错误拼写词汇,大家知道意思就好了…

TikTok is at a crossroads, concerns about its Chin ownership have been building since 2020.

TikTok 正处于十字路口,自 2020 年以来,美国对其身份的担忧一直在增加。

WSJ Reported: “TikTok has been in this limbo for two years, and who knows how many months or years it could stand in this limbo.”

TikTok 已经面对这个困境两年多了,谁知道它还能在困境中坚持多久

And the panel of US officials is divided on how to address them.

目前美国成员小组在如何解决这个问题上存在分歧

If it can’t come to an agreement, there is another solution: forcing TikTok to become a US company.

如果不能达成协议,还有另一种解决方案:强制 TikTok 成为一家美国公司

Here is what it takes to make that happen, and why that move poses some big challenges.

下面会讲一下如何操作强迫 TikTok 被出售,以及这一举措为何会带来一些巨大挑战

First, a brief view of how TikTok data is managed, which is the main focus for US officials.

首先简单介绍一下TikTok的数据是如何管理的,这是美国官方关注的重点

TikTok is a huge company but it is owned by a Chin parent company called Bytedance: it runs several apps, but TikTok probably is the best-known one in the world.

TikTok 是一家大公司,但它由一家名为字节跳动的母公司所有:它还拥有多个其他产品,但 TikTok 可能是其中最世界知名的

Bytedance itself is headquartered in Beijing, and it is owned by investors from around the world.

字节跳动总部设在北京,诸多全球投资者拥有所有权

A Chin-owned entity owns 1% of the Beijing-based subsidiary of Bytedance. This connection is what some are worried about and for a couple of reasons:

The first concern is that the Chin gove would order TikTok to hand over data about individual American users, so what kind of videos they watched and maybe even the IP addresses which could identify their location.

The second big thing is the video recommendation algorithm: the idea is that the Chin gove could order TikTok to control what videos Americans can watch.

不翻译了

TikTok says it has already started to address some of those concerns. The company recently said all US user traffic is now being routed to cloud servers operated by US-based company Oracle. And TikTok says that only members of the US data security team have access to that data. But backups are still being saved on other non-oracle servers in the US and Singapore, the company says.

TikTok 表示,它已经开始解决其中的一些问题。该公司最近表示,所有美国用户流量现在都被路由到美国甲骨文公司运营的云服务器。TikTok 表示,只有美国数据安全团队的成员才能访问该数据。但该公司表示,备份仍保存在美国和新加坡的其他非甲骨文服务器上

As TikTok’s recommendation algorithm was created by its Chin parent company Bytedance, TikTok says changes to the algorithm are monitored by Oracle before they are implemented in the US app.

由于 TikTok 的推荐算法是由其母公司字节跳动创建的,TikTok 表示,算法的更改在美国应用程序中实施之前由 Oracle 监控

WSJ Reported: “So anytime there is a change to the algorithm that influences what kind of videos Americans can see, they say Oracle will have full access to see you know what the algorithm does.”

因此,只要算法发生变化,影响美国人可以看到什么样的视频,Oracle 将拥有完全访问权限,来得知算法如何发挥作用

As the spokesperson for the Chin fore minis said in that press conference in November in regard to TikTok: “Spreading disinformation and then using it to hobble Chin companies has become a go-to tool for the U.S. Gove.

不翻译了

But some U.S. Lawmakers still want TikTok to have more separation from Ch. One option is to force a sale, which would cut ties to Chin ownership.

但一些美国立法者仍然希望 TikTok 与 Chin 有更多的分离。一种选择是强制出售,这将切断其与 Chin 的联系

WSJ Reported: “The Chin gove would directly have less power over TikTok to force TikTok to do something like spy or control what videos Americans can watch.”

不翻译了

As what happened to the dating app Grindr in 2019, after U.S. Officials determined the app’s personal data could potentially be leaked by blackmail since the majority of shareholder was a Chin company.

正如约会应用程序 Grindr 在 2019 年发生的事情一样,美国官员确定该应用程序的个人数据可能被勒索泄露,因为其大股东是一家 Chin 公司

This is how the process worked in past cases:

这是该强制出售在过去案例中的流程

First, an executive body branch called committee on foreign investment in the U.S. or CFIUS opens the case with involved companies.

首先,一个名为美国外国投资委员会或 CFIUS 的执行机构分支向相关公司立案

This is the panel that has been talking to TikTok. It is made up of representatives of nine US departments or agencies led by the Treasury and reviews foreign transactions to see if that might be a national security risk.

