TikTok goes dark in the US • Hacker News Board

Re: TikTok goes dark in the US

#541

Post by teknologist » Sun, Jan 19, 2025, 11:35 AM UTC

squarefoot wrote: post #498

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.

It won't be anywhere near as popular as it was. The average user has the app "TikTok" and that's as far as they will ever go to get access.

Re: TikTok goes dark in the US

#542

Post by TMWNN » Sun, Jan 19, 2025, 11:35 AM UTC

junto wrote: post #514

pknerd wrote: post #495

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

This ^^ And if the U.S. does ban TikTok then it sets a precedent that other countries can ban U.S. and Chinese social media apps in the same manner. Europe for example.

That precedent has always existed. The US banning TikTok changed nothing from a legal standpoint.

Re: TikTok goes dark in the US

#543

Post by sylens » Sun, Jan 19, 2025, 11:35 AM UTC

While I have no particular love for Tiktok, I hope this serves as an educational moment for younger generations about putting all of your trust in apps and app store gatekeepers instead of the open web.

Re: TikTok goes dark in the US

#544

Post by Dylan1312 » Sun, Jan 19, 2025, 11:36 AM UTC

pseingatl wrote: post #522

[flagged]

Freedom, except from narcissistic conspiracy theorists spreading misinformation about serious illnesses (and their strange obsession with horse wormers) that results in your grandparents dying.

Re: TikTok goes dark in the US

#545

Post by aqme28 » Sun, Jan 19, 2025, 11:36 AM UTC

wilg wrote: post #148

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…

None of those arguments are the salient one, which is that a geopolitical adversary has control over a major influence vector on US public opinion. They could simply have divested.

Twitter is owned by a South African who is making overt attempts to control our government and our public opinion.

Re: TikTok goes dark in the US

#546

Post by Dalewyn » Sun, Jan 19, 2025, 11:37 AM UTC

roca wrote: post #491

Dalewyn wrote: post #332

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>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.

The goal is to make everyone wear American blue jeans and listen to American pop music, the details are irrelevant.

TikTok serves to make everyone wear Chinese blue jeans and listen to Chinese pop music, and America does not like that.

Putting it another way: America can dish it out but they can't take it.

Re: TikTok goes dark in the US

#547

Post by amanaplanacanal » Sun, Jan 19, 2025, 11:41 AM UTC

nikanj wrote: post #354

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…

TikTok is somewhat unique in presenting a real, non-us-based competitor to FB/Instagram. A bit of lobbying to block your competitor is a deft move on Mark’s part

Also a competitor to Google and X.

Re: TikTok goes dark in the US

#548

Post by p2detar » Sun, Jan 19, 2025, 11:41 AM UTC

pbiggar wrote: post #527

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 "aggressively weaponized in currently very active grey zone conflicts" sounds very very scary! Do you actually mean that young Americans are using it to teach each other about the US-enabled Israeli occupation of Palestine?

A guy in Romania nobody knew existed almost became a president thanks to TikTok [0] last December. Almost every right-wing party in Europe has a huge presence in TikTok, from the Balkans to Western Europe. I guess that’s what they mean.

I’m sorry, but not everything on this world is Israel/Palestine.

0 - https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cm2v13nz202o.amp

Re: TikTok goes dark in the US

#549

Post by gonzo41 » Sun, Jan 19, 2025, 11:45 AM UTC

t-3 wrote: post #407

gonzo41 wrote: post #360

This is a massive self own by the US estalishment. They are just damaging their own trust but not releasing the full and classified reasoning behind this.

Given all the very partisan flip-flopping on TikTok, I'm guessing there's not much to the "full and classified reasoning" and the real reason is more like "damn kids don't read my twitface posts, instead they call me names on a Chinese app, China CHina CHIHIANANANADASARtGHHGLE" and "My opponent has a lot of traction on TikTok, let's shut it down".

One way to think about social media is like a weapon. For the history of social media the US consumer was using a weapon that the US government had a way of exercising control over because Facebook, IG etc all existed as product of America. Tiktok was an outside challenger and threatened American power. Hence they took action to see it destroyed.

Re: TikTok goes dark in the US

#550

Post by x3n0ph3n3 » Sun, Jan 19, 2025, 11:45 AM UTC

junto wrote: post #514

pknerd wrote: post #495

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

This ^^ And if the U.S. does ban TikTok then it sets a precedent that other countries can ban U.S. and Chinese social media apps in the same manner. Europe for example.

China _already_ bans U.S. social media.