Episode #15, Vikings at the Gate: The TikTok Sovereignty Fight

Two unlikely allies on what was at stake in the Supreme Court case over TikTok's divestiture law.

Welcome to the podcast Organized Money. You can listen to today’s episode with Zephyr Teachout and Joel Thayer on Apple, on Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

When Congress moved to force TikTok's sale from its Chinese parent company ByteDance, it sparked a complex battle over national security, free speech, and the future of tech regulation. There’s a lot of confusion about this fight: Congress did not ban TikTok, the law has nothing to do with the speech on the platform, and the Supreme Court ruling actually opens up a wide path for regulating all Big Tech companies, not just TikTok.

Today on the show, we bring together unlikely allies Zephyr Teachout, a progressive law professor, and Joel Thayer, a conservative tech policy expert, who co-authored a Supreme Court brief supporting the law. They explore thorny questions about algorithmic control, foreign ownership of communications infrastructure, and whether Americans should trust Silicon Valley any more than Beijing. And in the end, they declare the ruling a new era for the First Amendment.

The episode offers a surprisingly hopeful take on a watershed moment in the ongoing struggle to govern digital platforms, suggesting that meaningful tech regulation might finally be possible, if we're willing to try.

Listen via Apple:

Or Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Another thing we’re doing this year is providing transcripts and video for every episode. Check your inbox for that tomorrow.

Thank you so much for listening. If there’s a monopoly you’d like us to explore this year, or if you have anything else to tell us, please let us know by leaving a comment or by responding directly to this email.