Forbes Daily: Justice Department Under Fire For Piecemeal Release Of Epstein Files
After years of negotiations with the U.S. government, ByteDance has inked a deal to sell a portion of TikTok to a group of mostly American investors. But it’s China that may come out ahead.
The deal is an effort to assuage U.S. concerns that the Chinese government could collect Americans’ private information. But it allows the Chinese parent company to keep control of the app’s signature algorithm—and reportedly to keep about half the profits that it makes for the investor group.
In China, the deal has been cast as a win by state media publications, which compared ByteDance’s future role in TikTok U.S. to Apple’s business in the nation.
The Justice Department released a portion of the long-anticipated Epstein files Friday, but drew criticism for not releasing everything, and because many of the photos and documents are heavily redacted. Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), who sponsored the bipartisan bill mandating the release of the files, said they were considering drafting inherent contempt charges against Attorney General Pam Bondi.
China accused the U.S. of breaking international law in its seizure of oil tankers off the coast of Venezuela, Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Lin Jian said in a Monday press briefing, following reports that the U.S. Coast Guard is pursuing a tanker in the Caribbean Sea for the third time this month. President Donald Trump announced a “total and complete blockade” of all sanctioned oil tankers entering and leaving Venezuela last week, until they return “Oil, Land, and other Assets that they previously stole from us,” without specifying what stolen assets he was talking about.
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Toi Staff
Sabine Sterk
Gideon Levy
Penny S. Tee
Waka Ikeda
Daniel Orenstein
Grant Arthur Gochin
Beth Kuhel