Thursday briefing: US targets TikTok

The US House demands a ban on TikTok

The House of Representatives has passed a bill aimed at forcing ByteDance, the Chinese internet company, to sell TikTok within six months to a buyer who satisfies the US government – ​​or face a ban in the country. The vote was the latest development in a cold war between the US and China over control of valuable technology.

U.S. officials have expressed concerns that TikTok’s Chinese ownership poses a national security risk. Many are concerned that Beijing could demand the personal data of Americans from ByteDance and that ByteDance would have to comply under Chinese law. They are also concerned that China could use TikTok’s powerful algorithm to feed its users political propaganda.

TikTok – which is used by 170 million Americans – has said it has gone to great lengths to protect US user data. China condemned the push and dismissed concerns that TikTok would pose a danger to the US

Few buyers could afford even the U.S. portion of TikTok, which could be worth $50 billion. Those who could do so could face antitrust issues, or China could block the sale. If ByteDance cannot or refuses to sell TikTok, it would be illegal for app stores and web hosting companies to distribute or update the app in the US.

What’s next: The bill faces a difficult road in the Senate. President Biden has said he would sign it if it passed both houses of Congress.

A few aid trucks enter northern Gaza

Israel allowed aid trucks into Gaza via a route that had not been used for aid deliveries since the start of the war.

The convoy, consisting of six trucks carrying food for 25,000 people, headed directly to northern Gaza, where the humanitarian crisis is particularly acute. But in a sign that aid will provide only limited relief, the U.N. World Food Program called for “deliveries every day” and “entry points directly to the north.”

The move came as global pressure mounts on Israel to allow more aid into Gaza. The head of UNRWA, the U.N. aid agency for Palestinians, said some of the aid was cut this week because it included medical scissors. Israel said he was lying. UNRWA also said Israel attacked an aid warehouse in Rafah, killing at least one worker. The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Russia’s new trade routes

Long dependent on Europe for trade, Russia is forging new routes that will allow it to bypass Western restrictions and expand ties with countries that would still do business with it despite the war in Ukraine.

A southern route to reach India – where Russian trade has increased to more than four times in 2021 – and countries in the Persian Gulf has become a focus. It would depend on a planned railway through Iran, for which Russia has agreed to lend the country $1.4 billion.

What’s next: The new link is expected to be completed in 2028, and the resulting ‘North-South Transport Corridor’ would be beyond the reach of Western sanctions.

MORE TOP NEWS

Amedeo Capelli, an Italian sculptor, makes small, whimsical, hand-operated automatons: Shrimp play instruments, or mouse pirates carry swords. “The best part of my job,” said Capelli, 31, “is seeing a piece of wood come to life.”

Lives lived: Olga Murray saved thousands of Nepalese girls and young women from slavery and fed hungry children. She died at the age of 98.

Conversation starters

• Fashion: Older women are increasingly appearing on the catwalk.

• Oddity: A shiny monolith was found in Wales. Similar mysterious objects were placed around the world in 2020.

The pitfall of ‘color blindness’

In the American civil rights movement, the idea of ​​”color blindness” was used to challenge discriminatory laws and policies. Leaders believed that achieving color blindness required race-conscious policies to help black people overcome disadvantages caused by slavery.

But the idea and language of “color blindness” has been hijacked, my colleague Nikole Hannah-Jones argues in an essay. Conservatives have co-opted the language of “colorblindness,” she writes, slowing or reversing racial progress—as evidenced by last year’s U.S. Supreme Court ruling that affirmative action in college admissions was unconstitutional, and the resulting attack on race-conscious people. programs.

“The Supreme Court has helped constitutionalize a colorblindness that leaves racial disparities intact while crushing efforts to improve them,” she argues in a guide to the basic points of her essay.