CAFE Contributor Asha Rangappa joins Elie Honig to break down the bipartisan efforts to get TikTok banned in the U.S. and the lawsuits TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, faces—one brought by the federal government arguing TikTok violated child privacy laws and 14 more filed by state attorneys general alleging the app is harming children’s mental health.
This is the latest installment of a new special series of episodes exclusively for members of CAFE Insider. Each week, Elie Honig and special guests will tackle one major legal or policy issue, helping you stay informed. Let us know what you think. Write to us at letters@cafe.com.
Shownotes & transcript can be found at CAFE.com.
This podcast is brought to you by CAFE and Vox Media Podcast Network.
Elie Honig:
From CAFE and the Vox Media Podcast Network, welcome to CAFE Insider. I’m Elie Honig. This week our topic is the social media app, TikTok. If you are about my age, it’s probably a bit of a mystery to you. If you’re younger, it’s probably not much of a mystery at all. The site has faced increased scrutiny from legal and regulatory quarters, especially this past spring. President Biden signed into law a bill that could force the site to be sold by its Chinese-owned parent company, ByteDance. And now the company is facing a slew of civil lawsuits, one suit brought by the federal government, arguing that TikTok violated child privacy laws. And then 14 more lawsuits filed by state AGs alleging that the app is harming children’s mental health.
So to discuss all that, we’ve got the perfect guest this week. You know her, Asha Rangappa. Asha is a CAFE contributor, a senior lecturer at some college called Yale, specifically the Jackson Institute for Global Affairs, and a former special agent with some agency called the FBI. Asha specializes on national security and intel matters and is the perfect guest and somebody who I often ask to speak to my class at Rutgers University. Asha, great to see you.
Asha Rangappa:
