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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

#331

Post by sinkelfink »

root_axis wrote: post #327
sinkelfink wrote: post #307

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In a corporatist system of government, corporate censorship is state censorship. When there's no meaningful space between corporate power and government power, it doesn't make much difference whether the guy silencing your dissent is Mark Zuckerberg or William Barr. America most definitely has such a system. And when independent candidates run for office and can't get their message out for being shadow banned, and th…

I reject the idea that ownership of one of the most popular websites in the world is comparable in power to the threat of force that underpins the legal authority of the most powerful military in the world. I think that assertion is extreme and that you need to present some strong evidence to explain why popular websites are comparable in power to the justice department.

I didn't say they were comparable in power. That's an argument I didn't make. I said the result is the same.

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

#332

Post by frequentnapper »

TheMinorityGuy wrote: post #197
nknealk wrote: post #19

I highly recommend folks listen to recent episodes of Ben Thompson’s exponent podcast where he discusses TikTok and its influence in the USA. He makes the point that US consumers become subject to Chinese censorship policies when using the platform while China outright bans or heavily restricts American companies from operating (eg google search, Facebook).

People need to be more skeptical about governments (both murican and chinese) and have more faith in fellow human beings. Why is it that US government gets it panties wet at the thought of Tiktok having influence in USA but somehow is proud of he fact that Google or Facebook are global companies ? What is that Tiktok would do to american that Google or Facebook won't do to Indians ? Google and Facebook not being in C…

On one hand you're saying that Xenophobia and divergence from free market principles will make USA lose its edge, but at the same time you are saying China, which is a lot more xenophobic and less adherent to free market principles, will have an advantage...

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

#333

Post by anewaccountaday »

sjg007 wrote: post #215

Time for some savvy US entrepreneurs to spin up a TikTok alternative..

would anyone use it though? Isn't this the same as launching a instagram clone a couple of years ago. It's not a challenge to build but your a clone and presumably don't have the clout to get teens to even see it let alone use it.

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

#334

Post by dang »

rshnotsecure wrote: post #328
dang wrote: post #296

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That insinuation is so obscure that I can't even guess what you're insinuating. It's a small hosting company with good support. It's a nice fit with the spirit of this community. I have no idea what alternate names they have.

There copyright page hasn’t been updated since 2003...

Like I said, it's a nice fit with the spirit of this community.

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

#335

Post by dang »

nullc wrote: post #319
dang wrote: post #293

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We changed the title because the actual story, as stated in the first paragraph, is distant enough from the article title as to make that title misleading. "U.S. opens national security investigation into TikTok" connotes something very different from reviewing a specific acquisition. Actually Reuters is usually a lot more careful than that. As for whether the headline says TikTok or ByteDance, the only thing I care…

Maybe "U.S. to review National Security of ByteDance (TikTok) acquiring Musical.ly."? I don't envy your work. :) FWIW, I didn't suspect any foul play... the ByteDance is more accurate but also totally opaque.

I think the language is too awkward there, and the meaning not super clear either. But of course it's all a matter of interpretation.

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

#336

Post by codedokode »

> They said they were concerned ... whether China censors content seen by U.S. users. They also suggested TikTok could be targeted by foreign influence campaigns.

That reminds me of Soviet Union. Government choosing what kind of propaganda citizens should watch.

> He cited questions about why TikTok had “only had a few videos of the Hong Kong protests that have been dominating international headlines for months.”

Does politburo^W democratic government has a right to decide that a privately owned app must show Honkong protest videos? If yes, then what is the minimum quota of Honkong protest videos the app needs to meet? Should other apps, like dating or chess apps, show Honkong protest videos too?

> The company has said U.S. user data is stored in the United States

They should not. The data are better protected from such US senators if stored in China.

> Any platform owned by a company in China which collects massive amounts of data on Americans is a potential serious threat to our country

And what about US companies collecting data on foreign citizens?

> Chinese company may be censoring politically sensitive content

Some might call it moderation.

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

#337

Post by codedokode »

angott wrote: post #58
wruza wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Iow, the presence of non-US cultures on a feed can harm US children?

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.

What about freedom of speech? Or it doesn't apply to Chinese mobile apps?

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

#338

Post by root_axis »

sinkelfink wrote: post #331
root_axis wrote: post #327

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I reject the idea that ownership of one of the most popular websites in the world is comparable in power to the threat of force that underpins the legal authority of the most powerful military in the world. I think that assertion is extreme and that you need to present some strong evidence to explain why popular websites are comparable in power to the justice department.

I didn't say they were comparable in power. That's an argument I didn't make. I said the result is the same.

The result is not the same since government censorship is enforced through violence whereas corporate censorship is not enforced except within the confines of private property owned by the corporation.

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

#339

Post by dang »

sinkelfink wrote: post #330
asveikau wrote: post #247

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

[flagged]

We've banned this account for using HN primarily for ideological battle. That breaks the site rules. Regardless of what you're battling for or against, using HN this way destroys the curiosity that the site exists for.

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

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

#340

Post by codedokode »

spectramax wrote: post #61
bamboozled wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What’s the point here though? America et al also don’t like certain things being published on social media and try stop it from existing on those platforms too.

I can post on Facebook that I disagree with president Trump and he is a liar, try doing the same in China. (Please don't take my comment as a suggestion about President Trump, just trying to make a point).

I am from Russia (sorry, not China) and I am sure that nothing bad happens to me if I write that Trump is a liar (although I don't think anything bad of him).

Also, we are allowed to post photos with breasts (and much more) on our social network Vkontakte.

Now try to acquire a popular social media app in USA.

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