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Biden signs TikTok bill into law, starting clock for ByteDance to divest

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Re: Biden signs TikTok bill into law, starting clock for ByteDance to divest

#791

Post by asadotzler »

luyu_wu wrote: post #454

The thing that ticks me off is that there hasn't been conclusive evidence that actually justifies this ban. I'd be perfectly happy if the CIA came out with documents of how the data goes to China, but all I've seen is evidence to the contrary (e.g. servers in US, headquarters in SG etc). If I'm wrong, I'd gladly look at some linked articles of course.

There was no evidence when we banned foreign TV and radio ownership in the US in 90 years ago either. What's your point? Are you suggesting we cannot make preventive laws about mass media? If so, you should read a book because you're under informed in this area.

Re: Biden signs TikTok bill into law, starting clock for ByteDance to divest

#792

Post by asadotzler »

bluSCALE4 wrote: post #55

Crazy, all the spying we do and we can't provide any definitive proof of anything yet we're jumping to banning a company. Looks like all that red scare stuff isn't a thing of the past, eh? And we all get to suffer for it. From losing a platform, to facing shadow bans with no recourse, to laws being passed that continue to stamp out our civil liberties to the point that we forget they were even there, what's it all fo…

We don't need proof. We didn't have proof of anything 90 years ago when we banned foreign ownership of our TV and radio stations. Are you really this ignorant to US history? Do they not teach US history or civics in school any more?

Re: Biden signs TikTok bill into law, starting clock for ByteDance to divest

#793

Post by TaylorAlexander »

danielhep wrote: post #542

The way I see this is that democracy is extremely susceptible to tools that can change public opinion en masse. This of course applies to Western social media as much as TikTok, and I'd love to see regulation around all social media algorithms to ensure they're unbiased. I see this as a good start to counter a real threat, which is China's ability to influence US elections through TikTok.

Regulation to ensure media is unbiased sounds on the face of it impossible. Anything that looks "unbiased" simply shares the same biases as you.

Re: Biden signs TikTok bill into law, starting clock for ByteDance to divest

#794

Post by ffpip »

PurpleRamen wrote: post #182
dwnoble wrote: post #22

Fun fact: according to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_websites_blocked_in_ma... , tiktok.com has been blocked in mainland China since 2020.

Funny list. I'm curious why something like swiggy.com, a food ordering and delivery platform is there. Do they even operate in china?

They don't operate in China but I'm pretty sure they have received funding from chinese investors.

Re: Biden signs TikTok bill into law, starting clock for ByteDance to divest

#795

Post by TaylorAlexander »

cherioo wrote: post #707
danielhep wrote: post #542

The way I see this is that democracy is extremely susceptible to tools that can change public opinion en masse. This of course applies to Western social media as much as TikTok, and I'd love to see regulation around all social media algorithms to ensure they're unbiased. I see this as a good start to counter a real threat, which is China's ability to influence US elections through TikTok.

It is not just democracy. All governance systems are susceptible to mass communication tools that can change public opinion, be it books, radio, tv, news organizations, or tiktok. It is why many non democratic countries do not have freedom of press, and a highly censored internet. This is a main contributor to Arab Spring. It is just sad that even US is susceptible to this.

Well mass manipulation of the people is how the USA functions. This is what Noam Chomsky and Edward Herman wrote about extensively in their book Manufacturing Consent from 1988. So it is no wonder it works when other people do it too. I agree though, it is sad, or frustrating, upsetting, infuriating, that the USA works like that.

https://chomsky.info/consent01/

Re: Biden signs TikTok bill into law, starting clock for ByteDance to divest

#796

Post by consumer451 »

jeswin wrote: post #785
consumer451 wrote: post #777

I happen to personally agree with the general concept of making the CCP divest from the leading social media platform in the USA. I also wonder if the KSA should be forced to divest from X/Twitter. Prior to owning part of X/Twitter, they did this [0], which led to to the worst of what one could imagine. What is happening now? But my main question is, are there any other examples of forced divestiture, aside from Fire…

> I also wonder if the the KSA should be forced to divest from Twitter. There is no equivalence. The KSA has no ability or ambition to shape the world. The royal family just wants to keep their kingdom business running, and even for that they're dependent on the US.

I wish that was the case.

However, as a friend of human liberty, I cannot forget the murder of Jamal Khashoggi. [0]

While I would like to agree that KSA doesn't care about the rest of the world, and each culture should have their own space, the bone-saw story does prove that there are human factors which bind us all together. We all do live on one small rock, after all.

[0] http://web.archive.org/web/20190110153304/https://www.washin...

Re: Biden signs TikTok bill into law, starting clock for ByteDance to divest

#799

Post by itemize »

jjordan wrote: post #97
ok123456 wrote: post #41

I won't stop using it.

You won't have to, but if an actual ban went through, and an iPhone is your only means of connection, you would be truly SOL, because Apple's captured ecosystem only allows users to run what Apple will permit. We need open ecosystems and access to full root-level control of our devices by default. Accept no substitutes.

not SOL, but you have to jump through one hoop -- you can download apps from other regional store if you make an alternative account.

Re: Biden signs TikTok bill into law, starting clock for ByteDance to divest

#800

Post by jeswin »

TaylorAlexander wrote: post #789
jeswin wrote: post #785

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I also wonder if the the KSA should be forced to divest from Twitter. There is no equivalence. The KSA has no ability or ambition to shape the world. The royal family just wants to keep their kingdom business running, and even for that they're dependent on the US.

> The KSA has no ability or ambition to shape the world. This seems obviously false. They host conferences talking about how they want to shape the world. KSA has interests, and they will want to use any power they have to further their interests.

China's economy is 20 times their size, and their population about 40 times larger. And there's no comparison in industrial capability.
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