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As TikTok grows, so does suspicion

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Re: As TikTok grows, so does suspicion

#131
post #114
post #21

China passed a law a couple of years ago requiring all Chinese companies to give the government live access to their databases. Is TikTok exempt? If not, statements that the government hasn't requested any data are misleading. They don't need to.

>China passed a law a couple of years ago requiring all Chinese companies to give the government live access to their databases. Yeah, just like US. TikTok isn't any different from, say, YouTube in this regard.

This is just 100% untrue

Re: As TikTok grows, so does suspicion

#132
post #45
post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"the US and PRC are equally authoritarian" isn't particularly compelling either

Indeed, abortion is legal in China[1], the last time a police officer killed someone was in 2019[2] and their incarceration rate is 5x lower[3]. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abortion_in_China [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_killings_by_law_enforc... [3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_incarcera...

If you're an avid TikTok user, maybe the algorithm is already working and your post is proving the skeptics point?

Re: As TikTok grows, so does suspicion

#133
post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Indeed, abortion is legal in China[1], the last time a police officer killed someone was in 2019[2] and their incarceration rate is 5x lower[3]. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abortion_in_China [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_killings_by_law_enforc... [3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_incarcera...

Look if you disagree that china is more authoritarian, then I would encourage you to go there, and make a large amount of public statements making fun of their leaders, or saying that Taiwan in a country, (while in china). And to do it in a public and viral way, and see how it works out for you.

Please don't do this.

Re: As TikTok grows, so does suspicion

#134
post #66
post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, US/China relations are pretty distinct from US/EU relations.

Why do you think that's the case? Aside from the trade-war that's going on, which is pretty arbirary; The US has routinely spied on Europe, allowed backdoored technology to make it's way into the continent including to spy on government officials from another sovereign (allegedly allied ) nation. It's hard for me not to draw direct comparisons, because other than the surface level of "everything's fine, we have a com…

> Why do you think that's the case?

The whole history of the XX century

Re: As TikTok grows, so does suspicion

#135
post #60
post #28

85% of US teenagers use tiktok. That's 85% of the future generation of US senators, Cabinet members, and Supreme Court justices, of police chiefs, civil rights activists, mayors, CEOs, etc. in their bedrooms right now consuming content curated by, and filming their lives and that of their friends, and uploading the video to data centers, that are controlled by a strategic adversary of the United States. This is, to p…

This might sound like a fallacious argument; but do you think the same about Europeans who consume almost exclusively US media and interact almost exclusively with US social media platforms? The US (famously) does not have Allies, only temporary allegiances. If you're discussing ties to government, Twitter and Facebook have members on their boards publicly who are sitting and/or former members of government including…

"The US (famously) does not have Allies, only temporary allegiances."

What? Are you a troll or just a cpp bot?

NATO is an alliance, and also the US has many other defense pacts. (AUS, and more). Those are not temporary allegiances (if you call 70 years 'temporary' then you are either trolling or just delusional).

Re: As TikTok grows, so does suspicion

#136
post #126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The US (famously) does not have Allies, only temporary allegiances. Far from me to defend American imperialism, but this is not true, is it? The USA has a decent list of long standing alliances, that include a variety of countries: Japan, Australia, Canada, UK, South Korea, among others.

> America has no permanent friends or enemies, only interests. https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/633024-america-has-no-perma... From Henry Kissinger, US Secretary of State.

Am I missing where this is quoted from, or is it like many other quotes where it could be attributed to the person, but nobody really knows?

Edit: if I'm reading right, it seems to be a quote from Dinesh D'Souza's book "What's so great about America" quoted by Henry Kissinger in his book "The White House Years"

https://en.m.wikiquote.org/wiki/Henry_Kissinger (Quotes -> 1980's)

Aside from the aforementioned countries, I'd say Israel is quite a strong ally of the United States.

Re: As TikTok grows, so does suspicion

#137
post #126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The US (famously) does not have Allies, only temporary allegiances. Far from me to defend American imperialism, but this is not true, is it? The USA has a decent list of long standing alliances, that include a variety of countries: Japan, Australia, Canada, UK, South Korea, among others.

> America has no permanent friends or enemies, only interests. https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/633024-america-has-no-perma... From Henry Kissinger, US Secretary of State.

By that pessimistic definition, no country can really ever have allies.

The US has a number of nations with which its interests have long aligned with, and are likely to continue to, and are formalized via treaty. I’m ok with calling those alliances.

Re: As TikTok grows, so does suspicion

#138
post #104
post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

EU and US are both fundamentally liberal democracies and not adversarial. China is an authoritarian single party state which openly declares the US an enemy...

Because of course a two party system is fundamentally different from one party one :-D

That’s correct, yes.

Re: As TikTok grows, so does suspicion

#140
post #28

85% of US teenagers use tiktok. That's 85% of the future generation of US senators, Cabinet members, and Supreme Court justices, of police chiefs, civil rights activists, mayors, CEOs, etc. in their bedrooms right now consuming content curated by, and filming their lives and that of their friends, and uploading the video to data centers, that are controlled by a strategic adversary of the United States. This is, to p…

85% of US teenagers would be debased by the poor and foreign morals of James Joyce, if only we could get them to read Ulysses.
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