Aug 7, 2020 9:00 AM

Will TikTok Lead Trump to Build America’s Own Great Firewall?

Plus: Absurd takes from the archives, a tribute to small devices, and another setback for Covid testing.

Hello, Plaintext readers! I’m Louise Matsakis, a staff writer here at WIRED, where I cover TikTok, Amazon, and China. This week I’m stepping in for my colleague Steven Levy, who graciously gave me the opportunity to chat with you while he’s on vacation.

The Plain View

I was camping last weekend, sitting around a fire roasting marshmallows, when news first broke that President Trump said he was “banning” TikTok from the United States. The announcement wasn’t totally unexpected: White House officials had been saying for weeks beforehand that they planned to do something about the social media platform, as well as other Chinese-owned apps, over concerns they pose a risk to national security. Still, I found the news alarming. The security and human rights challenges that China’s authoritarian regime poses can’t be dismissed, but Trump’s proclamation—and the dubious executive orders that followed on Thursday—stunk of hypocrisy, as WIRED’s editor-in-chief Nicholas Thompson deftly pointed out. The US has long criticized China for censoring its internet, and it seems as though we might be heading down a similar path.

As is typical when it comes to Trump, it wasn't obvious what, if anything, might happen next. By Sunday, when I was packing up my tent, Microsoft had announced that it was discussing buying TikTok from its parent company, the Chinese tech giant ByteDance. Microsoft is, of course, best known for selling enterprise software. Initially, it seemed strange that it was interested in an app famous for lip-syncing teens. But as my colleague Will Knight noted earlier this week, Microsoft has deep roots in China: ByteDance’s founder and CEO even worked there for a short stint.

Talks between the two companies are ongoing, and Microsoft says it plans to make a final decision about the acquisition by September 15. In the meantime, the Trump administration is moving even closer toward enacting its own Great Firewall. On Wednesday, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced a new plan to scrub America’s internet of all connections to China. The “Clean Initiative” is ostensibly about protecting US citizens from Chinese spying, but it’s noteworthy that Pompeo’s announcement uses the word “clean” far more times than it does “security.” Then late Thursday night, Trump ratcheted up tensions even more when he signed two executive orders prohibiting any US company or person from transacting with TikTok or WeChat, the messaging platform owned by Tencent. It’s not clear what their actual impact may be, and the orders don’t take effect for 45 days.

As all this news was unfolding, I kept coming back to a series of videos that have recently gone viral on TikTok in the US. They feature Chinese fashion influencers strutting down city streets in beautiful outfits, often in pairs. Many of the clips have garnered millions of views—they’re undeniably addicting to watch. They’ve even spawned an entire genre of copycat memes, which often poke fun at the subpar street style in American cities like San Francisco. What’s most interesting about them, though, is that the majority appear to have been originally uploaded to Douyin, ByteDance’s version of TikTok available only in China. Their virality suggests that normal Americans, who arguably know less about China than Chinese people do about them, have a genuine appetite for crossing cultural boundaries. The Trump administration’s latest actions will potentially only make that more difficult.

Because of language barriers, censorship, and the Great Firewall, little about China’s internet culture ever leaves its borders. That's more true now than ever before, as the ongoing coronavirus pandemic continues to limit physical travel. The US has also played a role: It recently disbanded important programs for cultural exchange, like the Peace Corps in China and the Fulbright Program both in China and Hong Kong. And President Trump has further inflamed tensions by using racist language, referring, for instance, to Covid-19 as the “kung flu.”

I worry that as more ties are broken, there will be less opportunity for real understanding between two of the world’s biggest superpowers. “I swear they’re from another world,” one commenter wrote below one of the most popular Chinese fashion TikToks, referring to the stylish people featured in it. If the US and China keep moving in the same direction, we really may end up living on what feels like two different planets.

Time Travel

One of the most enjoyable things about working at WIRED is digging through the archives. My personal magazine collection isn’t as extensive as Steven’s, so I decided to rummage through WIRED’s digital history instead. Today, I present you with this delightfully absurd take from 2007, when we published “Ten Reasons to Throw Away Your Cellphone.” Examples include “It knows where you are,” and “It makes you perpetually available.” Some things haven’t changed.

As a bonus, here’s a somewhat silly story I wrote last summer about my love for a tiny device I nicknamed Baby Phone. I will never throw it out, no matter what vintage WIRED has to say.

Ask Me One Thing

Every week, Steven Levy answers one reader’s most pressing question. Have something you’re dying to know? You can submit questions to mail@wired.com. Don’t forget to put ASK LEVY in the subject line.

And if you have a question for me, or just a particularly funny TikTok you’d like to share, you can reach out at louise_matsakis@wired.com.

End Times Chronicle

The United States is disastrously behind in Covid-19 testing. Again. Good luck getting your results on time!

Last but Not Least

Jason Parham’s beautiful WIRED cover story about TikTok and the evolution of digital blackface is not to be missed.

Here’s why your shaving razors become dull so infuriatingly quickly.

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