The Trump administration repeatedly claimed that China controlled TikTok through its parent company ByteDance, with officials like Brendan Carr pushing for action. After years of warnings, the administration, with some Democratic support, implemented what it described as fixes to address those concerns.
However, according to Techdirt, those fixes have not actually changed the underlying situation. China still has easy access to TikTok, meaning the purported solution did not achieve its stated goal.
The article suggests that the fear-mongering and subsequent legislation may have been more about political posturing than effective policy. It notes that the access remains, raising questions about what the "fixes" actually accomplished.