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Lawmakers shift gears on TikTok ban

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1–10 of 273 posts

Re: Lawmakers shift gears on TikTok ban

#2
A big problem here is that when the government makes a classic public relations play like they did the first time around, they get utterly demolished by American TikTokers posting their propaganda on TikTok and brutally mocking it, and unlike all other platforms TikTok doesn't support easy censorship of such responses.

I think if they were smart they'd be more low key and focus on censoring posts (which are now stored in the US I believe?), trying to take TikTok down seems like it will continue to blow up in their face.

Re: Lawmakers shift gears on TikTok ban

#3
Any bets on how many different "attempts" will try to single out TikTok as some exceptional problem, instead of addressing any of the longstanding general issues of data privacy, unaccountable editorialization algorithms, anticompetitive bundling of software+services+hosting, etc? The obvious approach is to create universal rules that hold all tech companies accountable, yet these politicians want to stick their fingers in their ears and continue pretending unaccountable centralization is fine as long as it's only nominally US-based companies amassing such power.

Re: Lawmakers shift gears on TikTok ban

#4
At first, I was all for banning Tiktok, but I'm come around - no social media giant has the users or general public in mind, whether their HQ is in the US or China. Big tech in the US is just upset they didn't come up with Tiktok first and in turn, the intelligence agencies are upset they can't snoop as much as they'd like. This turns off politicians because they're 1) tight with big tech 2) support the federal intelligence apparatus like ravenous dogs 3) its easy to join the anti China bandwagon ... if anything, popular internet connected services being ran from other countries actually acts as a nice buffer from domestic foolery.

Re: Lawmakers shift gears on TikTok ban

#5
> "There are real national security risks associated with TikTok, but it’s also an app 150 million Americans use," said Peter Harrell, who served on Biden’s National Security Council until last fall.

It would be nice if anyone explained what those risks are, and why they don't apply to Facebook et al. Banning it on government devices makes sense, but I don't understand why they're trying to ban individuals from using it.

Edit to clarify: I don't have strong feelings one way or the other on the ban. I'd like to understand it better because it feels weird to me to specifically single this one app out, without a clear explanation for why the bad behavior can't be prevented in a more general way.

Re: Lawmakers shift gears on TikTok ban

#6
post #5

> "There are real national security risks associated with TikTok, but it’s also an app 150 million Americans use," said Peter Harrell, who served on Biden’s National Security Council until last fall. It would be nice if anyone explained what those risks are, and why they don't apply to Facebook et al. Banning it on government devices makes sense, but I don't understand why they're trying to ban individuals from using…

The implications, as far as I've understood, is that the Chinese government has access and, theoretically, could be slurping the information that TikTok collects which is seemingly more than some others collect. I'm not purporting to know this is happening but I believe this is the reason for the assertion.

Re: Lawmakers shift gears on TikTok ban

#7
post #5

> "There are real national security risks associated with TikTok, but it’s also an app 150 million Americans use," said Peter Harrell, who served on Biden’s National Security Council until last fall. It would be nice if anyone explained what those risks are, and why they don't apply to Facebook et al. Banning it on government devices makes sense, but I don't understand why they're trying to ban individuals from using…

The implications, as far as I've understood, is that the Chinese government has access and, theoretically, could be slurping the information that TikTok collects which is seemingly more than some others collect. I'm not purporting to know this is happening but I believe this is the reason for the assertion.

Looking at the content there... i don't think they are getting anything good...

Re: Lawmakers shift gears on TikTok ban

#8
post #5

> "There are real national security risks associated with TikTok, but it’s also an app 150 million Americans use," said Peter Harrell, who served on Biden’s National Security Council until last fall. It would be nice if anyone explained what those risks are, and why they don't apply to Facebook et al. Banning it on government devices makes sense, but I don't understand why they're trying to ban individuals from using…

The implications, as far as I've understood, is that the Chinese government has access and, theoretically, could be slurping the information that TikTok collects which is seemingly more than some others collect. I'm not purporting to know this is happening but I believe this is the reason for the assertion.

There is zero proof that TikTok collects more user data or uses that data any more nefariously than Meta.

US privacy laws are a joke. Singling out TikTok without addressing events like Cambridge Analytica with Facebook, is at best suspicious.

Re: Lawmakers shift gears on TikTok ban

#9
post #5

> "There are real national security risks associated with TikTok, but it’s also an app 150 million Americans use," said Peter Harrell, who served on Biden’s National Security Council until last fall. It would be nice if anyone explained what those risks are, and why they don't apply to Facebook et al. Banning it on government devices makes sense, but I don't understand why they're trying to ban individuals from using…

I think people on Hacker News seem to commonly mistake threats to their personal privacy with threats to national security. Facebook having to turn over data to the American government can't be a threat to American national security. This isn't to say the threat to you as a person is any different compared to TikTok handing over data to the CCP, but the concern here is maintaining American strategic military and intelligence advantage, not being fair and allowing all governments equal access to personal data.

Re: Lawmakers shift gears on TikTok ban

#10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The implications, as far as I've understood, is that the Chinese government has access and, theoretically, could be slurping the information that TikTok collects which is seemingly more than some others collect. I'm not purporting to know this is happening but I believe this is the reason for the assertion.

Looking at the content there... i don't think they are getting anything good...

What content are you looking at? I see amazing artists on there every time I open the app.
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