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TikTok’s Poison Pill

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Re: TikTok’s Poison Pill

#141

Post by Aunche »

nixcraft wrote: post #5

There is lots of talk going around TikTok, especially now geopolitics has been added to this kind of discussion due to ongoing tensions between two giants. Instead of banning or removing the TikTok app, how about the US government put a firm privacy policy that forbids TikTok, Microsoft, Apple, Facebook, Twitter and co from collecting excessive data on users? That would be a better solution, IMHO. Let users download…

I honestly don't see a reason for the US not ban TikTok for arbitrary bullshit reasons, simply because China does the same sort of bullshit for American internet companies. Foreign websites often get mysteriously throttled, which encourages people to use their domestic alternatives. The iTunes store was banned, despite following all their censorship rules. They even hacked Google.

Re: TikTok’s Poison Pill

#142

Post by llampx »

tayo42 wrote: post #117
jeromegv wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s not quite to the level of geopolitic but selling bottled water is entirely unnecessary in majority of the US. It’s extremely bad for the environment, both for the plastic but of course the transport. When it’s often the same damn thing you get in your sink. But no idea what’s specifically bad about this brand in particular.

I've yet to visit a country that didn't sell bottled water though. That doesn't seem US specific

Many other countries have tap water that is not potable.

Re: TikTok’s Poison Pill

#143

Post by nimbleplum40 »

InCityDreams wrote: post #114
throw_m239339 wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> An a non-American the level of anti-TikTok sentiment seems really weird China, via a state sponsored outlet, just threatened to shoot the speaker of the house's plane if it went to Taiwan and you find USA's stance on TikTok, an extension of the CCP, "really weird"?

The US just bombed a dude in a foreign country they recently abandoned. As a different non-American the level of anti-TikTok sentiment still seems really weird.

Bombed a dude that was cofounder and 2nd-in-command (at the time) of the organization that committed the worst terrorist attack on the US...

Re: TikTok’s Poison Pill

#144

Post by jmyeet »

Who writes this?

> If TikTok acts as the poison pill that finally cripples the digital dictators that for so long subjugated the web 2.0 revolution ...

"Digital dictators"? "Web 2.0 revolution"? Seriously?

Behind this self-congratulatory word ooze there is a point: the market will "solve" the Facebook "problem". In a decade we've had 2 existential threats to FB (the other being IG). That's just not a monopoyl that requires immediate government action.

The social graph will still have value but I think people overstate its importance. Tiktok (as noted) didn't rely on it to grow. And neither did Twitter. Nor Reddit.

Tiktok's UI/UX is really top notch. It reminds me of the IG of old before Facebook's Directors of Product Management really sunk their MBA claws into it.

There are legitimate security concerns with Tiktok however. The US still has a level of separation between corporations and the government that China doesn't. Chinese companies are extensions of the state. if anything, the US government is an extension of US corporations rather than the other way around. But there's still a level of separation and rule of law nad order in the US.

But here's an even bigger issue: trade. Specifically, China cheating on trade. I support reciprocity here. China blocks access to its market to the likes of Google and Facebook. This is protectionist and I personally have no issue with the US doing the same to Chinese companies.

Re: TikTok’s Poison Pill

#145

Post by Teever »

withinboredom wrote: post #76
Teever wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You hire the same kinds of people that these companies hire to design their products to be addictive and then you draft legislation banning the things that they say are addictive.

A better solution would be to teach how to get out of addiction and treat it more effectively vs banning. Banning only makes the addiction features more taboo and thus even more addictive. See prohibition, 1920-1930.

Do you really foresee a future where addictive aspects of social media are banned and the descendents of moonshiners are setting up servers next to rusted out stills in abandoned shacks in the Kentucky mountains so that people can get their doom scrolling fix over Tor?

Now that I reread that, I think it's entirely possible. Man the future is weird.

