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

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

#321

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.

What democracies do you think are capable of meeting India's vast demand for consumer goods? Anything in the developed world is going to be prohibitively expensive. Anything outside is most likely a "democracy" just in name, or already within China's sphere of influence.

The trade alliance with China has been materially good to Indians. We've been able to afford more goods at cheaper rates. While we should try and move things back home, it's not going to happen overnight.

In the meantime, a population that was already struggling with income inequality, wage stagnation, unemployment and even growing poverty will see its material wealth slip further.

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

#322

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.

>As long as the platforms recommendation and ranking algos are a black box

All platforms recommendation and ranking algos are ultimately a black box. Why is TikTok special here?

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

#323

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.

Are YouTube algorithms open? I don't really see a difference here. Nation state vs. private corporation is different on paper, but I don't see why. They're both going to react to material stimuli to increase their standings.

You don't see a difference between an ideological party which interns millions of people by ethnicity (among other glaring issues), and a corporation seeking profits from a video platform?

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

#324

Glad to see India understanding the threat to national security posed by these apps. I would like to see the US do the same.

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".

https://www.hawley.senate.gov/senators-hawley-scott-introduc...

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

#325

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You have a good point. But TikTok is much more risky, and as as such requires much more scrutiny given existing body of knowledge between how chinese social media / chat companies such as WeChat enforce government censorship and aid in propagating misinformation. This might be a shock to most people in the western world, but if you go on almost ANY news website in china, the headline news is dedicated to government p…

> This might be a shock to most people in the western world, but if you go on almost ANY news website in china, the headline news is dedicated to government propaganda. Those people would be even more shocked by the extent to which this is true in the western world as well.

In China, all headlines are designed to propogate the SAME propoganda. In other parts of the world, all headlines are designed DIFFERENT propagandas.

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

#326

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are YouTube algorithms open? I don't really see a difference here. Nation state vs. private corporation is different on paper, but I don't see why. They're both going to react to material stimuli to increase their standings.

You have a good point. But TikTok is much more risky, and as as such requires much more scrutiny given existing body of knowledge between how chinese social media / chat companies such as WeChat enforce government censorship and aid in propagating misinformation. This might be a shock to most people in the western world, but if you go on almost ANY news website in china, the headline news is dedicated to government p…

Why should India ban a Chinese social media company and not an US social media company, it's a matter of national security? This claim is just xenophobic nonsense.

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

#327

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.

https://www.hawley.senate.gov/senators-hawley-scott-introduc...

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

#328

Earlier quoted context omitted.

FB and GOOG don't have troops stationed on India's border.

Neither does TikTok proper, and those two are in close & opaque cooperation with the US government.

TikTok would be put out of business if it was critical of the head of communist party. Google/FB permit anti-Trump content and propagate articles against the administration without blowback.

TikTok is bound to the CCP in a way that has no comparison in the west.

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

#329
post #162

I think this sort of response was inevitable and will be seen in more and more nations. China bans most of the popular websites and apps (including Wikipedia). The most recent trigger was the border standoff between India and China where Indian citizens could see and read both governments' responses, but Chinese citizens were only told Chinese govt's talking points. This seems like yet another instance of the paradox…

Though if you apply your argument with rigor and reciprocity was in play, more countries should ban american social media which censors geopolitical rivals https://thegrayzone.com/2020/01/12/us-pressure-social-media-...

They do censor american social media. Like china and north korea obviously do

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

#330
post #253

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here's one difference: the CCP is a totalitarian dictatorship that exerts direct control over Chinese corporations. Youtube, flawed as it is, is not that.

This. Why must every single posting on Hacker News that involves China be flooded with whataboutism? It's a recurring thing, not even subtle.

You know, as much as I think the whataboutism is trying to draw equivalencies that don't exist and make excuses for other nation states doing bad things, I'm more accepting of it now. As long as it's called out for being that.

Maybe I'm too optimistic, but we should always strive to be better. Just because the US could be doing as bad things as China or Russia, doesn't mean it shouldn't be better than it is now.

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