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TikTok goes dark in the US

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Re: TikTok goes dark in the US

#491

Post by roca »

Dalewyn wrote: post #332
jandrewrogers wrote: post #308

A point I think most people don’t understand is that the government interest in TikTok has little to do with exploiting user data per se, a lot of other companies do that. The issue is that TikTok is somewhat unique in being aggressively weaponized in currently very active “grey zone” conflicts. This has been an open secret in national security circles but the average person on the street has no idea what a grey zone…

>The issue is that TikTok is somewhat unique in being aggressively weaponized in currently very active “grey zone” conflicts. That has been happening since time immemorial. What is actually the issue is that for the first time ever in the post-WW2 Pax Americana era, media is being weaponized by a powerful non-American state (China). America does through Facebook, Mysterious Twitter X, Reddit, CNN, Fox News, PBS, et a…

The editorial lines of Fox News are completely different to CNN and PBS. Different subreddits are completely different. The idea that they're all part of some conspiracy run by the US government is very strange.

Re: TikTok goes dark in the US

#492

Post by Razengan »

I hope all other countries ban/block Facebook, Twitter and Microsoft social apps, and throw in Discord as well.

Then, when the civilians are tired of this bullshit and the dust settles, we emerge with truly decentralized social networks.

Re: TikTok goes dark in the US

#493

Post by psiconaut »

jimkleiber wrote: post #466
FilipeMaia wrote: post #394

The Communications Act of 1934 limits foreign ownership of many communication technologies such as TV. TikTok has easily more influence than most TV channels so it does not seem strange to limit its foreign ownership. If the purchase of US steel by a Japanese company threatens national security, surely the ownership of TikTok is also one.

I'm surprised no one replied to your post but maybe that's because it shuts down most arguments. Most, if not all, states in a nation-state world have laws that allow them to ban the imports of foreign goods. Maybe at some point we'll get a global government to resolve inter-national conflict but until then, we have nation-states dividing humanity to protect "their" humans.

Without wanting to enter into ideological debate too much, it seems a contradiction to invoke such rules when precisely the country we're talking about has boosted their GDP by selling products that capitalized on the effective minimization of borders in the information age.

What I mean is: maybe it's not about protecting "their" humans (from what, exactly?), but protecting "their" corporations. Which is a very different goal.

Re: TikTok goes dark in the US

#495

Post by pknerd »

From CBSNews:

> U.S. officials have repeatedly warned that TikTok threatens national security because the Chinese government could use it as a vehicle to spy on Americans or covertly influence the U.S. public by amplifying or suppressing certain content.

In other words, US officials are scared that China is going to do what the USA has been doing with American social media apps in various countries

Re: TikTok goes dark in the US

#496

Post by 9dev »

t-3 wrote: post #487
hunglee2 wrote: post #440

Bottom line is: it is reasonable for governments to exercise control over the information environment their citizens experience, especially when social media has such potential to sow chaos and instability. Look at how the US internet fuelled the fires of the Arab Spring / HK protests / Jan 6th / Any number of colour revolutions in Europe. Even today, we see X being used as a platform to encourage protests against go…

> it is reasonable for governments to exercise control over the information environment their citizens experience It's reasonable for governments that don't entertain the notion that their citizens have freedoms of association, speech, etc. For countries where those concepts are legally enshrined in the country's own founding documents, no, it's not. Part of living in a democracy is having the responsibility to infor…

Yet democracy was created in a time without the ability to influence millions of people, in ways that exploit the wiring of our brains, in mere seconds, at once. We cannot pretend that people will act as sovereign entities with the nation's best interests in mind, when they're not making fully informed decisions, but misinformation and propaganda instead.

Giving an enemy a direct medium to feed information to your constituents at will is just a bad move, and no amount of free speech will change that.

Re: TikTok goes dark in the US

#497

Post by tomjen3 »

beepbopboopp wrote: post #485
AirMax98 wrote: post #98

It's a shame that it's come to this. I feel that all arguments that TikTok is unhealthy or spyware and bad for our general public are valid, but the same arguments also apply to Instagram/Twitter/Whatever. Rather than have some sort of further regulation for what data any application can collect and present to Americans, we've just brought the hammer down on the millions of people that use this application for their…

Please be serious. Any suggestion that TikTok poses no real threat to U.S. interests is staggeringly naive. Imagine if CBS, NBC, FOX, and ABC were all owned and operated by the government of America’s greatest adversary—that’s essentially what we’re dealing with. Meanwhile, Chinese citizens are explicitly barred from accessing TikTok in China, and American social media companies are shut out of China’s market altoget…

In that case, what exactly would happen? Specifically, go into details.

Here's what would happen: Nothing. People already think America is a terrible country to live in. Sure, certain interest groups would be preferred, probably Palestine over Israel. Maybe something instead of Saudi Arabia. But for the average American? Why should they care?

Re: TikTok goes dark in the US

#498

Post by squarefoot »

daemoens wrote: post #231

The app was shutdown a couple of hours ago in the US and this was the message all TikTok users saw when they opened the app.[1] The same guy who pushed for a ban massively last year, is going to save the app despite the security concerns he and most of our government said they had. If only we knew what happened in that classified briefing that made them vote together across party lines. [1] https://a57.foxnews.com/st…

It will return, and very soon. 100% sure. They just need to turn it into something they can control through a local "broker" while maintaining some compatibility with the platform; 170 million users willing to be indoctrinated by government propaganda are hard to ignore.

Re: TikTok goes dark in the US

#499

Post by axegon_ »

Historically the US has been always behind the curve when it comes to personal online privacy and security threats compared to Europe(and it's not like we are doing a good job at all, Europe is pretty shit as well), but here, today, I am utterly jealous of the US. Let's hope the EU commission gets their shit together and follows soon.

Re: TikTok goes dark in the US

#500

Post by hunglee2 »

t-3 wrote: post #487
hunglee2 wrote: post #440

Bottom line is: it is reasonable for governments to exercise control over the information environment their citizens experience, especially when social media has such potential to sow chaos and instability. Look at how the US internet fuelled the fires of the Arab Spring / HK protests / Jan 6th / Any number of colour revolutions in Europe. Even today, we see X being used as a platform to encourage protests against go…

> it is reasonable for governments to exercise control over the information environment their citizens experience It's reasonable for governments that don't entertain the notion that their citizens have freedoms of association, speech, etc. For countries where those concepts are legally enshrined in the country's own founding documents, no, it's not. Part of living in a democracy is having the responsibility to infor…

it's over for this form democracy. How can it survive when foreign powers can influence elections with one update of an algorithm? A document written 200 years ago does not protect against the communication media we have today. I wish it were different, but we do not have the luxury of abstraction I am afraid
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