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Supreme Court upholds TikTok ban, but Trump might offer lifeline

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Re: Supreme Court upholds TikTok ban, but Trump might offer lifeline

#171

Link to opinion: https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/24pdf/24-656_ca7d.pdf

OOC: i thought trump installed several justices in his past term, so they are theoretically already voting along his lines? Is it expected for trump to act completely against this supreme court that his party has a lot of influence over?

Re: Supreme Court upholds TikTok ban, but Trump might offer lifeline

#172
post #21

Still have no good answer on why its bad for a company that is supposedly under Chineese influence to collect this kind of information on us, and adjust and tweak an 'algorith' for displaying content. But its perfectly fine for a US company to do it? Wouldn't the right solution be to protect the citizens from all threats, foreign and domestic?

Not only that, but there's no evidence at all that Tik Tok's been feeding China any data. None.

Whereas we have proof and evidence that US agencies can access data about citizens from anywhere else in the world without even needing a court order.

Everybody forgot already US spying on Merkel's phone?

But that's okay, because America is not bound to any rules I guess. Disgusting foreign policy with a disgusting exceptionalism mentality.

Re: Supreme Court upholds TikTok ban, but Trump might offer lifeline

#173
post #86
post #21

Still have no good answer on why its bad for a company that is supposedly under Chineese influence to collect this kind of information on us, and adjust and tweak an 'algorith' for displaying content. But its perfectly fine for a US company to do it? Wouldn't the right solution be to protect the citizens from all threats, foreign and domestic?

> But its perfectly fine for a US company to do it? China blocks facebook/twitter/instagram/pinterest/gmail/wikipedia/twitch and even US newspapers. So clearly they don't think it's okay for a US-company to do it (and are at least an order magnitude stricter about it)...

FWIW facebook was blocked in 2009, after ETIM (East Turkistan Islamic Movement) (allegedly) used it to organise the July Urumqi riots, and facebook refused to follow Chinese law and cooperate with the police to identify the perpetrators.

Whatever you think of the law of the PRC, they applied it consistently, Facebook was blocked for doing something that would get any Chinese company shut down.

Tiktok is getting blocked in America for doing what American companies do.

Re: Supreme Court upholds TikTok ban, but Trump might offer lifeline

#174

I believe Biden says his admin won't enforce the ban, as they only have 1 day left in office after it goes into effect. Trump has signaled he doesn't support the ban, and wants tiktok under american ownership. The legislation allows the president to put a 90 day hold on the ban too. So my guess is that this isn't over yet.

Do you think Apple, Oracle and Google are going to thumb their noses at the law?

Trump initially championed the ban during his first term

Re: Supreme Court upholds TikTok ban, but Trump might offer lifeline

#175
post #21

Still have no good answer on why its bad for a company that is supposedly under Chineese influence to collect this kind of information on us, and adjust and tweak an 'algorith' for displaying content. But its perfectly fine for a US company to do it? Wouldn't the right solution be to protect the citizens from all threats, foreign and domestic?

I thought it was less about the data and more about the control China had on what Americans saw, and how that could influence Americans. If China could effectively influence the American populations opinions, how would that not be bad?

If the reality of things, the simple truth, is able to "influence" Americans does it really matter who brought that truth up?

Do you prefer Americans to be ignorant about certain topics, or to be informed even if that comes at the cost of reduced approval for the government?

Re: Supreme Court upholds TikTok ban, but Trump might offer lifeline

#176
post #98

An implementation detail that might be interesting is that the discussed method of the ban is to use the same ISP block that is used for torrent sites (and other websites). This may be a bit of relevance when talking about how banning a website get applied through the legal system.

trump finally got the (fire)wall he wanted

Re: Supreme Court upholds TikTok ban, but Trump might offer lifeline

#177
post #21

Still have no good answer on why its bad for a company that is supposedly under Chineese influence to collect this kind of information on us, and adjust and tweak an 'algorith' for displaying content. But its perfectly fine for a US company to do it? Wouldn't the right solution be to protect the citizens from all threats, foreign and domestic?

Because China is a rival geopolitical power and the US is... us. It's a national security concern. I get that there's a lot of conversation and debate to be had on the topic but the answer here is very straightforward and I don't understand why people are so obtuse about it.

I'm still not sure I understand the national security concerns around 17-year old nobodies publishing videos of themselves doing silly dances. Or the "metadata" those 17 year olds produce. Are people sharing nuclear secrets on TikTok or something (and not doing the same on US services)?

Re: Supreme Court upholds TikTok ban, but Trump might offer lifeline

#178

TikTok is perhaps the most impressively addictive social media app ever created. The algorithm used in the US was apparently banned in China for being too addictive. There's a certain historic symmetry with how opium was traditionally used in China, then Britain introduced stronger, more disruptive versions, forcing a stronger social reaction. Geopolitics aside, I think everyone is kind of aware that social media is…

I don't understand the argument here, Tik Tok would maximize their monetization in US but not in other markets?

I don't buy it.

Re: Supreme Court upholds TikTok ban, but Trump might offer lifeline

#179
post #21

Still have no good answer on why its bad for a company that is supposedly under Chineese influence to collect this kind of information on us, and adjust and tweak an 'algorith' for displaying content. But its perfectly fine for a US company to do it? Wouldn't the right solution be to protect the citizens from all threats, foreign and domestic?

[deleted]

Re: Supreme Court upholds TikTok ban, but Trump might offer lifeline

#180
post #21

Still have no good answer on why its bad for a company that is supposedly under Chineese influence to collect this kind of information on us, and adjust and tweak an 'algorith' for displaying content. But its perfectly fine for a US company to do it? Wouldn't the right solution be to protect the citizens from all threats, foreign and domestic?

1) You can not protect users from being influenced by the media they consume-- that is basically the very nature of the thing.

2) This is not about protecting users of the app, this is about preventing a foreign state from having direct influence on public opinion.

It is obvious to me why this is necessary. If you allow significant foreign influence on public opinion, then this can be leveraged. Just imagine Russia being in control of a lot of US media in 2022. Or 1940's Japan. That is a very serious problem, because it can easily lead to outcomes that are against the interests of ALL US citizens in the longer term...

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