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US lawmakers tell Apple, Google to be ready to remove TikTok from stores Jan. 19

reuters.com

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Re: US lawmakers tell Apple, Google to be ready to remove TikTok from stores Jan. 19

#51

Post by toofy »

1) this is going to open younger peoples eyes to installing stuff outside of app stores. which i think is a great development.

2) if We believe that social media has the ability to influence to the degree that we’re going to outlaw a company, why tf are we not outlawing all manipulative algorithms, from every country? i absolutely do not magically trust billionaires just because they’re from the US… and i certainly don’t trust them more than i trust any government. there’s reasonable arguments that they’re more dangerous than governments. after everything we’ve seen these social media titans do, it’s absurd to trust them. we have so much actual material real evidence of their societal manipulation in every direction.

3) im not at all convinced outright outlawing is the answer. but i’ll kinda rhyme with 2) again, if We collectively admit it’s dangerous enough that it must be made illegal, then all of these companies are dangerous—all of them.

Re: US lawmakers tell Apple, Google to be ready to remove TikTok from stores Jan. 19

#52

Post by mrbombastic »

toomuchtodo wrote: post #21
seanmcdirmid wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Using crypto doesn’t somehow make you immune to prosecution. If the government says TikTok is banned, no company’s chief counsel is going to suggest getting around the ban by using bitcoin.

It took forever for the US to do anything about Uber, Lyft, and Airbnb breaking the law. In a post competency, low regulation environment we’re entering, it makes sense to explore creative solutions to extend runway imho (vs immediately folding).

I would argue the lack of action against those was due to lack of political will. At least at the beginning many saw Uber and Airbnb as net positives, American led innovators offering competition to hotels and taxi cartels. TikTok on the other hand is getting hammered by both sides of the aisle. the incoming admin has its contradictions but has been pretty pro tariff / anti Chinese competition so I am not sure games like that are going to play much but we shall see.

Re: US lawmakers tell Apple, Google to be ready to remove TikTok from stores Jan. 19

#53

Post by dev-jayson »

Gigachad wrote: post #44
xnx wrote: post #36

1) Excellent way to teach millions of people about sideloading overnight. This could be a big win for Android (where sideloading is easy) vs. iPhone were sideloading is impossible (? or only possible only with an annual dev license?) 2) Will this affect apps like CapCut and Lemon8 too?

TikTok could just release a web app

They already do, all they gotta do is take out the redirect to App popup and voila.

Re: US lawmakers tell Apple, Google to be ready to remove TikTok from stores Jan. 19

#54

Post by JimDabell »

hyperpape wrote: post #11
bdangubic wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Land of free speech? Maybe in like a John Wayne movie was this ever true… Like you know other parts of Bill or “Rights” like “prohibiting unreasonable searches and seizures” except like your toothpaste at the airport… Americans are generally too funny thinking it is still “land of the free”

> Land of free speech? Maybe in like a John Wayne movie was this ever true… What country would you say has stronger free speech protections than the US? I won't say there's none, because there are roughly 200 countries, and I don't know enough about many of them, but I cannot name one. Not the UK, France or Germany, and I'd be surprised to find any other European country. For a sampling of other laws/measures: - http…

The USA is not especially high up on the World Press Freedom Index:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Press_Freedom_Index

My main problem with free speech in America is how it’s become some sort of unquestionable belief that it’s absolute. There are many instances of freedom of speech being curtailed by the USA government, yet they are somehow redefined into some sort of “unspeech” and don’t count instead of being honest and saying “yes, we restrict speech on this occasion for X reason”. It’s a very dangerous Orwellian approach to not allow yourself to see when your freedoms are being restricted.

Re: US lawmakers tell Apple, Google to be ready to remove TikTok from stores Jan. 19

#55

Post by exabrial »

As grating as this is to freedom of expression, I’ve been annoyed enough times by ‘tok’ers doing crap like I dunno, licking ice cream buckets in supermarkets, I’m also looking forward to that going away for a few months till the next thing replaces it.

Unfortunately, this is pretty bad precedent. While I love my country, these sorts of decisions are as federal level are pretty scary and I question whether the government should wield this power.

Re: US lawmakers tell Apple, Google to be ready to remove TikTok from stores Jan. 19

#56

Post by jwarden »

bdangubic wrote: post #4
nadermx wrote: post #2

Bizarre, in the land of free speech the government is suppressing it.

Land of free speech? Maybe in like a John Wayne movie was this ever true… Like you know other parts of Bill or “Rights” like “prohibiting unreasonable searches and seizures” except like your toothpaste at the airport… Americans are generally too funny thinking it is still “land of the free”

Something doesn’t have to be perfect to be good. Most American’s recognize and lament the erosion of freedoms over the years, while still valuing the many that remain.

I don’t think they should be be laughed at for that.

Re: US lawmakers tell Apple, Google to be ready to remove TikTok from stores Jan. 19

#57

Post by sourcepluck »

brickfaced wrote: post #30
cma wrote: post #16

Great firewall is one of the worst aspects of China, why do that here?

[flagged]

Yes! We need to have only American propaganda in the heads of the vulnerable youth of America, and we need to have only Chinese propaganda in the heads of the vulnerable youth of China, and we need to have only Zimbabwean propaganda in the heads of the vulnerable youth of Zimbabwe.

And so on and so on, down through all the letters of the alphabet. That'll solve our problems!

Re: US lawmakers tell Apple, Google to be ready to remove TikTok from stores Jan. 19

#58

Post by mrbombastic »

bdangubic wrote: post #8
seanmcdirmid wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We should be more like China then? I’m confused.

[flagged]

Yes they are very open and honest, now try searching Tiananmen Square protests in the country.

Re: US lawmakers tell Apple, Google to be ready to remove TikTok from stores Jan. 19

#59

Post by rsanek »

Gigachad wrote: post #44
xnx wrote: post #36

1) Excellent way to teach millions of people about sideloading overnight. This could be a big win for Android (where sideloading is easy) vs. iPhone were sideloading is impossible (? or only possible only with an annual dev license?) 2) Will this affect apps like CapCut and Lemon8 too?

TikTok could just release a web app

I wonder what kind of impact this would have on their ability to actually provide good ML recommendations. Based on reporting that would be a lot of data to give up

Re: US lawmakers tell Apple, Google to be ready to remove TikTok from stores Jan. 19

#60

Post by maeil »

TheDong wrote: post #46
brickfaced wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

If spying and influencing vulnerable youths is the problem, shouldn't we be getting EU-like privacy laws and anti-social-media laws instead? Youths are just as able to get addicted to chinese-produced content on instagram and youtube as tiktok, and all 3 of those apps use algorithms that optimize for roughly the same thing (making you watch more ads and contents, profit). Other companies collect similar amount of our…

> If spying and influencing vulnerable youths is the problem, shouldn't we be getting EU-like privacy laws and anti-social-media laws instead?

TikTok just massively influenced the Romanian elections (in the EU) by intentionally turning a blind eye to $millions of ad spend by Russia for a pro-Russian candidate. Despite all those laws.

TikTok is an asset of China that's clear as day. Sure, many times very awful things have been waved away by simply using the phrase "national security". In this case, that phrase is accurate. It's an absurd national security risk to have one of the most influential platforms in a Western country to be an asset of China. This is the reality we live in. It's unfortunate, but it's the way it is. Dancing around the elephant in the room is an incredible waste of time.

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