Judge temporarily blocks U.S. ban on TikTok downloads from U.S. app stores

Post by Talanes » Mon, Sep 28, 2020, 5:27 AM UTC

warbaker wrote: post #183

howlgarnish wrote: post #163

Earlier quoted context omitted.

US companies operating in China need to follow Chinese laws, including those on censorship. Google etc are blocked because they are hosted outside China, and are not willing to cooperate in China. What I find bizarre about the Tiktok ban is that they are being banned essentially on executive whim: as far as I can tell, there are no concrete allegations, much less evidence, that they're violating any US laws.

So, it's ok for China to ban Google because Google refuses to help with censorship and propaganda, and because Google doesn't want the Chinese govt to be able to spy on its citizens. But it's not OK for the US to keep out spyware. Heck, retaliation for China's banning of Google etc would be sufficient justification for banning TikTok on its own.

Post by Talanes » Mon, Sep 28, 2020, 5:35 AM UTC

wbillingsley wrote: post #220

dilap wrote: post #126

It's strange how so many in the US have adopted the mindset that it's important, for national security, to deny its citizens access to foreign social networks. Previously, when China did the same, this was widely viewed as an unfortunate restriction their freedoms -- the actions of an intrusive, authoritarian government. Now that the US is itself considering doing the same, many in the west have suddenly adopted the…

It's not very surprising. It is a reasonable assumption that the CCP, which has expressed ideological opposition to the spread of democracy, will not be using information it gathers on US or European citizens in order to defend or promote democratic rights and freedoms globally. It's a reasonable assumption that western governments, who do have an ideological intention of spreading democracy and western-style freedom…

Post by Talanes » Mon, Sep 28, 2020, 5:38 AM UTC

aggronn wrote: post #226

xvector wrote: post #143

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> only one of them is run by a government. And the rest are run by the ultra-rich. They care about the interests of the Americans not much more than the CCP.

Taking this as true, are you suggesting we should have, instead of our (expanding on what I think you're saying) "non-democratic capitalist ologopoly", have our important companies and institutions be run the by the CCP? Two wrongs don't make a right. Work to improve our system rather than using our failures to normalize CCP oppression and violence.

Post by libraryatnight » Mon, Sep 28, 2020, 5:45 AM UTC

Aperocky wrote: post #91

libraryatnight wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Propaganda. You don't have to bother making troll farm accounts to spread misinformation and sow doubt when you control the platform and can create and drip content you want into peoples feeds, and you know what they like, you're already serving them an addictive stream of content based on their behaviors.

I don't have tiktok but according to anecdotal evidence from family members who do, the propaganda you describe seemed to be people doing stupid things in their bathroom while getting hurt in the process. You'd probably say 'potential' but just think about it, banning something for 'potential'. Is that where we are right now?

Post by libraryatnight » Mon, Sep 28, 2020, 5:49 AM UTC

pastaking wrote: post #75

libraryatnight wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Propaganda. You don't have to bother making troll farm accounts to spread misinformation and sow doubt when you control the platform and can create and drip content you want into peoples feeds, and you know what they like, you're already serving them an addictive stream of content based on their behaviors.

Wouldn’t this be better handled by a more sophisticated solution like some kind of law or governance organization? Banning specific apps is like whack a mole. There will also be other countries with opposing ideological beliefs - we probably shouldn’t want to play whack a mole country by country either.