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ByteDance prefers TikTok shutdown in US if legal options fail, sources say

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Re: ByteDance prefers TikTok shutdown in US if legal options fail, sources say

#61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hmmm...... Nice spin playing on the hacker ethos here. Although information is in its name, it gets its full meaning from its suffix. MISinformation is the missing of information or the mis-leading of an audience by spinning purposefully false rhetoric and delivering arguments for a false narrativvve. It is very closely related to propaganda, but with a different aim. The aim here is not to have someone look good but…

I'm not really spinning anything. This is likely the defense TikTok will be using in court. The 1st amendment covers the right to receive information, and it's funny you bring up propaganda because it has even been ruled it covers the right to receive foreign propaganda: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lamont_v._Postmaster_General

There should be some kind of reciprocity though. If Idaho didn’t allow drivers holding California drivers license to drive in Idaho, I’m sure California will swiftly ban drivers with Idaho licenses in California as well.

If U.S. companies can’t operate in China PR, China PR companies should not have any expectation of unfettered access to U.S. markets.

Also, corporations are NOT people, no matter what SCOTUS says.

Re: ByteDance prefers TikTok shutdown in US if legal options fail, sources say

#62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not really spinning anything. This is likely the defense TikTok will be using in court. The 1st amendment covers the right to receive information, and it's funny you bring up propaganda because it has even been ruled it covers the right to receive foreign propaganda: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lamont_v._Postmaster_General

There should be some kind of reciprocity though. If Idaho didn’t allow drivers holding California drivers license to drive in Idaho, I’m sure California will swiftly ban drivers with Idaho licenses in California as well. If U.S. companies can’t operate in China PR, China PR companies should not have any expectation of unfettered access to U.S. markets. Also, corporations are NOT people, no matter what SCOTUS says.

We can't reciprocate, because Americans have rights that the Chinese don't have. By reciprocating we weaken our rights.

Re: ByteDance prefers TikTok shutdown in US if legal options fail, sources say

#64
It's about reciprocity. CCP does not allow foreign apps and services unfettered access to the Chinese marketplace.

The measures that we have to take to operate and deliver our services in China is insanely difficult resulting in a diluted experience for our customers.

Until and unless China learns to play nice in the global arena, they should likewise be forcibly shut out in terms of access to foreign markets for their products and services.

Re: ByteDance prefers TikTok shutdown in US if legal options fail, sources say

#67
As a father of two US teens who use TikTok quite a lot, neither of them could give two shits if TikTok was shut down. Snapchat? Now that's a completely different story. TikTok is a boredom filler, Snapchat is a teen communications essential.

Re: ByteDance prefers TikTok shutdown in US if legal options fail, sources say

#68
post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Doesn’t China also demand complete control of foreign apps in their country? Correct me if I’m wrong but my understanding is that the CCP demands specific changes to or outright removal of apps all the time.

In general, yes. This [1] is the first paragraph of the first article of their constitution: "The People’s Republic of China is a socialist state under the people’s democratic dictatorship led by the working class and based on the alliance of workers and peasants. The socialist system is the basic system of the People’s Republic of China. Disruption of the socialist system by any organization or individual is prohibi…

North Korea also declares itself "democratic", just to add to the parent.

Re: ByteDance prefers TikTok shutdown in US if legal options fail, sources say

#69
post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In general, yes. This [1] is the first paragraph of the first article of their constitution: "The People’s Republic of China is a socialist state under the people’s democratic dictatorship led by the working class and based on the alliance of workers and peasants. The socialist system is the basic system of the People’s Republic of China. Disruption of the socialist system by any organization or individual is prohibi…

North Korea also declares itself "democratic", just to add to the parent.

It's a bit different with China. China has a mandated one party system, but as for individuals they do have normal and fair elections that I think even the US could learn something from. Basically at the smallest segment of society you have groups of something like 2000 people who have a local elected representative who has significant power to actually get things done. Those representatives then elect representatives at a higher tier, and so on up until you have the Politburo Standing Committee electing the President/Secretary of the CCP.

I think this system is pretty nice in lots of ways because it lets local representatives focus on local things, while high level representatives can focus on broad national interests. It also means peoples votes are always extremely important and you're going to be quite 'close' (literally and figuratively) to your representative. Of course the obvious downside is that in China you don't even get to directly vote for the President, but on the other hand - that is similar to many parliamentary systems used throughout Europe. Anyhow, it's an interesting system! Our first past the post district based system is completely broken and dysfunctional, but the people most benefited from it are the only ones who could fix it, so it's not going anywhere anytime soon. But it's fun to at least consider alternatives!

Re: ByteDance prefers TikTok shutdown in US if legal options fail, sources say

#70

It never was about ByteDance. It's the Chinese government who will decide. From their point of view, the right strategic move is to shut it down. Even if every other country bans the app it doesn't impact them much. Also they hate doing things that make then look weak. If they sell, they lose their influence. If they shut down, same thing.

I doubt it, their core competitive advantage is their algorithms which they would have to disclose in a sale. So they wouldn’t be selling the US subsidiary, they’d be selling the entire golden goose.

Is disclosing the algorithm a mandatory condition of the sale? If I were them I'd not give away the algorithm. I'd sell the name, branding, userbase, and let them lease the servers until they could host it in their own datacenter -- at which point they'd have access to most of the code, but not the algorithm (if the algorithm is of special value).
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