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Supreme Court upholds TikTok ban, but Trump might offer lifeline

cnbc.com

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

#471

Post by xeromal »

tmnvdb wrote: post #84
ddoolin wrote: post #5

FWIW, this has driven many users to RedNote, which is even more Chinese in every way, regardless of whether it's even the same kind of platform. I doubt it would ever be anywhere near the same numbers as TikTok (assuming ByteDance didn't sell off) but it does illustrate the trouble with this i.e. cat-and-mouse game. Edited for word choice.

This is very misleading "news" and it doesn't illustrate anything, a bunch of users installed rednote out of protest, but this is a fully chinese app with 100% chinese content and 99% of users will move to youtube, instagram, etc Fake news.

Yeah, it's the same with the "millions" of users moving to bluesky or reddit moving to lemmy. A bunch of people go there and eventually come back.

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

#472

Post by abeppu »

maeil wrote: post #417

Many people here upset about this. Here's what recently happened in Romania, all through TikTok. Turns out China (or here, Russia) infiltrated the country, waged an enormous disinformation campaign and succeeded by getting their chosen candidate elected. Without TikTok, this would not have happened. I have talked about this with Romanians who concur. In the real world, there are two responses to this. 1. "Tough luck,…

> Turns out China (or here, Russia) infiltrated the country, waged an enormous disinformation campaign and succeeded by getting their chosen candidate elected.

But in the US, Russia also has waged enormous disinformation campaigns on US-based social media networks. Taking the problem of foreign (dis|mis)information, election interference, etc seriously requires that we do more than ban one network based on the ownership of that company. After TikTok gets shut down, Chinese influence operations can still use Twitter/X, Meta, Reddit etc. We need better tools and regulations to make these campaigns visible stoppable in real-time, rather than just banning one network while leaving up multiple other vulnerable networks. This ban is political theater, where the US can act like it's doing something while not having to address the harder parts of the problem.

> A. They seem to rather abandon the app rather than receive tens of billions by selling it

I think this is weak evidence of them being a mostly political tool. Valuations based on their actual use are well above what anyone has actually offered to pay. And disentangling US operations from the rest of TikTok would not be straight-forward; do you merely cleave it in two? Given network effects, would cutting off the US component to sell it make both the US and non-US portions less valuable?

https://www.cnbc.com/2025/01/15/tiktoks-us-unit-could-be-wor...

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

#474

Post by fidotron »

next_xibalba wrote: post #404
legitster wrote: post #119

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…

From a geopolitical perspective, this issue about 3 items: 1) Influence- TikTok gives the CCP significant direct influence over the views of Americans. 2) Data- TikTok collects massive amounts of data on 100s of millions of Americans. Opens many avenues for spying, extortion of influence, etc. 3) Reciprocity- Foreign tech companies are essentially banned from operating in China. Much like with other industries, China…

> 1) Influence- TikTok gives the CCP significant direct influence over the views of Americans

More to the point: it removes the ability of the existing American establishment to monopolise the viewpoints presented to Americans.

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

#475

Post by ehsankia »

croes wrote: post #362
legitster wrote: post #119

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…

It’s not about the algorithm but about the owner of the platform. The same algorithm in US possession isn’t a problem.

Indeed, it's all protectionism. They want the money to go to American companies instead. Why do you think the EU, which is generally far more aggressive about these things, has not yet banned TikTok? It's also the same reason Huawei are thriving elsewhere but banned in the US. It's all just trying to protect their big companies with deep pockets.

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

#476

Post by mplanchard »

gregopet wrote: post #67

I'm sure the other countries are watching this and considering what the US is doing with their data in its apps.

And they’re right to. In the news today: https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2025/01/european-union-o...

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

#477

Post by reverendsteveii »

If what TikTok is doing is dangerous when TikTok does it why is it safe when everyone else does it?

This is theft, pure and simple. The government-industrial complex is trying to steal this app. The private side wants to make money and the public side wants yet another way to control narratives on social media much the way President Musk does on twitter.

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

#478

Post by mplanchard »

sunaookami wrote: post #94
gregopet wrote: post #67

I'm sure the other countries are watching this and considering what the US is doing with their data in its apps.

Sadly they won't, that's just one more reason for e.g. the EU to censor more social media on the grounds that one of their """allies""" does it too.

Oh look: https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2025/01/european-union-o...

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

#479

Post by 65 »

jdlyga wrote: post #22

People don't fully understand what is at risk of being lost here. Science, history, and technology tutorials, practical life skills like cooking, budgeting, mental health, chronic illness, trauma recovery, creative expression, small businesses, home repair, friend groups, communities, and many people who make their living on TikTok. Losing TikTok means losing a massive ecosystem and all of its connections, knowledge,…

All of these points apply to YouTube, which has arguably higher quality content on all of those things.

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

#480

Post by the_clarence »

legitster wrote: post #119

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…

Why are people upvoting this.
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