Re: TikTok’s Poison Pill

#146

Post by xtian »

nonrandomstring wrote: post #42
nixcraft wrote: post #5

There is lots of talk going around TikTok, especially now geopolitics has been added to this kind of discussion due to ongoing tensions between two giants. Instead of banning or removing the TikTok app, how about the US government put a firm privacy policy that forbids TikTok, Microsoft, Apple, Facebook, Twitter and co from collecting excessive data on users? That would be a better solution, IMHO. Let users download…

> Just make one rule for all. This is the correct solution of winning the moral high ground. What Russia has been doing for several decades (see Yuri Bezmenov [1]) is leveraging the "west's" inner discontent. Every time a Watergate or Snowden happens it's a gift to them. It exposes our 'hypocrisy', and failure to live up to our own democratic standards. That fuels the narrative of the western nations as corrupt. We'r…

How do you know that pointing out the ‘hypocrisy’ is the propaganda rather than the idea that these values as commonly understood have any basis in reality in the first place?

Re: TikTok’s Poison Pill

#147

Post by foldr »

zarzavat wrote: post #87
ok_dad wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> They they they I’m, aren’t parents supposed to be keeping track of their own kids, not some company? The stuff you said in the last half there is insane to me, so I’ll assume you’re either trolling or perhaps we have a very different view of certain things.

It's better to look at the world from a perspective of possible/impossible rather than sane/insane as there exist people inside governments who are paid to do insane-yet-possible things. I don't believe the theories around the Chinese government controlling children's minds through TikTok are likely to be true. It's probably just a dumb app. But there's nothing impossible about it.

>But there's nothing impossible about it.

The claim that you can *control* people's minds via TikTok is a pretty big claim. You can influence behaviour, but what the OP is suggesting is highly outlandish and almost certainly impossible (particularly the homophobic fear that TikTok can turn kids gay).

Remember that the advertising industry has been trying to control people's minds via all kinds of media for over a century, but is still only moderately successful at it.

Historically, the Soviet intelligence services used to think that they were very good at spreading Communist propaganda within Western countries. In many ways they were. And yet, not many Westerners became Communists. Just look at this guy explain how successfully the Soviets are subverting US public opinion only a few years before the fall of the Berlin Wall: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yErKTVdETpw

Re: TikTok’s Poison Pill

#148

Post by mistermann »

partiallypro wrote: post #112
fxtentacle wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Quoted post unavailable.

This is like saying the US had segregation and internment camps in the 40s, so it had no moral standing on the USSR and Nazi Germany committing genocide. Which would be complete nonsense.

This seems like a mischaracterization of the parent comment and some self serving logic.

Re: TikTok’s Poison Pill

#149

Post by lghh »

Aunche wrote: post #141
nixcraft wrote: post #5

There is lots of talk going around TikTok, especially now geopolitics has been added to this kind of discussion due to ongoing tensions between two giants. Instead of banning or removing the TikTok app, how about the US government put a firm privacy policy that forbids TikTok, Microsoft, Apple, Facebook, Twitter and co from collecting excessive data on users? That would be a better solution, IMHO. Let users download…

I honestly don't see a reason for the US not ban TikTok for arbitrary bullshit reasons, simply because China does the same sort of bullshit for American internet companies. Foreign websites often get mysteriously throttled, which encourages people to use their domestic alternatives. The iTunes store was banned, despite following all their censorship rules. They even hacked Google.

I, on the other hand, don't see a reason to ban TikTok. Just because China does something doesn't mean the US has to do the same thing.

Re: TikTok’s Poison Pill

#150

Post by PaulHoule »

CodeSgt wrote: post #129
account42 wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You don't need a "narrative" to describe western nations as corrupt. All you need to do is look at wealth inequality over time: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f3/Wealth_i...

Why do you think wealth inequality is an inherent sign of corruption?

Because wealth can be turned into power.

Because when power is unevenly distributed a few people can make boneheaded decisions that create misery for the many.

To point to the Russian experience the Tsar made the bad decision to take an odyssey the long way around Asia (and Africa for some ships) to attack Japan and they got their asses handed to them in a few hours. That was the first time Lenin and company tried a revolution and ultimately they made this feature film about it

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battleship_Potemkin

A few months back we had the spectacle of Elon Musk possibly buying Twitter (maybe he was in the running for asshole-in-chief) but I think he got some sense scared into him and he is keeping his head down these days.

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