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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

#51

Post by __jal »

CydeWeys wrote: post #23

I'll never understand why (a) Vine was shut down, and (b) So many Americans are eager to rush out and use a Chinese social network. I suspect (b) can be explained primarily through ignorance.

A huge swath of the consumer market in physical products is Chinese goods. Why would your average nontechnical, fairly apolitical, non-foreign policy or intelligence news following person draw a distinction?

They see a fun app, they play with it. If they're even aware of censorship issues or geopolitical power games, that seems very distant from some app that amuses them for a few minutes a day.

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

#52

Post by hokumguru »

influx wrote: post #45
president wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most people probably realize it. What we need is for the American CEOs, financial elite, members of government that have investments in China to invest in their own country rather than in a lop-sided trade economy that doesn't allow free flow of money back to the US.

This is an area where both the right and left can find agreement.

I certainly hope so, it seems everyone in our leadership nowadays is too busy squabbling rather than focus on actually important issues.

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

#53

Post by rygh »

dade_ wrote: post #35

TikTok is actually a great app. Content is very entertaining and it is actually easy to use. I still can't figure out Snapchat. Today it is just a way for me to burn 15 minutes, but I see plenty of potential and make the concerns of censorship and ownership valid concerns.

And jumping bytes is a great company yet they have no choice but to get political and enforce censorship that bans lgbt contents.

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

#54

Post by bamboozled »

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).

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.

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

#56

Post by ShteiLoups »

tbyehl wrote: post #42
paxys wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

16-24 yo (and even younger) American kids/youth being exposed to Chinese propoganda and censorship is most definitely a national security concern.

Yes, Americans should only be exposed to American Corporate-sanctioned propaganda.

Hey, at least americans can vote on that propoganda.

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

#57

Post by rchaud »

paxys wrote: post #21
bredren wrote: post #17

It was clear to me how threatened Facebook was by TikTok when I brought it up with an employee in June. They kept mentioning infinite scroll, and that everyone was supposed to be thinking about how to incorporate that into product. After zuck discussed TikTok directly recently, I’m not surprised google and fb lobbyists would press for this investigation. One question I have, is the real-time interests of millions of…

16-24 yo (and even younger) American kids/youth being exposed to Chinese propoganda and censorship is most definitely a national security concern.

Nothing is stopping Americans from placing their own propaganda via paid ads or pro-US videos. As long as you're not stupid and push obvious points re: HK, that will immediately come to the attention of censors, you can go far.

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

#58

Post by angott »

wruza wrote: post #33
jasonjayr wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>One question I have, is the real-time interests of millions of 16-24 yo Americans reported back to the Chinese government a national security concern? Perhaps not, but the influence of a nebulous "algorithm" controlling what comes up next certainly can reinforce a message or way of life that line up with China's cultural norms

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.

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

#59

Post by joshgachnang »

bamboozled wrote: post #54
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).

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.

Do you have an example? The only things I can think of are illegal (like child porn) which everyone should be able to agree should be banned.

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

#60

Post by bcrosby95 »

FussyZeus wrote: post #27
CydeWeys wrote: post #23

I'll never understand why (a) Vine was shut down, and (b) So many Americans are eager to rush out and use a Chinese social network. I suspect (b) can be explained primarily through ignorance.

The globe increasingly feels so connected as to make people not question where things like social networks reside. In the mind of average people, until they have a political axe to grind, the Nation is all but obsolete. The only time the idea has any sticking power is when people are concerned about jobs. Other than that, nobody seems to care all that much.

It's not about a "political axe", its about being adversely affected by the policies of that nation.

Unless other nations began to intrude on their daily life people don't care what those nations do so they may as well not exist. Part of why China has been in the minds of (some) Americans lately is its becoming obvious they are trying to apply their censorious nature to US citizens on US soil, sometimes using US companies.

And, yeah, I'm well aware that the US does similar things to other countries. And some people in other countries on this site complain about that too. It doesn't mean they're just grinding some political axe though.

Do you think people in Hong Kong and Taiwan feel like nations are "all but obsolete"? South/North Korea? Tibet? Crimea? This idea of nations being obsolete feels like a fairly privileged position.

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