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House passes bill to force TikTok sale from Chinese owner or ban the app

nytimes.com

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Re: House passes bill to force TikTok sale from Chinese owner or ban the app

#801

Post by firecall »

codekaze wrote: post #213

I think the primary argument for banning TikTok should be based on reciprocity rather than moral and/or security concerns. We can make similar arguments about the negative effects of Facebook, Instagram, and etc. even from the POVs of other countries, but the key issue here is that China heavily restricts foreign apps and services from operating in their market. If China is unwilling to allow US companies to compete…

Because that is an unproductive foreign policy approach.

It’s an unproductive approach to any relationship in general.

Re: House passes bill to force TikTok sale from Chinese owner or ban the app

#802

Post by yalok »

shuckles wrote: post #770
yalok wrote: post #769

If you try to publish your app in any of the Chinese app stores, you will be required to add an SDK to your app that basically allows them (Chinese government) to track user activity in your app. This basically means that not only TikTok, but any app originating from China is mandated to have this tracking SDK integrated, and it's a much bigger problem than just a single app...

What are the Chinese app stores? Do you mean the China storefront of the Apple App Store or something else? Do you have any documentation about this?

There’s no explicit documentation. It’s just that if a non-Chinese company/individual will want to publish something there, they need to obtain a license. This license can’t be obtained so easily, so you would have to go through some publishing company like AppTutti. These companies require you to rebuild your app with their specific SDK, without which you just can’t publish the app. One can only guess what’s in that SDK… but from my other experiences, I’m pretty sure there’s some back channel.

Here’s a quote from appinchina dot com:

Currently, foreign companies are not allowed to directly publish their apps on Chinese Android app stores. This restriction does not apply to iOS or the Apple App Store in China. All foreign app companies must either have a Chinese entity or use an authorized local distributor to publish their mobile apps and games.

Re: House passes bill to force TikTok sale from Chinese owner or ban the app

#805

Post by ribosometronome »

jrockway wrote: post #486
codekaze wrote: post #213

I think the primary argument for banning TikTok should be based on reciprocity rather than moral and/or security concerns. We can make similar arguments about the negative effects of Facebook, Instagram, and etc. even from the POVs of other countries, but the key issue here is that China heavily restricts foreign apps and services from operating in their market. If China is unwilling to allow US companies to compete…

I don't think we should "lowest common denominator" to oppressive regimes. Our Constitution says "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances." TikTok, at the end of the day, is just a kind of…

I don't think the US Constitution gives the Chinese Communist Party Freedom of Speech. They're generally freedoms that apply to US citizens in the US, no?

Re: House passes bill to force TikTok sale from Chinese owner or ban the app

#806

Post by paulryanrogers »

slibhb wrote: post #362
paulryanrogers wrote: post #328

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Bans don't have to be perfect to be effective. Free speech isn't absolute, not even in the US. It's normal and healthy for a society to adapt it's view on speech over time and as the world evolves. Hopefully toward being more open, yet openness must be balanced against the negatives.

Every generation is scared of "what the kids spend their time doing". In the 80s it was the PMRC. Later on there were at least a few video game scares ("What if my son plays Mortal Kombat and tries to rip my head off?"). Today it's "evil Chinese apps". Embarrassing.

I'm not advocating taking all social media from kids. Just limits and at least corporate oversight. I grew up in the 80s, with limits on my BBS and AOL time, and I survived.

Now that the Internet is cheap free and everywhere it's reasonable to ask if unfettered access and megacorps need some guardrails.

Re: House passes bill to force TikTok sale from Chinese owner or ban the app

#807

Post by hellojesus »

cscurmudgeon wrote: post #799
hellojesus wrote: post #518

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thankfully parents were invented to regulate them.

Do you think the govt. has zero responsibility in the welfare of our nation's children? If a foreign adversary attacks, can parents alone protect their children? Let me get this clear: 1. you don't want govt to act for children because "parents", 2. you don't want govt to act for adults because they are "rational".

> 1. you don't want govt to act for children because "parents"

> 2. you don't want govt to act for adults because they are "rational".

Yes. This is absolutely correct from my perspective. Parents have agency over their children. They are there to guide or, if necessary, inact tyrannical laws.

Adults have agency. Nobody is a victim of TikTok involuntarily. Adults are making a choice to use it or allow their children to use it.

From what exactly is the government saving US citizens by banning TikTok from the app store, or more generally? And how can we be sure that this banning power won't expand over time?

Re: House passes bill to force TikTok sale from Chinese owner or ban the app

#809

Post by ribosometronome »

victorbjorklund wrote: post #592
Kerrick wrote: post #572

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Our Constitution also says, "The Congress shall have Power [...] To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations." Forcing a sale of TikTok so it's not foreign (with a punishment of banning if they don't), especially while making no such law for U.S. controlled competitors, is no more an infringement upon free speech than introducing a tariff or trade restriction on German-manufactured printing presses while leaving domest…

What if EU forced american companies to sell off their stuff to european companies? It isnt that easy.

Or China! China has definitely prohibited American companies from reasonably operating in the US. Reciprocity there makes sense but it does seem that this sort of reciprocity is going further than China had, no?
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