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Bipartisan Legislation to Ban TikTok

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Re: Bipartisan Legislation to Ban TikTok

#301
post #253
post #174

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What is a "main information network?" Are websites ok? Podcasts?

TikTok has 138 million MAU (in the U.S.) and the average TikTok user spend 95 minutes per day in the app. I'm unaware of a podcast that has that type of reach. Source: https://wallaroomedia.com/blog/social-media/tiktok-statistic...

Joe Rogan's podcast probably comes close, with multiple three hour or more episodes each week, though he does take breaks, which TikTok does not.

Re: Bipartisan Legislation to Ban TikTok

#302
post #171

Technical and security issues aside, I wonder how the users are going to take it. My generation (1992) didn’t have a major cultural phenomenon being attacked in this way, though there was still the moral panic around things like social media and research chems. The closest comparison I can draw is the crackdown on raves which affected western Gen X youth, but TikTok is more pervasive and more heterogeneous as a form…

Snapchat, YouTube and Instagram already provide alternatives that are nearly identical in functionality.

If that was true, they wouldnt be getting their lunch eaten by tiktok.

Re: Bipartisan Legislation to Ban TikTok

#303

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Huh? How does banning tiktok make jobs? Are you assuming a US based company will spring up with a clone? You really believe that? Isn't it much more likely Meta will use it's power to gobble up any upstart to avoid the competition?

I mean Meta could argue that getting a bigger part of the cake would allow them to make more jobs

But Meta already has people employed now building their version of tiktok. How many more jobs would Meta need if there was an influx of users because of no tiktok? The recent round of layoffs implies they think they can do it with fewer and not more.

Just playing the tape all the way to the end.

Re: Bipartisan Legislation to Ban TikTok

#304

"TikTok is digital fentanyl that’s addicting Americans, collecting troves of their data, and censoring their news." Is the conclusion that all forms of digital fentanyl should be banned or just Chinese ones? Because the reality is there's nothing too exceptional about TikTok's underlying algorithms. Will lawmakers be willing enact legislation against companies marketing similar "digital fentanyl" but that are America…

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Re: Bipartisan Legislation to Ban TikTok

#305

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> As far as content goes, it’s pretty wholesome Content really depends on the user. It's a very tailored experience.

100%. If you are a wholesome person, it will be wholesome. If you are hateful, there's so much hate on tiktok.

You just described every big social media platform.

Re: Bipartisan Legislation to Ban TikTok

#306

Earlier quoted context omitted.

China isn't some monolithic automaton. It's a complex society with multi-faceted incongruities and contradictory rationalizations for conflicting piecemeal systems Just Like Every Other Society that has ever existed. It's 4 times the number of people as the US. Imagine having 200 states instead of 50. I mean heck, they have over 300 languages ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Languages_of_China ).

we’re talking about the government not the Chinese people here but nice bad faith response

Maybe I'm misreading things ... let me try again based on your initial comment:

> if you believe China is a dystopian state why would a Chinese tech product that isn't even allowed in it's international form within China not itself "dystopian"

^^ The classification here as "chinese" tech product is the first issue

> imo the most dystopian thing about TikTok is the fact that China intentionally exports a highly addictive product that they don't allow their own people to use

^^ second issue is "china intentionally exports"

At least I read this as if there's an assumption there's some centralized bureau of dictats speaking with one voice in orchestrating policy as opposed to an $18 trillion economy with 1.4 billion people consisting of 43 million companies and a parliamentary system with 3155 members representing 10 political parties including 480 independents.

Everything is actually a confusing complicated hot mess and I reject such attributions and framings.

That's not to say there aren't policies, of course there are. It's more to say that if you are not only describing but also attributing intentionality and goals to an international policy in a way that takes under say, 10 words, I'm going to be suspicious of the accuracy.

Re: Bipartisan Legislation to Ban TikTok

#307
post #174

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What is a "main information network?" Are websites ok? Podcasts?

I don't think you realize how widespread Tiktok usage is. I can reliably predict what Tiktok users will talk about in social events just by a few minutes of browsing that week's top.

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Re: Bipartisan Legislation to Ban TikTok

#308
post #111
post #7

Why not regulate how the data is used or stored, like the EU does, but ban? I'm really hoping this doesn't become a reality because if it does, we will end up with partitioned internet and stagnation. People often forget that the US companies are foreign entity for most of the worlds population and with the WikiLeaks revelations we know for a fact that the US government has access to the data of American tech compani…

This has nothing to do with user data. People are influenced by the content they see on social media. Allowing a foreign adversary to run the main information network for an entire generation of the population is not a wise move.

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Re: Bipartisan Legislation to Ban TikTok

#309

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Think about who is being restricted here, because it's not just TikTok. Why are you ok with the government dictating which apps you can and cannot install?

>Why are you ok with the government dictating which apps you can and cannot install? Well, whether you agree with this statement or not. If an adversarial government is basically controlling what information people see.. especially young impressionable people who might not know any better, isn't that potentially a problem that needs to be addressed? Sounds like the government should have a say when it's literally try…

Then pass a law that applies to all social media companies algorithms if it is so important to protect your citizens from whatever issue you see. So far, no one has been able to point to TikTok doing something horrible. I mean, we have more actual examples of malfeasance from basically every other social media company.

Re: Bipartisan Legislation to Ban TikTok

#310
post #174

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What is a "main information network?" Are websites ok? Podcasts?

I don't think you realize how widespread Tiktok usage is. I can reliably predict what Tiktok users will talk about in social events just by a few minutes of browsing that week's top.

What line has TikTok crossed, specifically? Is it just the content? Global reach? Data governance? User count?

I too can predict conversation topics based on what's trending in Twitter. But Twitter is now owned (in part) by investors representing foreign interests, including KSA [1]. Recent editorial changes at Twitter have amplified "unamerican" rhetoric [2]. Does Twitter cross the same lines as TikTok?

Any "solution" that bans TikTok would leave behind a far-reaching precedent, one that is completely ineffective at dealing with the core problem. Trying to stand up a virtual iron curtain won't sit well with an american userbase that's accustomed to choosing the content they want.

Also, if there's one thing you can do to make young people more captivated and curious about something - make it forbidden.

[1] https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/10/28/saudis-kingdom-hol...

[2] https://www.vice.com/en/article/n7zm9q/elon-musk-twitter-naz...

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