Children's Health Defense
State Department Scrambles to Scuttle $100M Censorship Network Before Trump Takes Office
The State Department revealed in a Monday filing that they are “substantially likely” to shut down their $100M Global Engagement Center (GEC), which was revealed in early 2023 to have been funding a “disinformation” tracking group which worked to pressure advertisers to demonetize outlets it accuses of spreading “disinformation.” Except, they’re really just “realigning” the “Center’s staff and funding to other Department offices and bureaus for foreign information manipulation.”
The move comes amid a lawsuit from Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and several conservative media outlets listed a GEC-funded “dynamic exclusion list” of websites it doesn’t like, which it would then distribute to ad tech companies — such as Microsoft’s Xandr — in order to try and “defund and downrank these worst offenders,” and deprive said sites of ad revenue.
When Will TikTok Be Banned in the U.S.? And What Can Stop It From Happening?
As we approach the Jan. 19 deadline for the potential TikTok ban, there have been several significant developments: a federal appeals court panel upheld the Biden-era law; creators are now encouraging their followers to head to other platforms; and TikTok is begging courts to let a new administration weigh in.
The latest attempt at banning TikTok in the U.S. is also the only one that has stuck. President Joe Biden signed a bill into law in April that gave ByteDance, TikTok’s parent company, nine months to get a new buyer or be banned in U.S. app stores — and the clock is running out.
The ban wouldn’t simply delete the app off your phone or erase the site from the internet but would rely on internet hosting companies and app stores like Apple and Google. If they distribute or update TikTok, they’ll face penalties. When will TikTok get banned? The deadline for Biden’s law is Jan. 19 — the day before President-elect Donald Trump takes office.
TikTok Fights Canadian Shutdown Order
TikTok is contesting a Canadian government directive to cease its business operations, citing national security concerns. The company filed an application for a judicial review with the Federal Court in Vancouver on Dec. 5, seeking to overturn the order mandating the dissolution of TikTok Technology Canada Inc.
Last month, Canadian Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne announced plans to shut down TikTok’s Canadian entity. This followed a national security review of its Chinese parent company, ByteDance Ltd.
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