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TikTok goes dark in the US

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Re: TikTok goes dark in the US

#631

Post by bsza »

jchook wrote: post #257

Unreal. Land of Freedom bans Social Media app that runs on US servers, on its own terms, with censorship teams staffed by dozens of ex-US State officials[1]. Amazing that Congress will see bipartisan action on this issue before any of the other much more important issues. It absolutely destroys criticisms of China banning Facebook, etc. 1. https://www.mintpressnews.com/tiktok-chinese-trojan-horse-ru...

> It absolutely destroys criticisms of China banning Facebook, etc.

You mean around 10-20% of the open internet? [1][2] That is what you graciously summarize as "Facebook, etc."?

No, it does not destroy criticisms of that. China is #172 out of 180 countries on the World Press Freedom Index [3]. It was #179 two years ago. Just because the US "bans" [sic!] one app (that, by the way, is also blocked in China [4]), that does not make them equal.

To give you an idea of how bad it is: I went through the Pudong Airport two years ago. I had to scan my passport and my face to connect to the WiFi. After I did, I couldn't call my mother, because literally every communication channel I could think of was blocked. I couldn't even connect to a VPN. I might as well have been on a mountain in the middle of nothing.

[1] https://en.greatfire.org/analyzer

[2] https://cyber.harvard.edu/filtering/china/

[3] https://rsf.org/en/index

[4] https://edition.cnn.com/2023/03/24/tech/tiktok-douyin-byteda...

Re: TikTok goes dark in the US

#632

Post by gyoridavid »

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.

On the same logic, youtube, facebook, google, etc. should not be owned by the parent company in other countries than the US because of the influence they have on ppls opinions (on policital elections and whatnot)

Re: TikTok goes dark in the US

#633

Post by postalrat »

che_shirecat wrote: post #143
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…

how can the US government just ban an app? has this ever happened before in US history? what gives the government the right to tell US citizens what apps they can and can't use? this is some North Korea tier behavior you expect to see from authoritarian governments panicking when they lose control over the narrative

It's happened to gambling and poker services. Some file sharing services. A couple services to anonymize crypto. And I'm sure plenty of others I'm not thinking of right now.

Re: TikTok goes dark in the US

#634

Post by ty6853 »

scarab92 wrote: post #599
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…

> If only we knew what happened in that classified briefing Most likely, the rationale will be similar to Huawei and Kaspersky. Not based on actual historical misbehaviour, but rather the amount of power you’re allowing their respective governments to have over US citizens / infrastructure. There are very few “from first principals” thinkers in the world, especially amongst TikTok’s younger audience. Most people take…

In the long run it's better that both China and US have deep tentacles wrapped around each other. The more culture and dependencies merge and intertwine the more cooperation looks attractive over war.

Re: TikTok goes dark in the US

#635

Post by rlenrba »

Maritime powers want to control choke points, flow of goods, flow of information, flow of gas and natural resources.

In this particular case I don't care. But it fits in with the Nordstream sabotage, the attempts to control Arctic sea routes via Greenland, the attempted control of the Panama canal and the attempts in the Caspian sea region via Georgia, Armenia and Ukraine.

Re: TikTok goes dark in the US

#636

Post by tsukikage »

HL33tibCe7 wrote: post #583
psiconaut wrote: post #480

There's an interesting cognitive bias in the western media that tends to define freedom of the press (and freedom of expression) as exactly what is perceived as freedom in this side of the iron curtain. Libgen domains are "seized", and tiktok "goes dark", but of course other countries "censor" porn or news outlets. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Press_Freedom_Index

Censoring is different to banning though. Banning in this case is the correct word to use, censoring isn’t. You can censor things on a platform, you can’t censor a platform entirely - that is a ban.

...and yet when discussing ways to circumvent the Great Firewall of China, the term used is "Chinese censorship", never "Chinese bans".

This sounds like one of those irregular verb conjugations English is so full of: I ban; you go dark; he/she/it censors.

Re: TikTok goes dark in the US

#637

Post by itfossil »

Anybody who thinks TikTok is coming back anytime soon is a sucker. They aren't selling and the law only allows for extensions if they are in the process of selling. Trump may be able to violate the law with impunity thanks to the morons on our Supreme Court but nobody else involved with the TikTok ban (Google, Apple, Oracle) has that luxury.

Re: TikTok goes dark in the US

#638

Post by infecto »

DiogenesKynikos wrote: post #483

The United States has become a parody of itself. Six years ago, The Onion mocked the idea of TikTok being dangerous to the US as a paranoid fantasy.[0] Now, that position is bipartisan consensus. China hysteria appears to have no limits. 0. https://theonion.com/xi-whiz-1844838344/

To think China is not an adversary to the West is simply foolish. Either via blatant cyberattacks, corporate espionage or nefarious trade moves, China is not a friend.

Re: TikTok goes dark in the US

#639

Post by alex_smart »

scarab92 wrote: post #599
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…

> If only we knew what happened in that classified briefing Most likely, the rationale will be similar to Huawei and Kaspersky. Not based on actual historical misbehaviour, but rather the amount of power you’re allowing their respective governments to have over US citizens / infrastructure. There are very few “from first principals” thinkers in the world, especially amongst TikTok’s younger audience. Most people take…

> China has long banned US social media for likely the same reason.

Sure, but most other countries haven't. Perhaps they should learn from these developments and start considering their options.

Re: TikTok goes dark in the US

#640

Post by ikt »

qingcharles wrote: post #402
firefoxd wrote: post #294

This morning I felt the urge to download TikTok for the first time. I did, but I didn't bother creating an account. There is a passage in the book Life of Pi, where Pi's family is gathered and ready to leave India for Canada. And his mother does something out of the ordinary: > The day before our departure she pointed at a cigarette wallah and earnestly asked, "Should we get a pack or two?" > Father replied, "They ha…

> Do I use TikTok? No, I've always advocated against it. This, to me, is a weird stance. On what grounds did you advocate against it? I just had to create a new account tonight after the ban[0] to keep using it. When you first start TikTok you might be presented with a wave of seemingly crap, bizarre or boring videos, but after several minutes of liking and watching the good stuff the algorithm very quickly starts se…

> On what grounds did you advocate against it?

It is incredibly addictive inducing drug like state:

> You’ll just be in this pleasurable dopamine state, carried away. It’s almost hypnotic, you’ll keep watching and watching. - Dr. Julie Albright

> You keep scrolling, she says, because sometimes you see something you like, and sometimes you don’t. And that differentiation — very similar to a slot machine in Vegas — is key.

I detest slot machines, so many lives wasted away, and I feel like we already spend too much time on computers to the detriment of both ourselves and society, let alone giving the CCP a hand to manipulate people on top of everything else

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