Fordham Law Professor Olivier Sylvain was quoted in The Fordham Observer, arguing there might be an underlying double standard when it comes to scrutiny of TikTok, but not scrutiny of other U.S.-based apps.
Sylvain, who specializes in public lawmaking and information technology issues, agreed that the national security concerns are a little hazy. He said that there might be an underlying double standard when it comes to scrutiny of TikTok, but not scrutiny of other U.S.-based apps.
“A lot of social media companies are in the business of collecting consumers’ information, and TikTok is not the only one,” Sylvain said.
When it comes to having concerns over a foreign app, and not others, Sylvain said he is “probably closer to these critics who were concerned that people were holding out TikTok in a kind of xenophobic, mildly racist, anti-Chinese way.”
“That’s what a lot of people who challenged the statue alleged,” Sylvain said. “They said we can’t just rely on these assertions by national security officials that China may do this or has done it when there is no evidence of it.”
Sylvain added that, even if there was evidence, “no one in the public has seen it, right? It’s all confidential.”
Even so, these privacy concerns were still a major topic. “That’s why the momentum continues through the Biden administration,” Sylvain said. “It wasn’t just slipped in.”
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Trump signed an Executive Order on the first night he was in office, effectively stating that he would not enforce the ban for more than two months.
Sylvain noted that many presidents before have used discretion on how laws and statutes are enforced. However, there has not been a president who has deliberately gone against the will of the legislative and judicial branches this deliberately.
For Sylvain, Trump’s reversal “underscores how potentially unprincipled the current president is on these issues. One might like to believe that he is an advocate for free speech — but it’s hard to accept it,” Sylvain said. “Four years before, when he thought TikTok was dangerous for him, he wasn’t.”
“I think many of us are uncomfortable thinking that the president is not faithfully executing the laws — as required under Article Two of the Constitution — on day one,” Sylvain said. “Given that there is a roadmap set up by Congress, no matter whether you think the statute was a good idea,” Sylvain stipulated, the fact that Trump has declined to enforce “is deeply troubling, at least.”
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Sylvain agreed with Kellner Ongaro’s view and said that the reversal of Trump’s 2016 attitude means that Trump may want to be seen as a heroic figure in the eyes of Americans.
“Trump uses this as an opportunity. He says ‘I will save America.’” Sylvain mused. But now that that position is unpopular, “his tune has changed.”
Read “Influencer-in-Chief”, which was originally published in The Fordham Observer, Issue 11.