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Senate Bill to Ban TikTok

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611–620 of 741 posts

Re: Senate Bill to Ban TikTok

#611
post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The real concerns, in order of importance, are: 1. This is a way of getting memes to the masses that we (the US political establishment) can't fully control. 2. Meta and others are getting their asses kicked revenue-wise by Tik Tok. Like any business, they'd use anything they could to fight back. Turns out they can use China fear mongering, so they are. 3. (Added) Believe it or not, there's nationalistic pride here.…

Actual #1. TikTok is banned in China, but in their similar app (Douyin) their kids are limited to 40min a day and restricted from a lot of the digital opium drip that US kids are receiving in infinite quantities. Sounds like it'd only be fair to follow suit if China itself is limiting the poisoning of their own citizens: https://www.cnn.com/videos/business/2023/03/24/douyin-tiktok...

Actual #2. Bytedance's other App NeiHan Duanzi (com.ss.iphone.essay.Joke) was banned by CCP with little explaination

Re: Senate Bill to Ban TikTok

#612

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They can amend it before it gets passed into law. And this bill without question needs to be passed into law in some form.

150 million Americans and 5 million small businesses will probably disagree with your assertion.

I use tiktok and am on the fence on if it should be banned, leaning yes. Many other users agree.

Re: Senate Bill to Ban TikTok

#613
post #601

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes they were a huge number of election deniers for the 2016 election and a vast amount of irresponsible rheotoric around it that was very dangerous to democracy. Don't try to gaslight on this one. A lot of uneducated morons and delusional conspiracy theorists thought "Trump colluded with Putin to hack the election", fueled by dangerous and irresponsible rhetoric from certain anti-democratic election denier politicia…

How many election deniers?

A large majority of Democrat voters fell for these baseless and dangerous election-denial conspiracy theories. Why do you ask?

https://twitter.com/peterjhasson/status/1064259048902668289

Re: Senate Bill to Ban TikTok

#614

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They can bitch and whine as much as they like, letting people blow off steam is part of the process by which democracy keeps the peace. Aside from various small and short riots, there has been very little political violence in America since the 1860s.

Attempting to overturn the results of the election as the votes were being counted in the Capitol is quite an escalation, though. Sure, it's not up to 1860s standards, but it's still unprecedented in modern times.

While true, the law has also come down harshly on the participants. It should have a chilling effect for other would-be rioters. It was bad, I agree. But perhaps the silver lining is that its occurrence may help set a firm line on what behaviors are acceptable.

Re: Senate Bill to Ban TikTok

#616
To me it's pretty simple: Social media companies are media companies (it's right there in the name!) and everyone everywhere has always been wary of foreign ownership of their prominent media, and have regulated it accordingly. The only weird thing here is that it has taken this long.

Re: Senate Bill to Ban TikTok

#617

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think this attitude is wrong. A strong democracy doesn't need to fight "fake news" legally and doesn't need their own propaganda op in foreign states like Radio Free Asia etc. If you are banning foreign media in your own country, you are doing the same as China in the end. Why not establish a great firewall?

> A strong democracy doesn't need to fight "fake news" legally and doesn't need their own propaganda your argument to me sounded like : > Brave people don't fear heights, you are brave and hence you should jump from empire state building. And you don't need protection, remember you are brave.

Since you are straw manning the argument, brave people should be protected from their foolishness by banning rock climbing and base jumping. How does that sound?

Re: Senate Bill to Ban TikTok

#618

Earlier quoted context omitted.

30% is about par for the course when it comes to contemporary controversial POTUS elections [1][2]. It seems to ebb and flow: each side takes their turn being the aggrieved party and then alternate next go around (2000, 2016, 2020). Consecutive cycles of animosity on one side could be worrying. The tapestry of dysfunctional patchwork that make up the American Constitutional Republic, while tattered and frayed before,…

> Consecutive cycles of animosity on one side could be worrying. Is that not what we're experiencing now? It's hard to 'both sides' this issue with a straight face, when the biggest election denier in America is a former president and current presidential candidate. When was the last time that happened?

For better or worse, I've found reading (deep dives) US history adequately anesthetizes one to modern day shenanigans.

But you raise a good point in that Al Gore was far more gracious when aggrieved. He comported himself with the norms established in the last 60 years during the modern mass media era.

Re: Senate Bill to Ban TikTok

#619

Maybe someone will scroll all the way down to this comment. Probably not. For half a decade, I have lived outside of the US, and I've watched as it has fallen to shit in slow motion. I make a decent chunk of income in USD and this terrifies me... but this. This move saddens me. There are only so many hours that congress has to make real decisions ... and this, this is what they spent their time on? Talking about how…

I think you are a bit naive and underestimate china’s will to influence US any chance they get. TikTok is not a toy . I repeat . TikTok is not a toy. It is a super app that gets the most attention and time from 150 million Americans. And unlike rich people in US who are powerful, in China, bitedance ( TikTok) CEO is like a dog to the CCP leaders. They asked you eat shit , you will eat it twice to please them. This is…

A couple of years ago I would have doubted this. I'm not American so my stance in general world politics is mostly neutral. But seeing what happened with China and Jack Ma (the richest/most powerful business owner in China) I'm sure they can bend the knee of any Chinese company.

Not that the US spying agencies cant do the same with US companies. They surely do. But it's a strong argument for banning technology coming from an adversarial government.

Re: Senate Bill to Ban TikTok

#620
Can’t say I like this at all.

Banning TikTok based on alleged "Chinese influence" sets a dangerous precedent for censorship, jeopardizing freedom of expression and access to global platforms. Instead, focus on enforcing data privacy regulations, strengthening cybersecurity, and promoting transparency to protect user interests without infringing on individual rights.

Open dialogue and collaboration are more productive than outright bans.

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