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US lawmakers tell Apple, Google to be ready to remove TikTok from stores Jan. 19

reuters.com

651–660 of 769 posts

Re: US lawmakers tell Apple, Google to be ready to remove TikTok from stores Jan. 19

#651

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a European I have to ask the very same questions about US apps and European interests. Even though I personally do not harbour strong suspicions towards the US, it's not a given that the US will always act favourably towards the EU, Europe as a whole, or any one particular EU country in the future. Especially in light of recent elections.

Europe should ban American social media companies. They'd be doing themselves a favor, and a favor to most Americans as well (who, shareholders excepted, do not personally benifit from these tech corps being so massive.)

I think every country should develop their own social media. It would be best if it was federated-like services that smaller countries could just run the plain open source version of.

Any democratic country that has a large portion of their population using american social media is essentially a modern US colony.

Re: US lawmakers tell Apple, Google to be ready to remove TikTok from stores Jan. 19

#652
post #651

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Europe should ban American social media companies. They'd be doing themselves a favor, and a favor to most Americans as well (who, shareholders excepted, do not personally benifit from these tech corps being so massive.)

I think every country should develop their own social media. It would be best if it was federated-like services that smaller countries could just run the plain open source version of. Any democratic country that has a large portion of their population using american social media is essentially a modern US colony.

> I think every country should develop their own social media.

There is Mastodon already, which is federated. EU already set up their own servers.

Re: US lawmakers tell Apple, Google to be ready to remove TikTok from stores Jan. 19

#653
post #264
post #142

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> This was a decision made by the US Congress. It is by definition not authoritarian. Clearly the US Congress represents the will of the majority...

[flagged]

I would recommend you take a peak outside your window and see what the USA government is doing to it's people and the peoples all around the world.

Re: US lawmakers tell Apple, Google to be ready to remove TikTok from stores Jan. 19

#654
post #171
post #142

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> This was a decision made by the US Congress. It is by definition not authoritarian. Clearly the US Congress represents the will of the majority...

The US Congress is not supposed to represent the will of the majority. It is supposed to represent "the will of the people," which is distinct, by design. The actual implementation might have imperfections but tries to reflect the "will of the people" as the framers interpreted it. Either way, there is a large spectrum between whatever it is and "authoritarian."

Thanks for clarifying, i understand my phrasing have hit a distinction in the american government bodies which I was not aware and willing to step on.

The essence of my sentence was to be ironinc about any government institution not really doing what is best for the people but what is best for buisness and power.

Re: US lawmakers tell Apple, Google to be ready to remove TikTok from stores Jan. 19

#655
post #580

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Secondly no, it's not illegal to spread misinformation, no matter the motive. The First Amendment absolutely guarantees that right. Again, does NOBODY know what the first amendment covers??? If you yell FIRE in a crowded theatre (misinformation) that is not covered by the 1st amendment[1]. Please stop talking confidently about something you don't understand. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schenck_v._United_State…

If you do understand First Amendment then you should also understand that foreign propaganda is protected speech, and is not treated as yelling fire in a crowded theater: https://firstamendment.mtsu.edu/article/lamont-v-postmaster-...

Correct, the mere act of spreading foreign propaganda, without more, is not illegal.

But spreading foreign propaganda is indeed illegal despite that precedent if one does it as an agent of a foreign government within the FARA legal definition (which is reasonably implied by being on their payroll) and does not register with the US government as a foreign agent, aside from certain exceptions.

That’s the scenario which started this subthread:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42430717

Re: US lawmakers tell Apple, Google to be ready to remove TikTok from stores Jan. 19

#656

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a European I have to ask the very same questions about US apps and European interests. Even though I personally do not harbour strong suspicions towards the US, it's not a given that the US will always act favourably towards the EU, Europe as a whole, or any one particular EU country in the future. Especially in light of recent elections.

Joe Biden cannot call up facebook and tell them to show everyone on Instagram ponies tomorrow. However, if Xi Jinping calls up Bytedance and tells them to show everyone ponies tomorrow, your tiktok feed will infact be all ponies tomorrow.

Via various incentives and regulation, they kind of can

Re: US lawmakers tell Apple, Google to be ready to remove TikTok from stores Jan. 19

#658
post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Free speech" is not like the free square in Bingo. You can't just use it whenever. Commerce is already regulated, speech is already regulated, there's no way around those things not being absolute. If you have a specific argument about the nuance of this situation, then make it.

"the Act, as construed and applied, is unconstitutional, since it imposes on the addressee an affirmative obligation which amounts to an unconstitutional limitation of his rights under the First Amendment." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lamont_v._Postmaster_General

That seems like a very different case since it imposed different rules depending on the content of the speech. The analogous situation to the tiktok ban would be shutting down the postal service, which would be surprising but presumably constitutional.

Re: US lawmakers tell Apple, Google to be ready to remove TikTok from stores Jan. 19

#659

I really hate how people are arguing that it should be banned because of the content being inappropriate in one way or another when the content you see is based on how you interact with the app. We don't all see the same stuff. So yeah China may have more educational content but that's probably just becuase the people there are interested in that stuff. When I travel to the mountains, I get more outdoorsy/hiking vide…

It is important for context that the above poster seems to be of the opinion that government rarely if ever can be useful for citizens. So when they say "government shouldn't get involved", it doesn't seem to be a statement of their opinion on social media or tiktok, it is about government in general.

Re: US lawmakers tell Apple, Google to be ready to remove TikTok from stores Jan. 19

#660
post #174

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

Aren't most TikTok videos viewed by americans made by americans?

"I only believe in flat earthers from the US of A. Wouldn't want to be manipulated by any foreign governments".

There are so many useful idiots, they were never going to manipulate you directly, there's too many people.

I can't even tell how much of this comment section is astroturfed / bot driven anymore.

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