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TikTok Sues U.S. Government Over Bill Requiring Sale
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I honestly dislike TikTok and applaud this US government move. Maybe people will finally start to think critically and maybe there will be less degenerate social trends like breaking into someones car or going into random person home without their consent?🤦♂️
But surely its up to anyone if they like it or not. I see it differently and understand why US decided to ban it. This might be a soft preparation for war. Basically future censorship. While during peace censorship is unneeded, it comes crucial for counterpropaganda measures during periods of war.
And you probably guessed it, China is preparing too. Considering how widespread their software is, if war happens they will be able to launch disinformation thru all channels that they have, including TikTok. And social media nowadays can trigger any emotion that is unacceptable during wartime – broken morale, disbelief, even will to help enemy forces.
Hope this war will be limited to trade-only. Every war brings death and destruction and should be avoided at any cost.
It is much easier to make TikTok US entity and if something bad actually happens it will be regulated like US mass information entity, i.e. – owners will be obliged to monitor information posted, remove classified information like geolocations and locations of strategic infrastructure (air strips, military bases etc), give IP and physical addresses of users who help enemy etc.
Considering that ByteDance decided not to abide with the law and instead filled lawsuit – someone powerful enough in China told them to do so.
I can foresee a wave of discontent with this decision. But I can also foresee people just jumping ship to YT Shorts and Facebook smth (yeah they also have this “tiktok mode”, albeit slow af because Mark never invests in fast servers for this stuff)
But surely its up to anyone if they like it or not. I see it differently and understand why US decided to ban it. This might be a soft preparation for war. Basically future censorship. While during peace censorship is unneeded, it comes crucial for counterpropaganda measures during periods of war.
And you probably guessed it, China is preparing too. Considering how widespread their software is, if war happens they will be able to launch disinformation thru all channels that they have, including TikTok. And social media nowadays can trigger any emotion that is unacceptable during wartime – broken morale, disbelief, even will to help enemy forces.
Hope this war will be limited to trade-only. Every war brings death and destruction and should be avoided at any cost.
It is much easier to make TikTok US entity and if something bad actually happens it will be regulated like US mass information entity, i.e. – owners will be obliged to monitor information posted, remove classified information like geolocations and locations of strategic infrastructure (air strips, military bases etc), give IP and physical addresses of users who help enemy etc.
Considering that ByteDance decided not to abide with the law and instead filled lawsuit – someone powerful enough in China told them to do so.
I can foresee a wave of discontent with this decision. But I can also foresee people just jumping ship to YT Shorts and Facebook smth (yeah they also have this “tiktok mode”, albeit slow af because Mark never invests in fast servers for this stuff)
How’s about we start by YOU proving that TikTok data is used by the Chinese military first?
For the same reason we (ostensibly) don't censor the internet or news, the reason arrest records are public (so you can't just disappear people), the reason we have the Bill of Rights in the first place.
Because we (ostensibly) believe in freedom of information and freedom of speech.
I do understand the sentiment, but this is very tricky. Don't forget that most of the real reason for this is to further enrich Larry Ellison by forcing ByteDance to subcontract Oracle.
If US Congress actually cared about US citizens' privacy, they would enact effective laws that cover this and all the other companies, foreign and domestic, which do the exact same thing.
You do recall that this all started a couple of years ago under everyone's favorite president. Now that everyone's current favorite president also wants to do it, the narrative has changed.
China can use the app for spying and to run influence operations against the west. Tik Tok got caught using the app to spy on journalist's to identify whistle blowers, which they blamed on employees.
Tik Tok US website would be shutdown so a VPN would not even help. The China version of Tik Tok, Doyin has vastly different content and the content allowed on Tik Tok US is not allowed on that platform due to the strict censorship rules of China.
Please name a company in the United States that used their app to actively spy on journalists to track down whistle blowers like Tik Tok did????
Are you really claiming that Meta, Twitter and Google haven’t done similar things with user data?
They did not since they would be sued into oblivion and would make the news just like Tik Tok did when they got caught.
There is no problem with wanting information about issues facing America to be able to be communicated and understood. There is no problem with identifying the Instagram and Facebook might not provide that information in a way that is equal to other platforms. I agree with all of that. I wish more expansive information was shared in such a way that allowed people to make more informed decisions instead of curtailing data and presenting it in an emotional way to force an agenda.
But no matter how much I don't want Red 40 in our food supply, food issues or any other topic that "everyone should know about" simply does not address the reasons why the US Gov has asked for the sale of TikTok.
People should care enough about issues that they seek information and work for change. Going to a platform like TikTok for this is not even a second best case, it's like the third or fourth best case scenario. In fact people going to social media for their information is the VERY reason why disinformation is so common these days. TikTok is not the answer to disinformation, it is a contributor, just like all social media. Information should not be presented in a sensational or "bite sized" manor because all nuance is lost. Without nuance topics become "us vs them" and devolve into the state of where things are today.
A "bigger culprit" in regards to what? The big issues facing America? The problems the Gov has with TikTok? Things that prevent real discussions on important topics? That is such a vague comment I have no idea what you mean by it
Just to state the obvious, but there's a whole world out there that isn't the US or China and in which TikTok will not be banned.
Unless the bill prevents any American company from doing business with TikTok entirely, which I don't think it does (?), you could presumably create a Canadian, Mexican, European or whatever account and continue to use the app in some shape or form.
Whether people will actually do that is an entirely different question of course.
A "bigger culprit" in regards to what? The big issues facing America? The problems the Gov has with TikTok? Things that prevent real discussions on important topics? That is such a vague comment I have no idea what you mean by it
AM talk radio in America is dominated by extremist right wing propaganda. Far more so than cable news and with far greater reach. That’s the context that leads to these exceptionally factionalized landscapes. So the answer to your questions is “yes.”
So far the entire thing has existed as nothing more than a political hot potato. Will the “ban” ever be enforced? We’ll see but my bet is on no.
Do you not remember that whole Cambridge Analytics scandal? And remind me when TikTok was sued into oblivion?
Meta gets sued every day, that's just what happens to big companies. They are immune to anything but federal government level action, and that's not going to happen. Meta is far too valuable to the government for several reasons. Many of the same reasons TikTok is valuable to the Chinese. Which is why the government is so pissed, they know exactly what they are doing. But they can't just make it illegal because they do the same thing.
While it's true the user is under no obligation to use apps designed by foreigners, I agree with you that the option to do so should be legally prohibited. All app creators should be required to display their nationality which we will review before allowing them to create.
While it would signal that the first amendment to the Bill of Rights is no longer in effect, just think of all the ways society can be changed in the future once this archaic and unnecessary freedom is restricted.
While focusing on the nationality and ethnicity of app authors is a good start, we don't really know what those people are *thinking*. What, if, for example, an app was created from The Ukraine. Now, before you rush to go download and install it, remember that we do not know what is going on in the head of the ficticious Ukrainian programmer. What if he believes wrongthink about sexual orientation, or that criminals should have to pay bail?
No, this looking at the outside color of the skin of the app authors does not go anywhere near far enough. We really need to be able to understand the thoughts and motivations of said author before we can acceptably allow the public to use his app. But I agree, this is a very good first step in that direction.
I especially like this idea of forced asset forfeiture should a creator of an app deemed to be Bad (or even just from the wrong geographical location), be unwilling to give up his app upon the demand of the regime. By all means necessary. I really hope you mean what I think you mean... 😉