If this goes all the way to the White House and is signed by Biden, I think it could completely derail his chances of getting re-elected. Trump has come out against this bill (for insane and corrupt reasons) but would definately seize the moment and capitalize on it. They are giving the Trump campaign a huge amount of ammunition here.
House passes bill to force TikTok sale from Chinese owner or ban the app
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Re: House passes bill to force TikTok sale from Chinese owner or ban the app
#52What are the chances that TikTok really gets comprehensively banned in the US? This seems like the kind of thing that would get stuck in a Bermuda triangle of litigation while nothing ever happens.
Re: House passes bill to force TikTok sale from Chinese owner or ban the app
#53Oracle flexing their lobbying muscle to pick up a good asset on the cheap.
Re: House passes bill to force TikTok sale from Chinese owner or ban the app
#54As much as I don't care about tiktok going away, and acknowledge the privacy and security risks, there's something about banning a highly popular website that doesn't sit right with me. Is there precedent in the USA for anything like this?
A better middle ground at this stage could have been requiring TikTok to daily display to users (and require they confirm/accept) a message stating the indirect CPC ownership, the risk to their personal info, and the serious risk of seeing state directed disinformation campaigns. Most would still use TikTok but perhaps it might get drilled into their heads to actually question some things they see on it.
Personally think the data protection issue are overblown. The ability to influence through disinformation campaings, whether for CPC, Russia or whomever is their friend, is a way bigger thing for me.
Re: House passes bill to force TikTok sale from Chinese owner or ban the app
#55Pass a privacy law, stop arbitrarily banning. What exactly would be the justification for forcing the sale rather than passing a law solving the actual problem?
To do the second thing, you'd need some kind of statement of what the problem was.
Re: House passes bill to force TikTok sale from Chinese owner or ban the app
#56I'm a big proponent of free speech and the first amendment, but I agree with the reasonings for banning it or forcing US owners. China most definitely has their hands in the data that TikTok amasses and given its popularity it's not an insignificant risk to U.S. citizens. We all know how easy it is to manipulate users... aka Cambridge Analytica. It'll be interesting to see what legal challenges come up if the bill pa…
Why shouldn’t Europeans do the same with US social networks then?
I'm under the impression they already do. There are lots of data collection rules that US companies have to follow. This I see as an alternative to outright banning. I'm sure Facebook, et. al. are audited by EU agencies to make sure they are in compliance.
I think the reason for the outright ban is more due to it being a Chinese product. China isn't known to be very transparent.
Re: House passes bill to force TikTok sale from Chinese owner or ban the app
#57I'm a big proponent of free speech and the first amendment, but I agree with the reasonings for banning it or forcing US owners. China most definitely has their hands in the data that TikTok amasses and given its popularity it's not an insignificant risk to U.S. citizens. We all know how easy it is to manipulate users... aka Cambridge Analytica. It'll be interesting to see what legal challenges come up if the bill pa…
The fact that Facebook and Twitter were US-owned companies did nothing to stop Cambridge Analytica.
Re: House passes bill to force TikTok sale from Chinese owner or ban the app
#58As much as I don't care about tiktok going away, and acknowledge the privacy and security risks, there's something about banning a highly popular website that doesn't sit right with me. Is there precedent in the USA for anything like this?
Uncertainty and doubt is a good and honest position. It is an unusual situation, and it could potentially create a dangerous precedent, particularly in other countries where US-owned software is dominant. There is strong evidence that TikTok is being used to spy on Americans, especially those in the military and those in power, and that this represents a real risk to American interests. The downside is this may unleash a waive of retributive banning (e.g. other countries banning US-owned apps). I personally don't think that's necessarily a bad thing, globally: geographically partitioned services (and therefore power) are fine by me. Of course rich donor corps in the US won't like having their addressable market reduced. We'll see if they can convince us to invade another country to force them to use eBay though.
Re: House passes bill to force TikTok sale from Chinese owner or ban the app
#59Amazing how quickly they can pass these kinds of bills and yet how long they take to pass ones that would better help the average person.
To be honest, I think they've been talking about this since the Trump campaign or sometimes shortly thereafter, quickly wouldn't be the adjective coming to mind thinking about this situation
Re: House passes bill to force TikTok sale from Chinese owner or ban the app
#60[flagged]
The one outlet you called out by name is already a publicly traded company, not one that is controlled by a foreign country. 63% of it is owned by institutional investors (Vanguard, Blackrock, etc).