TikTok Crackdown Shifts Into Overdrive, With Sale or Shutdown on Table


经过国会山几个月的幕后博弈，美国众议院即将对封禁TikTok或强制TikTok出售的议案进行表决。这一最新动向让TikTok措手不及，也点燃了潜在买家的兴趣，而这个在美国最热门的应用程序之一则面临很快被关闭的危险。


众议院下属的一个委员会通过的一项新议案让TikTok措手不及。

经过国会山几个月的幕后博弈，美国众议院即将对封禁TikTok或强制TikTok出售的议案进行表决。这一最新动向让TikTok措手不及，也点燃了潜在买家的兴趣，而这个在美国最热门的应用程序之一则面临很快被关闭的危险。 6park.com
Legislation that would ban TikTok in the U.S. or force its sale is hurtling toward a vote in the House following months of behind-the-scenes efforts on Capitol Hill. The new push caught the service off-guard, ratcheting up interest from possible buyers and raising the possibility that one of the most popular apps in the country could soon be shut down.  6park.com
    
美国议员多年来对TikTok一直颇有微词，担心其设在北京的母公司会把TikTok的用户数据分享给中国政府，或是把TikTok当做北京方面的宣传工具，左右美国人的政治观点。但也有人担心，对TikTok采取强硬措施会在数以百万计的TikTok用户中引发强烈不满。 6park.com
Lawmakers have decried TikTok for years, expressing concern that the app’s Beijing-based parent would share data about its users with the Chinese government or lean on TikTok to promote Beijing’s propaganda and shape Americans’ political opinions. But there were countervailing concerns that a forceful move against TikTok would spark a backlash from the millions of users who have embraced the app.  6park.com
   
遏制TikTok的行动曾一度陷入僵局，直到上周众议院能源和商务委员会(Energy and Commerce Committee)以50票对0票通过一项新的议案才打开局面。TikTok试图引导其用户给美国国会议员打电话表示反对，结果适得其反，反而坚定了议案支持者们的决心。 6park.com
Efforts had seemingly stalled until this week, when a new bill passed the House Energy and Commerce Committee 50-0. An effort by TikTok to push users to call their congressional representatives in opposition to the bill appeared to backfire by only hardening proponents’ resolve.  6park.com
    
这让TikTok措手不及。TikTok一直关注着美国国会的立法动向，并表示即使中国政府要求其分享数据，TikTok也不会服从命令，而且中国政府也从未提出过这样的要求。但据知情人士透露，在TikTok内部，领导层并未料到这项议案会如此迅速地获得这么多的关注。在得到众议院能源和商务委员会批准后，这项议案将于本周三在众议院接受全体表决，据国会议员和与TikTok关系密切的人士预计，众议院将会批准该议案，之后将交给参议院表决。 6park.com
The bill caught TikTok by surprise. The company, which says it wouldn’t comply with an order from the Chinese government if asked for data and has never been asked, had been tracking the legislation. But internally, leaders didn’t expect it to gain so much traction so quickly, people familiar with the matter said. Having cleared the committee, the bill is set to get a vote in the full House on Wednesday, and lawmakers and people close to TikTok expect the House to approve the bill. If it passes, it will then head to the Senate.  6park.com
   
“我和很多（参议员）讨论过了，我们表示欢迎，也希望他们迅速采取行动，”威斯康星州共和党众议员加拉格尔(Mike Gallagher)说。他是众议院中共问题特设委员会(Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party)主席，也是该法案的共同起草人。 6park.com
“I’ve had discussions with a lot of the [senators], and we welcome that and hope they could act swiftly,” said Republican Rep. Mike Gallagher of Wisconsin, who leads the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party and co-wrote the bill. 


威斯康星州共和党众议员加拉格尔与他人共同起草了涉及TikTok的法案。

这项法案要求总部设在北京的TikTok母公司字节跳动(ByteDance)剥离TikTok，否则将禁止TikTok在美国应用商店和网络托管服务中使用。从法案颁布之日起，字节跳动将有略多于五个月的时间采取行动以遵守新法案的要求。一位发言人说，TikTok认为这项法案等同于一纸禁令。TikTok表示，将其应用程序的美国部分剥离出来并不现实，而且会削弱这款具有全球性质的内容型应用程序的吸引力。TikTok目前在美国拥有1.7亿用户。 6park.com
The legislation calls for Beijing-based parent ByteDance to divest itself of TikTok or face the platform being banned from app stores and web-hosting services in the U.S. ByteDance would have a little more than five months from the enactment of the bill to comply. TikTok, which is accessed by more than 170 million Americans, sees this as an effective ban, said a spokeswoman. The company says separating the U.S. portion of its app wouldn’t be practical and would undercut the appeal of the content app, which is global in nature. 6park.com
   
