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U.S. opens a national security review of TikTok’s acquisition of Musical.ly

reuters.com

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Re: U.S. opens a national security review of TikTok’s acquisition of Musical.ly

#251

Post by ng12 »

morpheuskafka wrote: post #89

Shouldn't this issue be addressed by the free market rather than by the government getting involved? If there is evidence that the app censors content to serve CCP propaganda, then consumers can make the choice not to use it.

The market is no longer free when China is involved. They'll gobble American market share (and use that market share to further their political goals) while completely blocking out American companies from the Chinese market.

Nobody would care if TikTok were Taiwanese or South Korean.

Re: U.S. opens a national security review of TikTok’s acquisition of Musical.ly

#252

Post by root_axis »

kccqzy wrote: post #232
root_axis wrote: post #229

Earlier quoted context omitted.

American private companies aren't forced to censor these things by the government, they are leveraging their own freedom to operate their business with respect to their own prerogatives.

And when these private companies become large enough they become the de-facto public forum.

Why? So what?

Re: U.S. opens a national security review of TikTok’s acquisition of Musical.ly

#253

Post by throwaway2048 »

LudwigNagasena wrote: post #205
chadmeister wrote: post #165

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Great point! Now I we don't have to worry about it. Move along everyone, nothing to see here!

I don’t see the parent comment suggesting that you don’t have to worry about it.

Then what exactly is the purpose of the comment? It's plainly being used as justification and deflection, like all whataboutery.

Re: U.S. opens a national security review of TikTok’s acquisition of Musical.ly

#254

Post by angott »

outuiorew wrote: post #240
angott wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If that non-US culture advocates that democracy is a threat to society, or that political re-education camps are not an issue, I would say that yes, we need to keep that out.

How exactly would you show such a complex topic in these 10 second music skits?

It would take them very little to pivot from music skits to a wider variety of videos including news like Facebook does, for instance.

Re: U.S. opens a national security review of TikTok’s acquisition of Musical.ly

#255

Post by ahbyb »

mgraczyk wrote: post #176
Merrill wrote: post #75

Musical.ly was started by entrepreneurs in Shanghai. Although it may have had US and Japanese investors, I don't think it was an American company. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musical.ly >"It’s the first company to be headquartered in China, designed in China, but popular in the US," said Greylock investor Josh Elman. "Finally we’re seeing talented people who live in that ecosystem in that world and actually transce…

I've heard this myth that musical.ly was founded in China before, but it's hard to believe if you look at some basic facts. One cofounder worked full time at SAP in SF bay area for several years before and after musical.ly was founded. The other says on his LinkedIn that he was working in Santa Monica for several years on either side of the founding. They lived, worked, and founded the company in CA.

Alex Zhu and Luyu Yang don't sound very Californian to me.

Re: U.S. opens a national security review of TikTok’s acquisition of Musical.ly

#256

Post by kccqzy »

root_axis wrote: post #252
kccqzy wrote: post #232

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And when these private companies become large enough they become the de-facto public forum.

Why? So what?

> So what?

The eighteenth-century ideal of free speech in a public forum has now become de-facto mediated by private companies acting in their own interest. Some may believe in free speech more rigorously than others (say Reddit, as compared to Facebook). The fact that the government cannot censor speech matters less and less nowadays, given how much speech now passes through private companies' control.

Re: U.S. opens a national security review of TikTok’s acquisition of Musical.ly

#257

Post by saturdaysaint »

ryanmarsh wrote: post #79

The censorship argument against TikTok seems odd given that Trump supporters are a prominent voice on the platform (I'm a huge TikTok user). Wouldn't its Chinese masters want to silence support for him as well? Why haven't they? To be clear, I don't like the idea of foreign state controlled major social platforms opaque to US oversight. I'm commenting specifically on the argument that TikTok silences Hong Kong suppor…

Autocratic states around the world are quietly thrilled to see an isolationist, flailing wannabe tyrant in the White House.

Re: U.S. opens a national security review of TikTok’s acquisition of Musical.ly

#258

Post by yorwba »

CharlesColeman wrote: post #187
quaquaqua1 wrote: post #169

I am an American-born man of Western European descent. My girlfriend is a Chinese passport holder here on H1B. I am an anarchist. I absolutely do not understand why there is so much hate for Chinese people, Chinese companies, or the Chinese government. Literally everything has flaws, and Western Europe and USA have plenty of them. If you are not willing to say "China does xyz but actually also my country does somethi…

> I absolutely do not understand why there is so much hate for Chinese people, Chinese companies, or the Chinese government. > please do not act as if your statements about Chinese nationals I think it's misleading to bring up the Chinese people in this way: the "hate," if it can even be called that, is for the Chinese government and the CCP . The real or imagined influence of the CCP over Chinese companies is causin…

> the "hate," if it can even be called that, is for the Chinese government and the CCP.

You may only hate the government, but you should be aware that many of those who seem to be on your side criticising the CPC do in fact hate everything Chinese. They think that not only the government, but all Chinese people are untrustworthy; that all Chinese companies are mere fronts for the government that should not be allowed to operate abroad; that Chinese people should be banned from Twitter/Facebook/Wikipedia/GitHub because they're brainwashed anyway and their viewpoints therefore invalid; and that their livelihoods don't matter because they stole American jobs.

I don't think a majority thinks like that, but these viewpoints are certainly present on HN. (Not as strong in this thread, but enough to be noticable in general.) So when someone complains about hate for China, don't think they mean your opinions, but be aware that the complaint is quite justified.

Re: U.S. opens a national security review of TikTok’s acquisition of Musical.ly

#259

Post by semiotagonal »

sjg007 wrote: post #222
semiotagonal wrote: post #160

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As if the helicopter pilot isn't gonna just kick the guy off and get his own friends and family to the bunker instead. EDIT: Not to mention whoever built the bunker knows where it is. "Ownership" isn't going to be a real thing in the circumstances where a bunker is necessary.

The helicopter guy probably doesn't know the code to get in the bunker or it's biometric etc...

If it's biometric that's the only possible use of the bunker owner. Nevertheless, once he opens the door, there's no reason to let him in.

Re: U.S. opens a national security review of TikTok’s acquisition of Musical.ly

#260

Post by abduhl »

radcon wrote: post #227
nullc wrote: post #207

So HN changed the headline to remove TikTok which is a name I reconized and replaced it with "ByteDance" and "Musical.ly", which I've never heard of before. It was originally displayed on HN the same as it is in the article. From the article, I know that the new headline is more precise. But it's much less informative, I wouldn't have clicked the article under this name.

They also edited a headline for a #1 ranked story about Blizzard and the Hong Kong issue, removing Hong Kong from the headline entirely. HN sort of reminds me of China -- a dictatorship with zero transparency and a penchant for manipulation. Edit: Can't forget the spineless bootlickers who are hopelessly devoted to the state! You know you've struck a nerve when the best 'reply' they can offer is a silent downvote.

The phrase spineless bootlicker is such an internet citizen phrase.

Outrage culture signaling with respect to language is always so fascinating.

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