Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

India bans TikTok, WeChat, and dozens of other Chinese apps

techcrunch.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

41–50 of 847 posts

Re: India bans TikTok, WeChat, and dozens of other Chinese apps

#41

Post by Avamander »

SoulMan wrote: post #36

Interestingly even before this ban, there has been a movement (at least by armchair critics in Social Media) to uninstall Chinese apps. People started installing this unknown app "Remove china apps" to get rid of the apps that Chinese phone makers like Xiomi does not let you remove. People started removing Chinese apps not because of national security but because they thought it would stop boosting Chinese economy wh…

That "Remove China" app was also removed from Google Play: https://gadgets.ndtv.com/apps/news/remove-china-apps-google-...

Re: India bans TikTok, WeChat, and dozens of other Chinese apps

#42

Post by saltedonion »

India is absolutely right in banning TikTok as it is a significant national securities threat.

As long as the platforms recommendation and ranking algos are a black box, there is no guarantee that China isn’t conducting misinformation campaigns via the platform.

At the very least, the government should audit the algos and make sure China can’t arbitrarily alter ranking results.

Re: India bans TikTok, WeChat, and dozens of other Chinese apps

#43

Post by neilpanchal »

systemvoltage wrote: post #16
markovbot wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would find it very problematic if the US government attempted to interfere with it's citizens downloading whatever software they want. I absolutely do not trust the US government to be the arbitrator of what app's are "safe".

What are your thoughts about China banning anything but local apps/services for domestic use but the rest of the world is OK with allowing Chinese apps/services to compete with the domestic apps/services? I think there is some level of asymmetry here, not sure how best to resolve it without giving up the citizen's freedoms as you expressed. This asymmetry is problematic because western democracies are barred to profi…

Just like you'd buy coffee with Fair Trade [1] mark, one way to incentivize the public would be through marketing - "Made in Democracy" mark on a laptop, a lathe-machine, a watch or what have you.

We should have a non-profit org that promotes manufacturing in democracies. From shirts to iOS apps, it would be interesting to experiment with a "Made in Democracy" or "Developed in Democracy" mark.

I ran this idea through a manufacturing consultant in SF and they were very receptive of it.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fair_trade

Re: India bans TikTok, WeChat, and dozens of other Chinese apps

#44

Post by kumarvvr »

sanmon3186 wrote: post #7

This ban is primarily to satiate anti-China sentiment. The global economy is too interwined with China. No country can afford to put a blanket ban on things that matter, without a viable plan-B.

De coupling with Chinese economy is good for India in the long run.

This is the first step.

India should engage more with democracies.

Re: India bans TikTok, WeChat, and dozens of other Chinese apps

#45

Post by claudeganon »

chrisco255 wrote: post #25
cm2187 wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Overnight, I agree. But I think the decoupling will happen. The outsourcing to China took about 10 years (mid 90s to mid 2000s). It will likely not take a lot longer to decouple. 10y is very rapid.

We in the U.S. should have partnered more closely with India in the first place. India is democratic and hold values closer to our own. The CCP not so much.

India is controlled by a fascist, ethnonationalist party that has encouraged pogroms toward Muslims and enshrined racial hierarchies into law. They haven’t put Muslims in concentration camps, like the CCP, but I hope our “values” don’t get any closer to their leadership.

Re: India bans TikTok, WeChat, and dozens of other Chinese apps

#46

Post by hnaccy »

saltedonion wrote: post #27
Barrin92 wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

banning the usage of WeChat for public officials or national defense companies and so on would make some sense, I fail to see however how TikTok is a security threat. It's just a response to the clash over the border and nothing else, and not really a particularly effective one at that.

Tiktok can be a huge threat because their recommendation algorithms are black box. This makes them capable of controlling how potentially dangerous information is disseminated in the United States, including topics influencing elections.

>And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?

If you're concerned about Tiktok influence where most content can be described as attractive young people do nonsense on camera you should be much more worried about Twitter, Facebook, Google, News media, Reddit, etc.

Re: India bans TikTok, WeChat, and dozens of other Chinese apps

#47

Post by bitstorm999 »

Is it me or does this domain fail to resolve via cloudflare?

[user@host tmp]$ nslookup pib.gov.in 8.8.8.8 Server: 8.8.8.8 Address: 8.8.8.8#53

Non-authoritative answer: Name: pib.gov.in Address: 164.100.117.99

[user@host tmp]$ nslookup pib.gov.in 1.1.1.1 Server: 1.1.1.1 Address: 1.1.1.1#53

server can't find pib.gov.in: SERVFAIL

Re: India bans TikTok, WeChat, and dozens of other Chinese apps

#48

Post by sradman »

> The 2020 China–India skirmishes are part of an ongoing military standoff between China and India. ...numerous Indian government officials said that border tensions will not impact trade between India and China despite some Indian campaigns about boycotting Chinese products. [1]

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020_China–India_skirmishes

Re: India bans TikTok, WeChat, and dozens of other Chinese apps

#49

Post by briandear »

chrisco255 wrote: post #25
cm2187 wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Overnight, I agree. But I think the decoupling will happen. The outsourcing to China took about 10 years (mid 90s to mid 2000s). It will likely not take a lot longer to decouple. 10y is very rapid.

We in the U.S. should have partnered more closely with India in the first place. India is democratic and hold values closer to our own. The CCP not so much.

I agree, however India has a bureaucracy that makes running and starting businesses over there extremely difficult. As well as aggressive tariffs and Byzantine legal processes. China can be a difficult place, but nothing seems to approach India when it comes to paperwork and the dismal speed at which things get done.

Re: India bans TikTok, WeChat, and dozens of other Chinese apps

#50

Post by saltedonion »

amrrs wrote: post #40

Covid cases are on rise in India. Government didn't handle lockdown well to accommodate guest (migrant) workers and they were stranded. On top of all these, lives of Indian soldiers died recently in a clash with Chinese soldiers and China is continuously testing limits at Galwan Valley. You need a disruptive breaking news to crush all these and prove Government is in control. This is simply that. This is nothing but…

Might be a form of shifting the narrative and scapegoating for sure. But you have to admit that recent events have outlined a significant shift in Indian-Sino foreign policy. I don’t see this being reversed any time soon.
Post reply on HN