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The reason behind the TikTok ban

kenklippenstein.com

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Re: The reason behind the TikTok ban

#3

Post by j_maffe »

If this post gets flagged I will lose all trust in this forum and its admins. This is not the first instance a post like this gets flagged. This post perfectly relates to the themes of the forum. This is completely and utterly unacceptable.

Edit: I'm at least thankfull the admins have restored the post.

Re: The reason behind the TikTok ban

#5

Post by jazzyjackson »

Government contractors have been banned from having Tik-Tok installed on any device they use since June 2023, legislation to force divestment was introduced in January prior, so I was tempted to dismiss this article front the first sentence, of course it did not start with oct 7, but fine, the matter became more urgent with the swell of content that’s, let’s say, critical of Israel.

But the article is reaching by asserting that pro Israeli lobbyists have outsized sway and we banned Tik-Tok as a favor to an ally. There are other factors that freak out American politicians and their constituents (I just wish they were equally freaked out by American corporations doing the same things wrt surveillance and behavior modification)

https://www.acquisition.gov/far/52.204-27

https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/senate-bill/85

Re: The reason behind the TikTok ban

#6

Post by j_maffe »

One has to wonder why the only major non-Western social media outlet turns out to not suppress anti-Israeli sentiment. Of course it could be possible that TikTok could have placed a bias in the algorithm somewhere. But honestly I think it's more likely that the bias is in the Western social media platforms, as has been reported by non-other than Western-media.

Re: The reason behind the TikTok ban

#7

Post by j_maffe »

jazzyjackson wrote: post #5

Government contractors have been banned from having Tik-Tok installed on any device they use since June 2023, legislation to force divestment was introduced in January prior, so I was tempted to dismiss this article front the first sentence, of course it did not start with oct 7, but fine, the matter became more urgent with the swell of content that’s, let’s say, critical of Israel. But the article is reaching by ass…

Isn't what you're saying fitting to the narrative presented by Gallagher? Also why are you focusing on what the article is portraying and not what the politician who pushed for the bill is literally stating exactly what happened?

Re: The reason behind the TikTok ban

#8

Post by jazzyjackson »

j_maffe wrote: post #3

If this post gets flagged I will lose all trust in this forum and its admins. This is not the first instance a post like this gets flagged. This post perfectly relates to the themes of the forum. This is completely and utterly unacceptable. Edit: I'm at least thankfull the admins have restored the post.

Lots of users flag things because it’s a guaranteed flame war, I almost flagged it after reading because it’s kind of one persons opinion with a few references to politicians’ statements and it asserts that this is the whole story when it’s not, ie, just someone’s crappy substack without any substantial new info. But I’ll refrain hoping that there’s some discussion on the merits of banning Tik-Tok, but really anything Israel adjacent is not going to last long on hacker news. Arguing about it does not do much to build community.

Re: The reason behind the TikTok ban

#9

Post by j_maffe »

jazzyjackson wrote: post #8
j_maffe wrote: post #3

If this post gets flagged I will lose all trust in this forum and its admins. This is not the first instance a post like this gets flagged. This post perfectly relates to the themes of the forum. This is completely and utterly unacceptable. Edit: I'm at least thankfull the admins have restored the post.

Lots of users flag things because it’s a guaranteed flame war, I almost flagged it after reading because it’s kind of one persons opinion with a few references to politicians’ statements and it asserts that this is the whole story when it’s not, ie, just someone’s crappy substack without any substantial new info. But I’ll refrain hoping that there’s some discussion on the merits of banning Tik-Tok, but really anythin…

The comment by the politician that pushed for the bill gives the post sufficient merit.

> but really anything Israel adjacent is not going to last long on hacker news. Arguing about it does not do much to build community.

I'd like to believe that the forum I'm reading from does not censor or facilitate the censorship based on political bias. I don't think I'm the only HN user to feel this way. This argument is purely defeatist.

NB: The post got killed from an abundance of flags btw so you were right about that. This flagging and "vouching" system is ripe for abuse and needs to be fixed.

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