Welcome to the CAVEAT Weekly Newsletter, where we break down some of the major developments and happenings occurring worldwide when discussing cybersecurity, privacy, digital surveillance, and technology policy.
At 1,750 words, this briefing is about a 7-minute read.
At a Glance.
- White House is significantly involved in TikTok sale discussions.
- Taiwan aims to deepen military ties with the US.
White House plays unprecedented role in TikTok sale.
The News.
On Monday, reports emerged detailing how White House officials have been acting like an investment bank when handling conversations regarding TikTok’s sale. These reports emphasize that Vice President JD Vance has been tasked with running this sale with four different groups attempting to purchase the social media company, including Frank McCourt, the former owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers. Outside of these four investors, President Trump has also suggested that the United States (US) could own a significant stake in TikTok’s US business.
Vice President Vance aims to have the general terms of an agreement set by the April 5th deadline. While President Trump has indicated that he could extend this deadline, it is unclear if he would. TikTok’s sales price is estimated to be between $50 billion to $100 billion with the algorithm included in the sale and $40 billion to $50 billion without the algorithm.
The Knowledge.
Since President Trump took office, the future of TikTok has remained uncertain. Under the previous Biden administration, the former President signed into law a bill package that would force ByteDance, TikTok’s parent company, to sell the social media application within six months or be banned within the US. However, despite the six-month deadline passing earlier this year, the application has not been sold nor banned as President Trump has signed an Executive Order that extended this deadline by an additional seventy-five days. At the time, President Trump stated that he intended to provide more time for his administration “to pursue a resolution that protects national security while saving a platform used by 170 million Americans.” Since this order was signed, no major news has been released on the progress of negotiating a deal till this point.
Given the success and popularity of TikTok and the numerous ongoing security concerns associated with the application, it is not surprising that the social media platform has continued to be a significant topic of debate. However, while it is not unprecedented for an administration to become involved with deal negotiations, the Trump administration’s involvement has greatly expanded on previous precedents. In past instances, administrations became involved in deals to prevent monopolies, prevent financial collapses, and ensure that hostile actors did not control American companies. However, the Trump administration’s efforts to potentially acquire a stake and act as an investment bank are notably different.
Unlike in other scenarios, Richard Briffault, a Columbia Law School professor, commented on the White House’s role stating that “this is at the highest levels of the government, and it’s not clear this is a strategically significant company.” Furthermore, Briffault reiterated that “what makes this different is it doesn’t look like this company has significant strategic significance in the [US] or that there would be significant financial or strategic harm to the economy or to the country if it left, if it did not sell.”
The Impact.
While it is unclear if TikTok will be sold and if a deal can materialize within the next few weeks before the deadline, it is clear that this debate is still central to both the administration and other lawmakers. Given the considerable valuation of TikTok and its algorithm, it is clear that this sale would take some time to complete and could dramatically impact how TikTok is delivered within the US. Since no concrete details have emerged so far, deal terms will likely be provided sometime around the deadline if an agreement is reached.
For those who use and rely on TikTok, people should remain informed on how these business dealings are progressing and what impacts these deals could have on the application, including changes to services and potential downtime. Furthermore, depending on if the deal involves TikTok’s algorithm, this could significantly impact how TikTok recommends content to users.
Taiwan aims to deepen US military relationship.
The News.
On Tuesday, Taiwan announced its intentions to deepen its military cooperation with the US. These efforts will include improving intelligence-sharing efforts and holding more joint tabletop exercises according to Taiwan’s Defense Ministry. Each of these efforts is in response to the Government’s new plans outlined in its 2025 Quadrennial Defence Review (QDR). In this QDR, Taiwan stated that the government aims to gradually deepen its military exchanges with the US through numerous avenues, like the two mentioned, as well as through strategic dialogues and observing drills. The report emphasized that “the [US] is an important strategic partner of our country and has close military exchanges and cooperation with us.” Additionally, the review also emphasized that the government would seek to enhance the interoperability of the two nations’ armed forces and reiterated that this cooperation would help boost Taiwan’s defense capacity.
The document was presented Wednesday to the Parliament by Taiwan’s Defence Minister Wellington Koo.
The Knowledge.
