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India bans TikTok, WeChat, and dozens of other Chinese apps

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Re: India bans TikTok, WeChat, and dozens of other Chinese apps

#121
post #59
post #40

Covid cases are on rise in India. Government didn't handle lockdown well to accommodate guest (migrant) workers and they were stranded. On top of all these, lives of Indian soldiers died recently in a clash with Chinese soldiers and China is continuously testing limits at Galwan Valley. You need a disruptive breaking news to crush all these and prove Government is in control. This is simply that. This is nothing but…

Seems like they learned from Trump and the change in visa/immigration to distract the public.

People downvoted you unjustly. Your position is substantiated.

The amount of actual impact on trade in between China, and USA is completely microscopic in relation to the amount of noise, and commotion.

One can not believe that sides genuinely oppose each other, rather than doing a theatrical performance with unspoken mutual understanding.

Re: India bans TikTok, WeChat, and dozens of other Chinese apps

#122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s about allies versus active enemies. There are shootouts on a regular basis between India and China, and they’ve intensified recently.

So it's just opportunism, then? Condemn the other; refuse reflection. Or am I misunderstanding you?

I can’t say what India’s motivation is for sure. Maybe there’s a credible threat in a way that Facebook isn’t. Maybe it’s just anti-Chinese fervor. But saying anything outside of India should be treated the same is not taking into account geo-politics and individual country’s behaviors.

Re: India bans TikTok, WeChat, and dozens of other Chinese apps

#123
post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just like you'd buy coffee with Fair Trade [1] mark, one way to incentivize the public would be through marketing - "Made in Democracy" mark on a laptop, a lathe-machine, a watch or what have you. We should have a non-profit org that promotes manufacturing in democracies. From shirts to iOS apps, it would be interesting to experiment with a "Made in Democracy" or "Developed in Democracy" mark. I ran this idea through…

You mean like the CE logo that marks products safe in Europe? Chinese companies are practically faking it: https://www.ybw.com/vhf-marine-radio-guide/warning-dont-get-...

That's absolutely reprehensible and cunning.

In addition to counterfeiting and deception, another problem is in the definition of what constitutes, for example, a "Made in Switzerland" product. According to Swiss law, 60% of the manufacturing BOM cost needs to be domestically sourced [1]. Therein lies the problem of enforcement as well as impossibilities due to the entangled supply-chain with China as well as accountability and prevention of abuse.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swiss_made

Re: India bans TikTok, WeChat, and dozens of other Chinese apps

#124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s about allies versus active enemies. There are shootouts on a regular basis between India and China, and they’ve intensified recently.

So it's just opportunism, then? Condemn the other; refuse reflection. Or am I misunderstanding you?

It's about harm and risk reduction. All other things held equal, you would expect your enemies to be doing more to undermine you than your allies would.

Re: India bans TikTok, WeChat, and dozens of other Chinese apps

#125

Am I the only one concerned about how TikTok is promoting child pornography by serving as a gateway for young girls and boys to prostitution apps such as OnlyFans? I think this is a bigger concern than loss of privacy. Those comparing loss of privacy for Indians on US apps / platforms compared to Chinese apps / platforms, China and India are openly hostile. US and India are not. This is a big difference.

I wouldn’t compare onlyfans to prostitution, it’s not the same as going out on the street. If anything it’s empowering.

Re: India bans TikTok, WeChat, and dozens of other Chinese apps

#126
The public health toll of social media will not be fully understood for another 30 years it seems.

People with adolescents and teen daughters please chime in here. The rates of suicide, cutting, and psychological problems are climbing. My wife and I find a charity that offers counseling and therapy to young girls. What is common place now was nearly unheard of in my generation (X).

Re: India bans TikTok, WeChat, and dozens of other Chinese apps

#127
I'm curious how this will affect the local startup scene. There's definitely a great demand for these products that now needs to be fulfilled by local / non-Chinese international players.

If this ban lasts:

My concern is that Facebook will introduce India-specific products to fill this void, while my hope is that local players significantly up their product quality and reach to build a strong domestic tech scene - the way China did a decade and a half ago w/ Tencent, Baidu, ByteDance, etc. This domestic talent expansion will help build a stronger domestic tech ecosystem.

Why the concern w/ Facebook? They already have a deathly grip on Indian consumers w/ WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram. Tik Tok was the only major social platform used by Indians that wasn't owned by Facebook, and now they have a chance to potentially grab that as well. I'm not comfortable with one company owning that much attention, I don't trust their privacy policies with their data privacy track record and they don't iterate quickly enough on localized product-features meaning Indian users lag months / years behind western regions (e.g. Instagram in-app shopping experience).

Re: India bans TikTok, WeChat, and dozens of other Chinese apps

#128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s about allies versus active enemies. There are shootouts on a regular basis between India and China, and they’ve intensified recently.

So it's just opportunism, then? Condemn the other; refuse reflection. Or am I misunderstanding you?

Using opportunity to actually perform a good thing for privacy (tiktok at least was found snooping all it can from users phones, not sure about the rest but given how chinese run things that would be expected).

No tear will be shed for those apps, regardless from which country they come from (I know this is very targeted due to recent tensions, but its still a step in the right direction re privacy)

Re: India bans TikTok, WeChat, and dozens of other Chinese apps

#129

Am I the only one concerned about how TikTok is promoting child pornography by serving as a gateway for young girls and boys to prostitution apps such as OnlyFans? I think this is a bigger concern than loss of privacy. Those comparing loss of privacy for Indians on US apps / platforms compared to Chinese apps / platforms, China and India are openly hostile. US and India are not. This is a big difference.

I wouldn’t compare onlyfans to prostitution, it’s not the same as going out on the street. If anything it’s empowering.

Not for a 9 yr old.

Re: India bans TikTok, WeChat, and dozens of other Chinese apps

#130

I think this sort of response was inevitable and will be seen in more and more nations. China bans most of the popular websites and apps (including Wikipedia). The most recent trigger was the border standoff between India and China where Indian citizens could see and read both governments' responses, but Chinese citizens were only told Chinese govt's talking points. This seems like yet another instance of the paradox…

The China censors things so we should too stance just seems to strengthen their position of censorship...
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