这是一直在与 TikTok 对话的小组,它由以财政部为首的九个美国部门或机构的代表组成,负责审查外国交易,以确定这是否可能构成安全风险

After CFIUS reviews a company or a merger, it can make a recommendation to mitigate those risks, which can include asking foreign investors or owners to sell their companies.

在 CFIUS 审查公司或合并后,它可以提出降低这些风险的建议,其中可能包括要求外国投资者或所有者出售他们的公司

In extreme cases, it can also escalate the case to the President who can order a forced sale.

在极端情况下,它还可以将案件上报给总统,总统可以下令强制出售

That owner then has to find a suitable buyer–usually one in the US. Then the buyer and seller might have to go back to CFIUS in order to get the sale approved.

然后,该所有者必须找到合适的买家——通常是在美国。然后买卖双方可能必须再找 CFIUS 寻求获得批准

Grindr took just over a year after the order was made to find a buyer and get approval, the President never issued an order.

Grindr 在接到 CFIUS 强制出售命令后用了一年多的时间找到了买家并获得批准,但总统并未下达命令

TikTok is a much bigger name and forcing a sale could be more complicated.

TikTok 则要大得多,强制出售可能会更加复杂

WSJ Reportor: “Usually CFIUS deals were a lot smaller cases there, so this is like the case of the century for spheres layer in Washington DC.”

通常 CFIUS 交易的案例都是小案件,但 TikTok 这个算是个世纪案例

A treasury official said CFIUS does not publicly comment on transactions that may or may not be reviewing.

一位财政部官员表示,CFIUS 不会公开评论可能会或可能不会审查的交易

Officials are worried about a number of challenges facing a forced sale.

官员们担心强制出售面临的诸多挑战

One is that the Trump administration already tried it: in 2020, that administration issued an order that would effectively ban TikTok unless it is sold out to a US buyer.

一是特朗普政府已经尝试过:在 2020 年,该政府发布了一项命令,将全面禁止 TikTok 在美国运营,除非它被卖给美国买家

But TikTok pushed back and took the order to a federal court, arguing the deal denied the company do process. It was still tight up a legal issue by the time Biden got into office and the order was paused as his administration conducted its own security review. But his administration could face similar pushback from TikTok if it tries a forced sale, and doing so could risk diluting spheres authority.

但 TikTok 并未妥协并向联邦法院申诉。直到拜登上任时,这仍然是一个悬而未决的法律问题,并且由于拜登政府进行了自己的安全审查,该命令被暂停。但如果 TikTok 被再次试图强制出售,拜登政府可能会面临类似的阻力,并且这样做可能会削弱其在这个领域的权威

WSJ Reportor: “Their power is based on having these vague broad powers, and if they go to court and even if they are winning the court, the court might put parameters on that power. It is that the more vague the power is, the more powerful the power is.”

他们的权力是基于拥有这些模糊的广泛权力,如果他们上法庭,即使他们在法庭上获胜,法庭也可能会对该权力设定条件。就是越是模糊的力量,越是强大的力量

Even without legal hurdles, a sale would also need cooperation from the Chin gove which has the power to restrict the export technology which is the TikTok video recommendation algorithm.

即使没有法律障碍,出售也需要 Chin 的合作,Chin 有权限制 TikTok 视频推荐算法的出口技术

WSJ Reportor: “If Ch does not allow the algorithm to be sold, then can TikTok continue operation in the US? We do not know.”

如果 Chin 不允许出售算法,那么TikTok还能在美国继续运营吗?我们不知道

Although CFIUS decides what to do, some lawmakers have taken concerns into their own hands. TikTok has been banned on government devices in the majority of states, and in December the federal government implemented a similar ban. At least one bill has been introduced to ban TikTok entirely in the US.

尽管是 CFIUS 来做决策,但一些立法者已开始自己采取行动。TikTok 已在大多数州的政府设备上被禁止,并且 12 月联邦政府实施了类似的禁令。目前至少已经有一项提案,希望在美国完全禁止 TikTok

WSJ Reportor: “That has legal problems too. That could potentially face a first amendment problem: can you actually ban TikTok from operation in the US, especially when it has more than a hundred million US users?”

但这也有法律问题,这可能会面临美国宪法第一修正案的问题:你真的能禁止 TikTok 在美国运营吗,尤其是当它拥有超过一亿美国用户时

While TikTok could make concessions including how its data is managed to get into an agreement with CFUIS, talks are ongoing without a clear deadline.

尽管 TikTok 可以做出让步,包括如何管理其数据以与 CFUIS 达成协议,但谈判仍在进行中,并且没有明确的截止日期

嗯,遥遥无期~