This latest action comes after the US and Taiwan have been working to deepen their relations. Just a few weeks ago, the Taiwanese Semiconductor Company (TSMC) and the Trump administration announced a new series of domestic investments. With this investment, TSMC plans to invest $100 billion into the US to build five additional chip facilities over the next several years. These investments include plans for three new chip fabrication plants, two advanced packaging facilities, and a research and development center. While this deal did not explicitly state what technology it would use in these facilities, officials previously stated that its facilities would use some of its most advanced chip-making technologies called “A16.”
In addition to announcing these efforts, there has been a concerted effort between the US and Taiwan to continue deepening their relationship with the introduction of a new trade deal between the two last December. The US-Taiwan Initiative on 21st Century Trade (USTR) was originally signed in June 2023 and included commitments on anticorruption, small and medium-sized enterprises, good regulatory practices, services domestic regulation, customs administration, and trade facilitation. At the time, Ambassador Tai stated, “We thank our Taiwan partners for helping us reach this important milestone.” Even with this deal just being implemented, talks on creating a second agreement have already begun with hopes that it will address different areas like labor, the environment, agriculture, and other similar topics.
The Impact.
The deepening cooperation between Taiwan and the US is poised to have several significant impacts. Outside of improving regional security, these efforts could be crucial in improving confidence in global trade and supply chains for semiconductors and other key trade goods. While many of these effects will not be tangible for some time, these efforts will have long-term benefits that will boost manufacturing capabilities and promote economic growth and in the short term will provide more stability and certainty. As this relationship continues to evolve and become increasingly strengthened, stakeholders and people who depend on this relationship should expect greater supply chain growth and reliability as the two governments work together to improve relations and trade opportunities.
Highlighting key conversations.
In this week’s Caveat Podcast, our team discusses the UK’s new Online Safety Act (OSA), which would force technology companies to detect and remove dangerous online content and threaten fines of up to ten percent of global turnover. Furthermore, the OSA could shut down or jail executives if a violation is considered to be egregious. Our team breaks down this new law and how Elon Musk has been a strong critic of this measure. Outside of this development, our team also highlights a story where surveillance cameras were able to track down a suspect in Baltimore.
Like what you read and curious about the conversation? Head over to the Caveat Podcast for the full scoop and additional compelling insights. Our Caveat Podcast is a weekly show where we discuss topics related to surveillance, digital privacy, cybersecurity law, and policy. Got a question you'd like us to answer on our show? You can send your audio file to caveat@thecyberwire.com. Hope to hear from you.
Other noteworthy stories.
Court blocks California Children Online Safety Bill.
What: A federal judge has blocked California’s Age-Appropriate Design Code Act.
Why: Last Thursday, US District Court Judge Beth Labson Freemen granted a preliminary injunction to NetChoice, a technology trade group, who claimed the law violated the First Amendment. In Judge Freemen’s decision, they wrote “a regulation that focuses on the emotive impact of speech on its audience is content-based, and therefore must be drawn as narrowly as possible.” The Judge continued emphasizing that “the state has not shown that the (law) is narrowly drawn here.”
California Attorney General Rob Bonta commented on this decision, stating that he “remains committed to tackling this issue and to defending California’s common-sense statutes.” Ambika Kumar, a lawyer for NetChoice, also commented on the law stating that it was “a breathtaking act of unconstitutionally vague and overbroad, content-based censorship.”
IRS Pauses Technology Modernization Investments.
What: The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced it is taking a “strategic pause” to re-evaluate its approach to technology modernization.
Why: On Friday, the IRS announced this pause as the agency looks to re-assess its plan to modernize its technologies in response to the wave of new artificial intelligence (AI) technologies. More specifically, the IRS aims to review several new initiatives that the agency believes “will help [them] overcome the challenges [they’ve] observed and experienced, untangle from multiple integrator solutions, … and realign us to achieve the technology modern state.” While this evaluation will not impact the agency for the 2025 tax filing season, the pause does mark another notable shift away from the original $80 billion investment from the Inflation Reduction Act.
Commerce Department Bans DeepSeek on Devices.
What: The US Commerce Department has banned DeepSeek on all government devices.
Why: On Monday, the US Commerce Department informed its staff that it is banning the use of the Chinese AI model, DeepSeek, on all its government devices. In this email, the department stated that “to help keep Department of Commerce information systems safe, access to the new China-based AI DeepSeek is broadly prohibited on all GFE.” Additionally, the email instructed employees to “do not download, view, access any applications, desktop apps or websites related to DeepSeek.”
In addition to the Commerce Department banning the use of DeepSeek, Virginia, Texas, and New York have also banned the use of this model.