美国的科技和媒体巨头们已然跃跃欲试。最近几天，一些高管讨论了倘若字节跳动同意出售就收购TikTok的问题。据一位知情人士透露，电子游戏发行商动视暴雪(Activision)的前首席执行官Bobby Kotick已向字节跳动联合创始人张一鸣表达了兴趣。据估计，售价可能达到数千亿美元。 6park.com
Already, U.S. tech and media titans are circling. In recent days, some executives have discussed buying TikTok if ByteDance agrees to sell. Bobby Kotick, the former chief executive of videogame publisher Activision, has expressed interest to ByteDance co-founder Zhang Yiming, according to a person familiar with the situation. Any price tag is estimated to be in the hundreds of billions of dollars.  6park.com
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Kotick正在寻找合作伙伴。据知情人士透露，在Allen & Co.本周早些时候举行的一次晚宴上，Kotick向一桌人提出联合收购TikTok的想法，其中包括OpenAI首席执行官阿尔特曼(Sam Altman)。如果像Kotick这样的合作伙伴能够筹措到收购资本，OpenAI就可以利用TikTok训练其人工智能模型。 6park.com
Kotick is looking for partners. At a dinner at an Allen & Co. conference earlier this week, Kotick floated the idea of partnering to buy TikTok to a table of people that included OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, according to people familiar with the situation. OpenAI could use TikTok to help train its AI models if a partner such as Kotick could raise the capital for such an acquisition.


动视暴雪前首席执行官Bobby Kotick摄于去年。他表示，如果字节跳动同意出售TikTok，他有兴趣收购。

据一位与TikTok关系密切的人士透露，TikTok认为有两种办法可以阻止这项法案变成法律。首先是参议院，已经有一些参议员以保护言论自由和不干涉商业为由反对这项相当于禁止TikTok在美国运营的立法。 6park.com
TikTok sees two ways to stop the bill from becoming law, according to a person close to the company. The first is the Senate, where some senators have already expressed opposition to legislation that could effectively ban the app in the U.S., citing wanting to protect free speech and a desire to not meddle in business.  6park.com
    
如果法案在众议院和参议院获得通过并由美国总统拜登(Joe Biden)签署，TikTok也可以对其合法性提出异议，理由是违反美国宪法第一修正案(First Amendment)。在蒙大拿州政府去年禁止TikTok使用后，一名联邦法官就曾以言论自由为由阻止该州这样做。 6park.com
Should it pass both the House and the Senate and be signed by President Biden, TikTok could also challenge the legality of the bill, arguing that it violates the First Amendment. After Montana banned the app last year, a federal judge blocked the state measure, citing free-speech concerns. 6park.com
    
拜登上周五表示，如果国会批准，他将签署该立法。这个承诺意味着该法案在参议院的势头可能进一步增强。参议院多数党领袖、纽约州民主党议员舒默(Chuck Schumer)说，“应该考虑”一项禁令，但没有承诺将这项众议院的立法提交表决。一般情况下，一项法案需要60票才能在参议院推进，而民主党党团现在以51对49个席位的优势控制着参议院。 6park.com
Biden on Friday said he would sign the legislation if Congress passed it, a pledge that could give it further momentum in the Senate. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.) said a ban “should be looked at” but didn’t commit to bringing the House legislation up for a vote. Bills typically require 60 votes to advance in the Senate, which the Democratic caucus controls 51-49. 6park.com
    
佛罗里达州共和党参议员卢比奥(Marco Rubio)说：“我不打算吹毛求疵，只想说其背后的意图是我强烈支持的，现在取得的进展令人印象深刻。”卢比奥希望更仔细地研究这项立法。他是大约四年前最早呼吁禁用TikTok的人之一。 6park.com
“I’m not going to nitpick at it, other than to say the intent behind it is something I strongly support and I think it’s impressive that it’s moving,” said Sen. Marco Rubio (R., Fla.), who wanted to take a closer look at the legislation. He was one of the first to call for banning the app, about four years ago.  6park.com
    
一些参议员对国会试图封禁TikTok表示担忧。 6park.com
Some senators have expressed concerns about attempts by Congress to ban the app. 6park.com
    
