111–120 of 273 posts
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Are national security arguments not legal? My understanding was that Chinese Tech companies are required by law to serve as (willing or unwilling) arms of the domestic spy agency in China.
> Are national security arguments not legal? Arguments aren't a source of law, and what's permissible in legislation is defined by the constitution.
Oh, sweet, summer child.
I don't think it is just about TikTok being capable of spying on foreign users; my opinion is that it is more about TikTok's propaganda potential, i.e. how it can be used to manipulate narratives in the most subtle way against U.S.'s national interest. Imagine the case where the U.S. government would like the (western) world to form certain sentiments on the current regional conflicts that are aligned with its own in…
Other countries have laws and agencies to protect against propaganda; the US doesn't bother. I doubt the propaganda concern is driving political will.
Even calling it the "TikTok ban" is rather misleading.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Looking at the content there... i don't think they are getting anything good...
TikTok is the worst "brain junk food" platform I've seen. Sometimes people forward me videos from TikTok that have some horizontal video at the top (the one you are supposed to watch, apparently?), and then completely unrelated video game footage as the vertical "background". I don't know if it is intended to hook into some sort of attention hack where they abuse the fact that humans are stimulated by movement and co…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
The very, very straightforward answer is that Facebook is accountable to the US govt in ways that TikTok is not. It's entirely reasonable for the US to legislate accordingly.
More than that, a US company has an innate floor on 'how bad' they're willing to disrupt the US to get what they want, because they live and operate there. A foreign national company has no such floor if they are not our allies.
I haven't heard a good explanation yet for whether this is even legal. It seems like a textbook example of an unconstitutional bill of attainder. You'd have to ban TikTok based on something it does , and any such law would impact a lot of other companies too. Or I guess you could ban all Chinese software using trade laws, but that has even bigger ramifications.
I guess you could institute privacy laws and regulations to protect consumers from all software.
I don't think it is just about TikTok being capable of spying on foreign users; my opinion is that it is more about TikTok's propaganda potential, i.e. how it can be used to manipulate narratives in the most subtle way against U.S.'s national interest. Imagine the case where the U.S. government would like the (western) world to form certain sentiments on the current regional conflicts that are aligned with its own in…
Like how Twitter was used?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
You still didn't explain the risks too clearly. Let's grant that TikTok is under direct CCP control, and specifically targets kids. Targets them for what? Mind control?
> Targets them for what? Mind control? Attempts to change/form their views to be favourable towards dictatorships and antagonistic to democracies.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
TikTok is the worst "brain junk food" platform I've seen. Sometimes people forward me videos from TikTok that have some horizontal video at the top (the one you are supposed to watch, apparently?), and then completely unrelated video game footage as the vertical "background". I don't know if it is intended to hook into some sort of attention hack where they abuse the fact that humans are stimulated by movement and co…
It depends on what you look at. The algorithm learns and basically mirrors your interests. Look at crap and it means you're crap. For example I get great gardening tips, DIY videos and learn something every swipe /s I completely agree with you. It's junk! But expect to see my first paragraph as a common rebuttal.
I don't think it is just about TikTok being capable of spying on foreign users; my opinion is that it is more about TikTok's propaganda potential, i.e. how it can be used to manipulate narratives in the most subtle way against U.S.'s national interest. Imagine the case where the U.S. government would like the (western) world to form certain sentiments on the current regional conflicts that are aligned with its own in…
Sounds like something out of 1984 to me. “We better ban all the news sources that aren’t approved by the state!” That’s going to push the USA into becoming a totalitarian state. I’m against that, I prefer free access to information with all the warts that come with that as well. I don’t want to be tools what the state approved facts are, because that can be warped in the future when China isn’t a threat or another po…
Put it all together and what you have isn't a vibrant democracy with a bunch of dissenting voices, but thought bubbles shaped almost entirely by the ultra-rich and their political allies, manipulating the billions away from human rights and democratic principles -- arguably the intent of what the 1A was actually trying to protect. Instead of a citizen-first democracy, it's been warped into a "capital compels thought" dystopia. There's nothing free about this expression; it is both expensive as in dollars and enslaved as in ideology.