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

reuters.com

111–120 of 769 posts

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

#111
post #56

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”

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.

It can be good for some and bad for others, especially as someone who is not born in China but is of Chinese descent. I usually avoid sharing my opinion on geopolitics outside the family and prefer to keep to myself if I prefer Chinese brands over Western ones to avoid being judged. The government can use the law to target Chinese-born individuals, and initiatives like the 'Chinese Initiative' make me more cautious and aware of my race.

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

#112
Is it legally possible for Tiktok to provide a "takeout" function, and user uploads the data to a non-bytedance app that happens to work exact the same way as Tiktok do?

If so, this whac-a-mole could go on for ever. Feds would practically establish an office dedicated for app approval

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

#113
post #100

Reciprocity is key. Google and Facebook and most Western web services are blocked in China. If that is the case, then there should be no complaint with blocking Bytedance/other Chinese apps in the West.

They are blocked because they don’t censor content. If they did agree to, they would be allowed - just like Microsoft, Bing, Apple, and a handful of other digital products are not blocked in China. Edit: for those downvoting me, Google literally shut down their China operations because they were unwilling to comply with censorship requirements. Conversely, Google and other US companies seem completely willing to comp…

"Doesn't censor content" is probably not describing the situation correctly; while some companies like Google have typically resisted such in the aughts, they regularly take requests from other countries of this sort, and it'd be very simple for them to reenter the China market by having a stance similar to what they have for other countries.

The issue here is probably caused by the requirement for an ICP recordal which requires removal of violating user-generated content within 15 minutes, which is probably a very tight deadline, probably coupled with a strong false positive rate which is why said companies are also hesitant to introduce automation.

It could also be argued that Tiktok is not completely value-aligned with US interests, although this has not been provably shown and whatever we have thus far is speculative.

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

#114
post #46

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…

You've missed the point. It's plenty easy to find articles that clearly explain what the point is (in relation to this ban), so I'm not going to waste the time trying to explain it again myself.

I'll just note that the action that sealed the deal on this ban was TikTok directing its users to call their representatives to oppose the ban, and flooding their phone lines. It was a fortuitously incompetent display of capability, given the actual main issue.

It's kinda interesting reading the comments on the TikTok ban. A lot of them, including yours, seem blind (willfully or not) to the actual major issues involved, then post confidently while centering on some peripheral issue (or non issue) like it was the most important thing.

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

#115
post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Literally does not matter. ByteDance is a Chinese company and beholden to the CCP.

Just like US companies are beholden to national security letters that can compel them to spy on non-US persons who may be users of their product?

If other countries ban US websites for specifically that reason, I applaud them.

Especially if they do it without being hypocritical.

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

#116
post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Literally does not matter. ByteDance is a Chinese company and beholden to the CCP.

Just like US companies are beholden to national security letters that can compel them to spy on non-US persons who may be users of their product?

No, not like that.

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

#117

Would this sort of targeted app ban by the federal govt be the first of its kind in US? Without any arguments of the pros or cons, the precedent I think is worthy of some consideration.

Not sure about apps specifically, but there's plenty of precedent for banning foreign-owned media (newspapers, tv stations) in the United States. This seems like a natural evolution of those old laws.

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

#118
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 is popular primarily because it's easy to get to. You're expecting normal people to learn how to sideload applications and that's simply not going to happen at a scale large enough to keep TikTok at critical mass in the US.

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

#119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They are blocked because they don’t censor content. If they did agree to, they would be allowed - just like Microsoft, Bing, Apple, and a handful of other digital products are not blocked in China. Edit: for those downvoting me, Google literally shut down their China operations because they were unwilling to comply with censorship requirements. Conversely, Google and other US companies seem completely willing to comp…

"Doesn't censor content" is probably not describing the situation correctly; while some companies like Google have typically resisted such in the aughts, they regularly take requests from other countries of this sort, and it'd be very simple for them to reenter the China market by having a stance similar to what they have for other countries. The issue here is probably caused by the requirement for an ICP recordal wh…

> ICP recordal which requires removal of violating user-generated content

And the reason behind that? Copy from other comments, "So China can't spy on Americans and astroturf propaganda", swap China/America

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

#120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Free speech" is not like the free square in Bingo. You can't just use it whenever. Commerce is already regulated, speech is already regulated, there's no way around those things not being absolute. If you have a specific argument about the nuance of this situation, then make it.

I’m no Tiktok fan but the US has extremely broad free speech protections and its hard to see how this could be constitutional. Individuals posting videos of themselves is clearly speech so we are in the 1st amendment territory. None of the usual exceptions for certain types of content (defamation, threats, fraud etc) apply because the restriction isn’t on specific content. The only way out I could see is saying natio…

But their free speech isn’t limited. They lose a platform, which is something completely different. Free speech doesn’t mean having to facilitate it.

People can still create a website and post their clips, or move to instagram or Snapchat or bluesky or twitter or whatever.

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