南卡罗来纳州共和党参议员林塞·格雷厄姆(Lindsey Graham)周日在NBC的《与媒体见面》(Meet the Press)节目中说，他“感到很矛盾”，不知道该怎么投票。他说：“禁止TikTok或许对保护美国数据不受中国侵犯是必要的。”但如果能找到方法不这么做，也挺好，”他说。 6park.com
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R., S.C.) said Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that he was “definitely conflicted” and didn’t know how he would vote. “Banning TikTok, maybe that’s necessary to protect American data from China. But if you can find a way to avoid that, that’d be good, too,” he said. 6park.com
   
肯塔基州共和党参议员兰德·保罗(Rand Paul)上周五说：“我认为我们不应该因为反感某些参与其中的政府或国家而禁止公司的所有权。” 6park.com
“I don’t think we should ban ownership in companies because we don’t like some of the different governments that are involved, or some of the different countries,” said Sen. Rand Paul (R., Ky.) on Friday. 6park.com
   
众议院能源和商务委员会快速通过的这项法案是多名以务实和善于达成协议的议员在幕后长达几个月工作的结果。这个关注中国问题的众议院委员会的主要成员包括威斯康星州的加拉格尔和伊利诺伊州的民主党人克里希纳穆尔提(Raja Krishnamoorthi)，他们几个月来一直在和白宫商讨这项法案。 6park.com
The quick passage by the House Energy and Commerce Committee was the result of months of work behind-the-scenes with lawmakers known for being pragmatic and cutting deals. Gallagher of Wisconsin and Democrat Raja Krishnamoorthi of Illinois, the top members of the House panel focused on China, have been working for months on the bill, with the White House. 6park.com
   
据知情人士说，这项工作之所以能顺利推进，起关键作用的是美国司法部副部长莉萨·莫纳科(Lisa Monaco)。一位知情人士说，克里希纳穆尔提请莫纳科协助推动这项立法，因为她既是拜登政府的高级官员，也是禁止或剥离TikTok的积极支持者。 6park.com
Key to smoothing out this effort was Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco, people familiar with the matter said. One person said Krishnamoorthi asked Monaco to help with the process because she was both a senior Biden administration official and a vocal proponent of a TikTok ban or divestment. 6park.com
    
其中一位知情人士说，莫纳科帮助起草了该法案，而作为拜登政府的高级官员，她的身份也有助于争取国会民主党议员的支持。拜登政府的国家安全团队成员也参与进来，与国会议员举行闭门会议，向议员们介绍了他们认为的TikTok所构成的国家安全威胁。 6park.com
Monaco helped draft the legislation, and her presence as a Biden administration senior official helped congressional Democrats buy into supporting the bill, one of the people said. Members of the Biden administration’s national-security team also pitched in, holding closed-door sessions with Congress members to brief them about what they said were national-security threats about TikTok.


美国司法部副部长莉萨·莫纳科是禁止或剥离TikTok的积极支持者。

“该法案经过了精裁细减，让两党议员甚至原来的一些怀疑者都被争取过来，”新泽西州民主党众议员Josh Gottheimer表示，“该法案只关注与我们为敌的外国势力，这些势力散播虚假信息，并收集美国人的数据。” 6park.com
“It’s narrowly tailored to get members from both sides, even former skeptics,” said Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D., N.J.) of the bill. “It focuses solely on our foreign adversaries who pump out disinformation and collect data on Americans.” 6park.com
    
加拉格尔深受民主党人和共和党同事的喜爱，并被尊为相关问题的专家。据接近TikTok的人士和与国会议员关系密切的人士透露，2023年他的工作似乎毫无进展，但后来又重振旗鼓，这可能与哈马斯10月7日袭击以色列所引发的影响有一定关系。 事件发生后，TikTok用户很快在该平台上发布了大量有关这次袭击和以色列对加沙开战的视频。一些议员说，TikTok似乎偏向支持巴勒斯坦和反以色列的内容，这让他们再次呼吁禁止TikTok在美国使用。 6park.com
Gallagher is well-liked by Democrats and his GOP colleagues and respected as an expert on the issue. His efforts appeared to stall in 2023, but were revived in part by the fallout from the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas on Israel, according to people close to TikTok and people close to lawmakers. TikTok’s users quickly inundated the platform with videos about the attack and Israel’s war on Gaza. Some lawmakers said TikTok appeared to favor pro-Palestinian and anti-Israel content, and renewed calls to ban the app in the U.S.  6park.com
    
