The push to ban TikTok in the U.S. has always had a whiff of protectionism about it, emanating from some of the arguments being put forward (that TikTok violates user privacy, as if American Big Tech doesn’t do the same) and from some of the people espousing them—Snap CEO Evan Spiegel said he’d “love” to see a TikTok ban, and Meta reportedly paid a Republican consulting firm to lobby local politicians against the Chinese platform.
Which is why it’s so fascinating to see U.S. tech giants suddenly lining up behind their rival in the pushback against Montana’s TikTok ban. Two industry associations, NetChoice and the Chamber of Progress—both of which count Meta as a member; Snap is also a NetChoice member—yesterday made a joint court filing in TikTok’s lawsuit against the ban’s enforcement.
"If allowed to take effect, the ban will usher in a balkanized internet where information available to users becomes regionally divided based on local politicians’ whims or preferences,” the tech groups said in their filing, according to Reuters. “The internet, as a whole, will become fragmented and its value to humanity diminished."
Tech companies don’t like competition, but what they really can’t stand is regulatory fragmentation, which makes compliance and planning more difficult. That’s one of the big reasons Big Tech pushed for a federal privacy law five years ago, after California passed a tough state law on the subject. Companies like Facebook feared a patchwork of state laws, which is ultimately what came to pass, albeit with a degree of Big Tech involvement—the industry switched tactics and started seeding state laws that were weaker than California’s.
The emerging smorgasbord of state A.I. laws is probably also a factor behind the tech industry’s push for federal A.I. legislation, though—as with privacy—the sector is also motivated by a desire to see light-touch rules applied as broadly as possible.
Of course, TikTok’s First Amendment argument against the Montana ban is in itself a good reason for U.S. Big Tech to support its challenge against the law. But I don’t think these companies would shed too many tears if TikTok found itself kicked out of the whole country on national security grounds. Unlike the prospect of further state-by-state regulatory fragmentation, that wouldn’t make their lives any harder.
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David Meyer
