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Bipartisan Legislation to Ban TikTok

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421–430 of 445 posts

Re: Bipartisan Legislation to Ban TikTok

#421

Earlier quoted context omitted.

SV failed to build social media products that appeal to Gen-Z so this is the "plan B". The only reason why TikTok is getting banned is because its popular. And the only reason why its popular is because US-based entrepreneurs seem to struggle building products that connect with users under the age of 30. The irony is there was a product, Vine, that filled this niche but it was ultimately killed by Facebook (who promo…

Vine died (or was killed) before TikTok started. It was more outcompeted by Instagram and Snapchat iirc. https://www.theverge.com/2016/10/28/13456208/why-vine-died-t... https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/TikTok

Killing Vine was really weird decision.

Re: Bipartisan Legislation to Ban TikTok

#422

"national security concerns" and "what about children" have always been used by government to pass useless bills. Instead of banning Tiktok, how about enforcing proper rules and regulations that every social media should follow? Why not make a proper privacy that every people in US deserves. Many people are probably glad that they are banning Chinese tech, but at the end it is gonna be superseded by Instagram which s…

I have to imagine the 3 letter orgs are already scraping tiktok.

Far less information can be gathered by scraping

Re: Bipartisan Legislation to Ban TikTok

#423

I wish they'd do this via a slightly different criterion, which IMO would be more fair: ban foreign companies from operating in the US whenever American companies in the same field can't operate in the same way in the foreign company's home country (so TikTok would end up banned here since Twitter, etc. is banned there).

China had concrete laws its local competitors adhere to that Twitter etc elected to not adhere to.

Are there concrete laws that local companies adhere to that TikTok can follow besides "don't be Chinese"?

Re: Bipartisan Legislation to Ban TikTok

#424

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hey that's awesome. Laws should be harmonized or else cross border trade should be restricted. No sense in giving the market to apps that are illegal in your country just because they operate on the internet.

So Americans should only be as free as the least free countries? Not a smart move.

Americans should be as free as the government they elect chooses to enforce via law.

For decades, the US has been a leader in global policy so there is no reason to think of them helplessly bowing to North Korea in the fu.

Re: Bipartisan Legislation to Ban TikTok

#425
post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

State run apps that are designed to "nudge" and manipulate population at a large scale, should be classified as weapons and banned. This is not a regular app, but part of information warfare China is engaged in with the West.

The US is known for involvement in the policies of other nations and even organising coups etc. With documented access of the American government into the American tech giants, I don't have reason to believe that Instagram is any different than TikTok. What makes you think that CIA didn't infiltrate Meta or made a deal to manipulate political situation in its friends and foes? What makes you believe that they won't w…

"Yes, the US was / is doing bad things, so other countries should be allowed to do bad things too!"

Re: Bipartisan Legislation to Ban TikTok

#426
post #189
post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, and the CCP has banned Instagram and Facebook because they understand that those are ultimately tools for subtly shaping mass opinion, regardless of whether it's clear that they're used for that purpose. Why would the US not do the same with TikTok?

> Why would the US not do the same with TikTok? Millions (?) of Americans have freely chosen to receive and interact with the app, wouldn't their freedom of speech allow them to enjoy the content they choose?

Millions (?) of Americans have freely chosen to use cocaine, wouldn't their freedom of doing what they want with their bodies allow them to enjoy the drug they choose?

Re: Bipartisan Legislation to Ban TikTok

#427
post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The US is known for involvement in the policies of other nations and even organising coups etc. With documented access of the American government into the American tech giants, I don't have reason to believe that Instagram is any different than TikTok. What makes you think that CIA didn't infiltrate Meta or made a deal to manipulate political situation in its friends and foes? What makes you believe that they won't w…

"Yes, the US was / is doing bad things, so other countries should be allowed to do bad things too!"

Strawman argument.

Re: Bipartisan Legislation to Ban TikTok

#428

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you know if it is possible to access Douyin outside of China? I think it would be an interesting experience to see it first-hand and also I guess the language barrier would no be a huge issue if the content is similar to TikTok.

You can just install https://apps.apple.com/app/id440948110

Seems to be Kuaishou, similar but different to Douyin. Surprisingly it works and it doesn't look like I even need to log in to use it.

At a first glance the content is disappointingly similar to TikTok. Also, as I expected, with this type of content language is a non-issue.

Does anyone know if I can get the real Douyin? A search in the AppStore shows Kuaishou first and TikTok second.

Re: Bipartisan Legislation to Ban TikTok

#429

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is incorrect. TikTok is actually a direct descendant of Musical.ly which Bytedance bought and rebranded, and was in competition with Vine.

Fta: TikTok is an international version of Douyin, which was released in the Chinese market in September 2016.[10] It launched in 2017 for iOS and Android in most markets outside of mainland China; however, it became available worldwide only after merging with another Chinese social media service, Musical.ly, on 2 August 2018. From the links above Vine was already dying if not completely dead before TikTok was ascend…

That's what I'm saying, the article lacks information. Before being Doyin, TikTok was Musical.ly, which came out in 2014. Bytedance acquired Musical.ly, made TikTok from it, but only merged the two later on.

Re: Bipartisan Legislation to Ban TikTok

#430

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Therefore the US is free to pass laws that make TikTok illegal by your own reasoning.

Please elaborate on how a law banning a single company is the same as a law that allow companies to comply.

If China is able to ban all western social media because of “law” then per definition any law that stops Chinese social media is also “legit” if we go by the argument that it is okay to ban things if the law says to ban them.
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