TikTok发言人表示，议员们注意到的视频都是由TikTok用户创建的，无论是支持以色列还是支持巴勒斯坦的视频，TikTok在审核时是一视同仁的。 6park.com
TikTok’s spokeswoman said that the videos that lawmakers are concerned about were created by its users, and the company argued it has been fair in moderating pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian videos.  6park.com
    
克里希纳穆尔提说：“10月7日的事件确实让人们看清了TikTok的问题”，认识到TikTok“对不同话题是区别对待的。”他还表示，即将到来的大选也加剧了人们的担忧。“人们担心TikTok成为实施干预的工具。” 6park.com
“Oct. 7 really opened people’s eyes to what’s happening on TikTok” and its “differential treatment of different topics,” said Krishnamoorthi, adding that the coming election also fueled concerns. “People are concerned about interference using TikTok.” 6park.com
   
最早提出强制字节跳动出售TikTok的是时任总统的特朗普(Donald Trump)。后来美国议员禁止在政府设备上使用TikTok，但更广泛的行动停滞不前。拜登政府官员认定TikTok对国家安全构成威胁，但不确定是否具有法律权力，在事实上禁止该应用或要求其脱离中国所有者。新的TikTok法案旨在赋予白宫这样做的明确权力。 6park.com
The first push to force ByteDance to sell TikTok started from then-president Donald Trump. Lawmakers have since banned TikTok from government-owned devices, but broader efforts stalled. Biden administration officials concluded that TikTok represented a national-security threat but were uncertain they had the legal authority to effectively ban the app or separate it from its Chinese owner. The new TikTok bill aims to give the White House clear authority to do so.


从法案颁布之日起，字节跳动将有略多于五个月的时间采取行动以遵守新法案的要求。

几年来，TikTok一直与美国外国投资委员会(Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S.)就能否继续留在美国运营进行谈判，但直到今日也未能达成协议。2022年，TikTok和美国政府曾就一项潜在协议展开磋商，这项协议要求TikTok把美国用户数据存储在甲骨文公司(Oracle Corp.)位于美国的服务器上，并限制其他人访问这些数据。但据《华尔街日报》(The Wall Street Journal)此前报道，包括莫纳科在内的一些政府高级官员认为这还不够。 6park.com
TikTok has been in negotiations for several years with an executive-branch panel called the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. over whether it can remain in the country, but it hasn’t reached an agreement. In 2022, TikTok and the U.S. government had been in talks over a potential deal under which the company would store American user data on Oracle Corp. servers in the U.S. and limit access for others to it. But senior administration officials, including Monaco, argued that wasn’t sufficient, The Wall Street Journal previously reported. 6park.com
    
在没有达成协议的情况下，TikTok实施了一项名为Project Texas的计划来存储用户数据。据TikTok的一位发言人称，所有美国用户数据都存储在甲骨文的云端，她表示，TikTok在分离和保护用户数据方面比其他美国公司做得更多。 6park.com
In the absence of an agreement, TikTok implemented a program called Project Texas to store user data. All U.S. data is stored in the Oracle cloud, according to a TikTok spokeswoman, who said it has done more than other U.S. companies to separate and protect users’ data. 6park.com
    
特朗普上周四似乎改变了立场。他在社交媒体上发帖称，封禁TikTok对Meta Platforms的Facebook有好处，而他把Facebook称为“人民公敌”。特朗普的立场对共和党议员有很大的影响力，但他在声明中并未直接呼吁议员们否决该法案。Meta上周五对此不予置评。 6park.com
Trump on Thursday appeared to reverse his position, writing on social media that banning TikTok would help Meta Platforms’s Facebook, which he described as an “enemy of the people.” Trump’s positions carry significant sway among Republican lawmakers, but his statement didn’t directly call for them to reject the bill. Meta declined to comment on that claim Friday. 6park.com
    
“我不认为这会减缓众议院推进这项法案的势头，因为读过该法案的人都明白我们在做什么，”众议院能源和商业委员会成员Kat Cammack说。“作为赞同‘美国优先’理念的候选人，我永远都不愿意让外国敌对势力拥有这些数据......，必须推进这个法案。” 6park.com
“I don’t think it will slow momentum in the House because people who have read the legislation, they understand what we’re doing here,” said Rep. Kat Cammack (R., Fla.), a member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. “As an America First candidate, I would never want foreign adversaries to have this data.…This is the vehicle that is going to move forward.”