It is concerning that this bill seemingly includes a very specific carve out for Yelp[0] which is not owned by China, Russia, Iran or North Korea as far as I'm aware. Sure seems like the bill probably does more than just crackdown on TikTok. [0]: https://twitter.com/RepThomasMassie/status/17675409413787445...
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
#812Earlier quoted context omitted.
would the same argument apply to Fox News? If not, why not?
Fox News and MSNBC are propaganda for American political parties not foreign governments. They have a much stronger constitutional argument for 1st Amendment protection than Russia Today or China Central TV would.
Re: House passes bill to force TikTok sale from Chinese owner or ban the app
#813Earlier 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.
Re: House passes bill to force TikTok sale from Chinese owner or ban the app
#814And of course the argument to strip citizens freedom to choose what they want to use is in the name of safety! Politicians need a new red herring or I’m going to start thinking they’re either lazy or stupid.
This might be great: Americans will see firsthand how corrupt and oppressive their government can be if it wants to.
Re: House passes bill to force TikTok sale from Chinese owner or ban the app
#815Re: House passes bill to force TikTok sale from Chinese owner or ban the app
#816Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's a different world than the one where our ideas of freedom were born in. Used to be we were talking about somebody on a soapbox in a park. Now, it's a firehose of misinformation spread instantly to hundreds of millions. A tidal wave. A hurricane. What should we do? How do we put the genie back in the bottle?
It's also a firehose of misinformation you choose to jump into. One can reasonably watch TikTok with the understanding that it might be good for entertainment or learning about things that don't really matter. It's a terrible news source, just like any other user content driven platform.
Re: House passes bill to force TikTok sale from Chinese owner or ban the app
#817Earlier quoted context omitted.
Tiktok isn't "some website", it is partially owned and controlled by the CCP, which influences what content gets shown to Americans. A majority of zoomers get most of their news and information primarily from this platform, which again is under the influence of a hostile foreign government. (TikTok also spies on US citizens for the CCP, but let's keep this restricted to the free speech argument about the ban). We act…
Doesn't first ammendment protect even that. Propaganda of other countries are legal under first ammendment. Why should we be a nanny state that should dictate which apps one can or cannot use on one's device. Also even at the hight of cold war, Soviet Life magazine was published and disseminated widely in the US.
-Justice Roberth H. Jackson
Re: House passes bill to force TikTok sale from Chinese owner or ban the app
#818Earlier quoted context omitted.
Doesn't first ammendment protect even that. Propaganda of other countries are legal under first ammendment. Why should we be a nanny state that should dictate which apps one can or cannot use on one's device. Also even at the hight of cold war, Soviet Life magazine was published and disseminated widely in the US.
A US citizen distributing foreign media themselves is quite different than what is effectively a directly controlled broadcast owned by a foreign government.
When one country tries to cause chaos in another, they use a two pronged approach. (1) they offer a country's aristocracy the ability to enrich themselves at the cost of their people. This could be things like cheap labor, gas pipelines, or being the guarantor of loans. (2) They tell a countries peasantry that the worlds problems are simple and that their government is their enemy and failing them. This is only empowered by having compromised their aristocracy, so their government is failing them.
Then they put their fingers on the scale by providing resources (weapons, funding, press, intelligence, etc.) to an aligned entity capable of promoting their interests.
It's worth considering that the great firewall of china exists explicitly because the Chinese government (rationally) thinks it's risky to subject people who were subsistence farming a generation ago to foreign influence.
The cost of freedom is responsibility, and if you have an irresponsible (read: poorly educated/non critical thinking) populace, then people will unwittingly surrender their freedom. Freedom means the freedom to do the wrong thing, but that can result in bending or breaking.
Re: House passes bill to force TikTok sale from Chinese owner or ban the app
#819Earlier quoted context omitted.
Tiktok isn't "some website", it is partially owned and controlled by the CCP, which influences what content gets shown to Americans. A majority of zoomers get most of their news and information primarily from this platform, which again is under the influence of a hostile foreign government. (TikTok also spies on US citizens for the CCP, but let's keep this restricted to the free speech argument about the ban). We act…
Yeah, we should only tolerate domestic propaganda outlets.
Re: House passes bill to force TikTok sale from Chinese owner or ban the app
#820Earlier quoted context omitted.
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…
The Western world is in dire, dire need of education on geopolitics.
But ye, surely there is some need of education of the shenanigans these types are up to.