The TikTok bill that passed the House over the weekend isn’t just a high-profile shot at an ultra-popular app — it’s a move so historically unusual that it could run into problems if it’s signed into law.

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By naming a single company, and by seemingly reversing the U.S.’ longstanding policy on data and the open internet, it calls into question how the law would be enforced, exactly what it will change and whether it can survive a Constitutional challenge.

Historical comparisons to the TikTok legislation are vague and imperfect. I.M. Destler, a trade historian at the University of Maryland, compared it in an email to POLITICO with a 1980s-era scandal surrounding a subsidiary of the computer company Toshiba, which worked elaborately behind the scenes to sell technology to the Soviet Union’s navy. That led not only to an import ban on Toshiba, but to a half-dozen members of Congress publicly smashing Toshiba products with a sledgehammer.

But while the war between the United States and the Soviet Union might have been “cold,” it was still considerably more adversarial than the delicate diplomatic back-and-forth today between the U.S. and China, two nations that share an intricate trading relationship.

‘No analogue in history’ to TikTok bill

Categories: Politics

Tags: China, Digital Realm, Technology, Third Place, United States, Work-Standard, Work-Standard Accounting Practices