E42: Keep TikToking in "the free world"

This week’s episode of re:verb is presented as part of The 2020 Big Rhetorical Podcast Carnival, a weeklong podcast series centered on a common theme: “the digital future of rhetoric and composition.” Other featured podcasts include the Global Rhetorics Podcast, Kairoticast, Rhetorically Yours, Rhetoricity, RhetoricLee Speaking, Writing Remix Podcast, and The Big Rhetorical Podcast itself. We encourage everyone to check out these other fantastic shows and their contributions to the Carnival.

In this episode, Calvin and Alex analyze and contextualize three recent Trump Administration Executive Orders targeting information communication technology (ICT) platforms from “foreign adversary” countries (in the EO’s words). In particular, we examine the highly publicized orders banning TikTok and WeChat, both owned by Chinese tech companies. We discuss these orders as part of a broader pattern of international brinksmanship between the U.S. and China over the ownership of ICT supply chains, and the power struggle for economic dominance between the two nations more broadly.

Then, we zoom in on the practical, day-to-day consequences of these policy issues. For this part of the episode, we reached out to a source - a Chinese international student living in the U.S. - to ask what it’s like to experience both sides of the U.S.-China digital divide. To protect their anonymity, we use a text-to-speech program (approved by the source) to read aloud their responses to various questions related to these issues: how they communicate with family and friends across the globe, their views of the WeChat and TikTok bans in terms of U.S.-China relations, and their experiences navigating both top-down and bottom-up digital censorship and surveillance practices. We also discuss our source’s request to remain anonymous, and how the necessity of this choice reflects the fraught power dynamics of contemporary digital rhetoric. 

Overall, these executive orders (and the first-hand accounts of someone experiencing their consequences) illustrate that values like “free expression,” especially in digital spaces, are always contingent upon who owns the technological infrastructure that facilitates their use. As scholars and teachers, we must keep in mind that not everyone experiences digital tools and platforms in the same ways. By acknowledging the economic and political realities of the digital divide, we stand on firmer ground for re:imagining what a "free world" might look like on the global Internet.

Texts analyzed in this episode

Executive Order on Securing the Information and Communications Technology and Services Supply Chain (May 15, 2019)

Executive Order on Addressing the Threat Posed by TikTok (August 6, 2020)

Executive Order on Addressing the Threat Posed by WeChat (August 6, 2020)

Works and concepts referenced in this episode

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Chen, S. Y. (2014). From OMG to TMD–Internet and Pinyin acronyms in Mandarin Chinese. Language@Internet, 11(3).

China and the U.S Are Fighting a Major Battle Over Killer Robots and the Future of AI

Chinese student sorry after uproar at US 'fresh air' speech

Daiya, K. (2020, Jun. 6). The current plight of international students. Inside Higher Ed.

Egypt blocks social media websites in attempted clampdown on unrest

Hartnett, S. J. (2011). Google and the “twisted cyber spy” affair: US–Chinese communication in an age of globalization. Quarterly Journal of Speech, 97(4), 411-434.

Hauser, G. A. (1998). Civil society and the principle of the public sphere. Philosophy & rhetoric, 31(1), 19-40.

ICE bans new international students enrolled in online-only classes from entering U.S.

McGee, M. C. (1980). The “ideograph”: A link between rhetoric and ideology. Quarterly journal of speech, 66(1), 1-16. [See also re:verb episode 14.]

Naughton, J. (2016). The evolution of the Internet: from military experiment to General Purpose Technology. Journal of Cyber Policy, 1(1), 5-28.

Neil Young Sues Donald Trump Campaign Over Use of ‘Rockin’ in the Free World’

NSA accused of spying on Brazilian oil company Petrobras

Oddo, J. (2018). The Discourse of Propaganda: Case Studies from the Persian Gulf War and the War on Terror. Penn State Press.

Reeves, J. (2012). If you see something, say something: Lateral surveillance and the uses of responsibility. Surveillance & Society, 10(3/4), 235-248.

Shaheen, M. (2020, Jul. 3). Supporting international students in the time of Coronavirus: Looking beyond immigration concerns. Diverse Issues in Higher Education.

Snowden: The NSA planted backdoors in Cisco products

Van Dijk, T. A. (2006). Discourse and manipulation. Discourse & society, 17(3), 359-383.