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

Bipartisan Legislation to Ban TikTok

rubio.senate.gov

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

101–110 of 445 posts

Re: Bipartisan Legislation to Ban TikTok

#101

Post by [deleted] »

babypuncher wrote: post #92
jzmorganchase wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

if you believe China is a dystopian state why would a Chinese tech product that isn't even allowed in it's international form within China not itself "dystopian" imo the most dystopian thing about TikTok is the fact that China intentionally exports a highly addictive product that they don't allow their own people to use

Why ban TikTok by name and not by legislating away the specific bad things it does? I don't see anything in this legislation that would affect Instagram Reels or YouTube Shorts, both of which are using their own engagement-focused algorithm for recommending content. If being addicting is the reason we don't like TikTok, then why are we OK with it when a domestic company does it? Because Facebook lobbyists don't want…

[deleted]

Re: Bipartisan Legislation to Ban TikTok

#102

Post by pantalaimon »

endisneigh wrote: post #34

It’ll be fun in 10 years when you need the equivalent of calling cards to access foreign sites. In the end it’s hilarious how the American government thinks of its citizens as being so clueless to need such a paternalistic policy. I wonder how many tiktokers even care about the fact that the app is Chinese.

VPN providers are already booming.

Re: Bipartisan Legislation to Ban TikTok

#103

Post by rootusrootus »

endisneigh wrote: post #34

It’ll be fun in 10 years when you need the equivalent of calling cards to access foreign sites. In the end it’s hilarious how the American government thinks of its citizens as being so clueless to need such a paternalistic policy. I wonder how many tiktokers even care about the fact that the app is Chinese.

> It’ll be fun in 10 years when you need the equivalent of calling cards to access foreign sites.

The world was headed that way a long time ago, and this wouldn't significant change anything. Assuming it could ever pass, it looks like typical political theater to me.

Re: Bipartisan Legislation to Ban TikTok

#104

Post by gpm »

laweijfmvo wrote: post #91

What does "banning" an app mean, in the practical sense? I guess Apple and Google would remove it from their stores; how about side-loading? Would ISPs be responsible from blocking the website? Mobile carriers? Would we prosecute VPNs? Would it be illegal for individuals to engage with it? Are we going to put all of gen-z into jail?

I believe the idea is to make it illegal to do business with the entities running the social media app. Apple and Google would have to remove it from their stores. Buying advertising on it would be illegal. Receiving money as a creator from it would be illegal. Etc.

Re: Bipartisan Legislation to Ban TikTok

#105

Post by kelseyfrog »

reaperducer wrote: post #85
jedberg wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> And my guess is that they're not exactly enthusiastic participants in the electoral system anyway. Gen Z voters were the driving force giving the Democrats the best midterm results in decades.

Are Gen Z's TikTok users? I thought that was mostly for Millennials and more recently, Boomers.

Yes.

> Snapchat (96%) , TikTok( 91%), Youtube (87%), and Instagram (83%) are the top three social media platforms used by Gen Z, according to a new study done by National Research Group.

For comparison banning TikTok would have a wider impact on Gen Z than banning them from YouTube.

https://www.renolon.com/gen-z-and-social-media/

Re: Bipartisan Legislation to Ban TikTok

#106

Post by jzmorganchase »

babypuncher wrote: post #92
jzmorganchase wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

if you believe China is a dystopian state why would a Chinese tech product that isn't even allowed in it's international form within China not itself "dystopian" imo the most dystopian thing about TikTok is the fact that China intentionally exports a highly addictive product that they don't allow their own people to use

Why ban TikTok by name and not by legislating away the specific bad things it does? I don't see anything in this legislation that would affect Instagram Reels or YouTube Shorts, both of which are using their own engagement-focused algorithm for recommending content. If being addicting is the reason we don't like TikTok, then why are we OK with it when a domestic company does it? Because Facebook lobbyists don't want…

Because the biggest concern is still Chinese ownership of US customer data. Not just the addictive features within the app.

Re: Bipartisan Legislation to Ban TikTok

#107

Post by noahtallen »

2OEH8eoCRo0 wrote: post #20
mrtksn wrote: post #7

Why not regulate how the data is used or stored, like the EU does, but ban? I'm really hoping this doesn't become a reality because if it does, we will end up with partitioned internet and stagnation. People often forget that the US companies are foreign entity for most of the worlds population and with the WikiLeaks revelations we know for a fact that the US government has access to the data of American tech compani…

Why not both? It's harder to write, agree on, and pass the regulation that you suggest.

It is hard to imagine this ever passing given how popular TikTok is in the US. Certainly strong privacy regulations are more popular among the people than banning apps.

Re: Bipartisan Legislation to Ban TikTok

#108

Post by meta2023 »

arikr wrote: post #29

If Elon can re-launch Vine in time, I could see this working out. US Government causes a mass TikTok exodus and everyone goes onto Vine.

Fuck Elon/Twitter. We need a new actual visionary to build the next generation of social media, not a power-hungry alt-right panderer.

Re: Bipartisan Legislation to Ban TikTok

#109

Post by rglover »

Tangentially related.

A friend of mine's wife is a paramedic/firefighter and I always ask her about crazy stories from when she's on duty. This past weekend, she told me about one where a teenager saw a challenge/trend on TikTok to report a fake fire. She said they showed up with multiple fire engines, ambulances, and a squad car to no fire. The girl who called it in just said she saw it as a trend on TikTok and wanted to post a video.

A ban wouldn't be the worst thing (especially when you consider that it's a covert foreign state attack—ideological subversion—by the CCP).

Post reply on HN