The central argument is this. “Whether the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act (“the Act”), as applied to petitioners, violates the First Amendment.”
Congress enacted a law that effectively bans the social media app TikTok, or at the very least, forces the sale of the company to a non-foreign owned entity. The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear arguments on the First Amendment aspect. Biden signed the law that requires TikTok’s China-based parent company ByteDance to divest from the app or face a ban on U.S. networks and app stores.
Mitch McConnell [SEE HERE] and Mike Pence [See Here] are asking the Supreme Court to support the law and support the forced sale or ban. However, President Trump is urging the Supreme Court to be very careful. [SEE HERE]
After initially supporting the ban on Tik Tok in 2020, President Trump changed his opinion and now contemplates whether a ban against the popular platform is in America’s best interest.
…Many people have wondered what changed President Trump’s mind, with some pointing to President Trump’s meeting with TikTok CEO Shou Chew at Mar-a-Lago earlier this month. Additionally, Elon Musk and the Silicon Valley tech team, including JD Vance, are opposed to Tik Tok. However, the shift in Trump’s thinking since 2020 makes sense if you look at the timeline.
TikTok is a content and information platform that presents a significant issue from an American perspective. It is a Chinese platform available in the USA, but American platforms are banned in China. As a consequence, there is a particular conflict on geopolitical interests. Thus, in 2020 President Trump was against TikTok as an equity/fairness issue.
However, if most or all of the USA social media platforms are under the influence and control of government, which they are. And when President Trump became a victim from that influence and control, which he did. And when the only counterpoint for pushback against the Mis-Dis-Mal information scheme of the U.S. Govt., is to use an external platform to deliver information…. Then the relative issues in the platform discrimination argument take on a different context.
If you look at the timeline, after he was silenced by the U.S government’s influence in Big Tech, President Trump changed his position on Tik Tok.
The Silicon Valley immigration priority was not the topic I thought would explode and fracture the tenuous MAGA alignment with the New Big Tech group represented by Elon Musk and his billionaire network. However, we learn more every day.
This is a jaw-dropping moment to watch unfold as a very influential sector of the political discourse begins a full-frontal attack against those who are pointing out how the tech community abuse H1B visas to replace American workers. In the background, of course, is the context of widespread immigration policy fraud being one of the priorities for the average Trump supporter.
The Silicon Valley team do not seem to review discussion of the H1B manipulation/fraud within the larger American economy as a problem, as long as the discussion of the visa fraud does not impact their business models. However, as soon as the H1B abuse started to be framed around Silicon Valley’s participation therein, the New Big Tech group take a nuclear war approach to defending their interests.
Having followed the immigration issue for a long time, yet specifically only having a big picture review of the H1B visa issues, it has been astounding to watch how Elon Musk, Vivek Ramaswamy, David Sacks and the Silicon Valley supporters and influencers are responding to having the H1B visa fraud confronted. The self-interest in their defense is just astronomical to watch unfold.
Empowered by what can only be reasonably defined as their perceived influence over President Trump, the new-era Tech team are quite forcefully telling the MAGA base of Trump-supporting American workers that their concerns, views and perspectives are irrelevant.
It appears that most of the explosive sentiments revolve around H1B visas in the tech sector issued to Indian workers specifically. Apparently, the friendships, networks and teams attached to the sector of computer engineering carry with them an emotional component. I guess that should not be a surprise considering this is essentially a peer-to-peer wagon circling, in defense of the H1B visa problems in the tech sector.
As said before, it always appeared the MAGA alignment with Silicon Valley would not be an issue until the interests of the billionaire tech team came into conflict with the MAGA base. I did not anticipate the fracture being so fast, nor did I anticipate immigration would be the trigger. However, H1B visa issuance is apparently a key part of the Silicon Valley business model.
That said, several pragmatic aspects of the discussion are now being lost amid a very toxic shouting match that has begun. President Trump and JD Vance are, perhaps understandably, staying very quiet at the moment. However, that silence is soon to be impossible as both sides of a very divisive issue are going to eventually demand President Trump to weigh in.
…As I watch this debate unfold, I find myself finally realizing why all the Silicon Valley tech people were such staunch Democrats. Their worldview does not: (1) seem to comprehend American Economic Nationalism as a priority; (2) seem to appreciate the importance of true liberty in the creation of the remarkable outcomes from American exceptionalism; and (#3) they appear to be inside a bubble of self-interest, unattached and unaffected by the economic issues that have seriously harmed the MAGA base.
In essence, the Silicon Valley network represented by Elon Musk team, does not connect in the same way to the important priorities of middle America. The technocrats are, well, Technocrats.
The more things change the more they stay the same. Elon replaced white women with Indian men, but the results are the same. No free speech or reach. ABN
American Buddhist Net 