You know they wouldn't be doing this unless the point was to expand the government's ability to harm its citizens. Which sweeping and terrifying powers does this one introduce?
Bingo!
Senate Bill to Ban TikTok
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Re: Senate Bill to Ban TikTok
#12Can someone explain why a bill is needed to ban TikTok? Can’t the administration or a governmental agency (such as but not limited to FTC, FCC etc.) ban it? I think that’s how it works in many other countries.
I can't explain authoritatively, but my thought is that perhaps this is the only way congress has to affect the change, and they're the ones wanting to make it happen.
Re: Senate Bill to Ban TikTok
#13If the concern is privacy and security, which apply to all social media platforms, then why not pass actual privacy and security laws that would apply equally to all social media platforms, regardless of who currently owns it or may own it in the future?
That's not what the concern of the bill is and it's completely transparent. Just read the first 2 pages of the bill and you can see the concern is, in the words of the bill, a "foreign adversary" and their ability to "sabotage or subversion of the design, integrity, manufacturing, production, distribution, installation, operation, or maintenance of information and communications technology products and services in th…
That's a lot of words to say authoritarianism.
Re: Senate Bill to Ban TikTok
#14Can someone explain why a bill is needed to ban TikTok? Can’t the administration or a governmental agency (such as but not limited to FTC, FCC etc.) ban it? I think that’s how it works in many other countries.
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Re: Senate Bill to Ban TikTok
#15Can someone explain why a bill is needed to ban TikTok? Can’t the administration or a governmental agency (such as but not limited to FTC, FCC etc.) ban it? I think that’s how it works in many other countries.
This is how it's supposed to work, Congress makes laws and the President enforces them.
The reverse, where government agencies ban things without Congress, is the unusual thing from a Constitutional perspective.
Re: Senate Bill to Ban TikTok
#16[flagged]
Re: Senate Bill to Ban TikTok
#17Can someone explain why a bill is needed to ban TikTok? Can’t the administration or a governmental agency (such as but not limited to FTC, FCC etc.) ban it? I think that’s how it works in many other countries.
This is how it's supposed to work, Congress makes laws and the President enforces them. The reverse, where government agencies ban things without Congress, is the unusual thing from a Constitutional perspective.
In effect, an action by the "FTC, FCC etc." is the same thing.
Those bodies were created by congress to delegate the duties of congress to the Executive branch.
They work for the Executive but are given authority by the Legislature.
The thing you may be conflating as the reverse is executive orders.
Re: Senate Bill to Ban TikTok
#18I heard on a podcast yesterday a suggestion that the reason the intelligence community doesn't like TikTok is that, unlike with Twitter, Meta, Google, Apple, Amazon, etc, they can't just hand a warrant over to ByteDance get the data they want. If there's one thing the intelligence community hates, it's not getting the data they want.
Back in the previous administration, I figured this was all a temper-tantrum being thrown by an executive who got embarrassed when outsmarted by a bunch of kids. It may have started like that, but somehow in D.C. everyone's been convinced of the danger a foreign-owned social-media network poses. I'm still not sure I get it...
Re: Senate Bill to Ban TikTok
#191) I understand that the CCP bans sites and apps. Let's not sink to their level. (Instead, let's build more and more technologies to enable their people to get around said bans). 2) This is embarrassing. You don't like TikTok? Man up and compete. Don't ban it. 3) The complexity in this bills makes it reak of corruption. There will be winners and losers in this bill. The losers we can bet are 99% of the population.
I am fine with banning what is, effectively, a Chinese psyop marketed as a social media app. I don’t really think we should be competing to make the most addictive doomscroller possible.
However, I do agree about point 3, wholeheartedly. This makes it seem like envy, where our government is salivating at the prospect of doing this themselves under the guise of protecting us from foreign powers.
Re: Senate Bill to Ban TikTok
#20If the concern is privacy and security, which apply to all social media platforms, then why not pass actual privacy and security laws that would apply equally to all social media platforms, regardless of who currently owns it or may own it in the future?
That's not what the concern of the bill is and it's completely transparent. Just read the first 2 pages of the bill and you can see the concern is, in the words of the bill, a "foreign adversary" and their ability to "sabotage or subversion of the design, integrity, manufacturing, production, distribution, installation, operation, or maintenance of information and communications technology products and services in th…
The real concerns, in order of importance, are:
1. This is a way of getting memes to the masses that we (the US political establishment) can't fully control.
2. Meta and others are getting their asses kicked revenue-wise by Tik Tok. Like any business, they'd use anything they could to fight back. Turns out they can use China fear mongering, so they are.
3. (Added) Believe it or not, there's nationalistic pride here. There is a reluctance to admit that an app from "the other side" (China) is more appealing to the masses than _our_ social media apps. Surprising then that we don't ban Hondas and Toyotas, even though they're far superior to American cars (but at least they're made by Asians who are _allies_ I guess).
No matter that banning an app is completely against the principles we claim, such as freedom for individuals, competition in a free market, and freedom of information.