Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Senate Bill to Ban TikTok

congress.gov

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

151–160 of 741 posts

Re: Senate Bill to Ban TikTok

#151

Post by mywittyname »

sph wrote: post #134
madeofpalk wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because China has strict censorship laws, so should the US?

There is no honour in (economic) war. You don't win by holding the moral high ground. Sucks for us Westerners to see our Internet firewalled, but that's what happens when you're in a war, whatever its nature. Everybody pays for it.

This is not an effective war strategy though. The same influence American politicians swear the Chinese government has over Tiktok can easily be obtained through any number of social media companies.

Moral high ground and fairness is the best strategy here. If it's illegal for all companies to capture this information, it makes enforcement easier and prevents foreign adversaries from merely infiltrating other companies.

There are plenty of influential people in the tech world that would sell America out for a quick Renminbi.

Re: Senate Bill to Ban TikTok

#152

Post by brigadier132 »

charlieflowers wrote: post #20
gretch wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.…

You are also ignoring the fact that China does not allow our social media companies to operate in their jurisdiction. So part of this is a sense of fairness. Why do they get to operate here if we can't operate there?

Re: Senate Bill to Ban TikTok

#153

Post by kube-system »

HDThoreaun wrote: post #8
humanistbot wrote: post #3

If 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?

The issue is that tiktok told congress that US data was inaccessible in China but there is evidence of Chinese nationals accessing american journalist's data in China. Also I'm sure big tech lobbying is playing a large role here too, but that's the cover story at least.

Regardless of anything TikTok's management says, Chinese law functionally allows them to force ByteDance to supply any data they want.

Re: Senate Bill to Ban TikTok

#154

Post by kelseyfrog »

brigadier132 wrote: post #152
charlieflowers wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.…

You are also ignoring the fact that China does not allow our social media companies to operate in their jurisdiction. So part of this is a sense of fairness. Why do they get to operate here if we can't operate there?

Because open markets and free speech are national values, not tit-for-tat teenage diplomatic drama. We're supposed to be better than that.

Re: Senate Bill to Ban TikTok

#155

Post by MrStonedOne »

lurker919 wrote: post #98
Gigachad wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Tiktok is not just a dumb video host. They chose the content they show to users. And the content their system is shoving in users faces is destructive.

Are you saying there are engineers sitting behind their laptops who upvote the "bathroom destruction" trend in some kind of global dashboard? You sound very certain about the degree of control they have over recommendation systems.

[dead]

Re: Senate Bill to Ban TikTok

#157

Post by electrondood »

charlieflowers wrote: post #81
kirse wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Actual #1. TikTok is banned in China, but in their similar app (Douyin) their kids are limited to 40min a day and restricted from a lot of the digital opium drip that US kids are receiving in infinite quantities. Sounds like it'd only be fair to follow suit if China itself is limiting the poisoning of their own citizens: https://www.cnn.com/videos/business/2023/03/24/douyin-tiktok...

It is mind boggling, and at the same time not surprising at all, that China is enforcing a humane policy to protect its children when we are not willing to do the same.

I mean... gestures at latest mass school shooting

Re: Senate Bill to Ban TikTok

#158

Post by [deleted] »

madeofpalk wrote: post #52
Gigachad wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When the memes involve destroying the school bathrooms and stealing cars. It's probably worth considering what control is had over it.

Would love to see the overlap of people concerned about threats to the conditional right to own guns, and those who are completely unconcerned about this direct attack on freedom of speech.

[deleted]

Re: Senate Bill to Ban TikTok

#159

Post by lazyeye »

kelseyfrog wrote: post #154
brigadier132 wrote: post #152

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You are also ignoring the fact that China does not allow our social media companies to operate in their jurisdiction. So part of this is a sense of fairness. Why do they get to operate here if we can't operate there?

Because open markets and free speech are national values, not tit-for-tat teenage diplomatic drama. We're supposed to be better than that.

But its not open markets if one partner blocks all access to it's own market?

In what other trade context would this scenario be acceptable?

And how does giving access to an authoritarian regime, famous for controlling speech, promote free speech?

Re: Senate Bill to Ban TikTok

#160

Post by beebmam »

humanistbot wrote: post #3

If 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?

Because other social media companies aren't owned or controlled by an authoritarian state, one which expresses threats of violent aggression to its neighboring countries.
Post reply on HN