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Biden signs TikTok bill into law, starting clock for ByteDance to divest

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Re: Biden signs TikTok bill into law, starting clock for ByteDance to divest

#721

Post by eBombzor »

symlinkk wrote: post #718
danielhep wrote: post #542

The way I see this is that democracy is extremely susceptible to tools that can change public opinion en masse. This of course applies to Western social media as much as TikTok, and I'd love to see regulation around all social media algorithms to ensure they're unbiased. I see this as a good start to counter a real threat, which is China's ability to influence US elections through TikTok.

You’re saying you don’t believe in freedom of speech.

You are free to post whatever you want on a different platform. Banning TikTok and its algorithm has nothing to do with free speech. It's funny this always gets brought up, like what is TikTok allowing you to say that you can't say on FB, YT, etc?

Re: Biden signs TikTok bill into law, starting clock for ByteDance to divest

#722

Post by PM_me_your_math »

whatasaas wrote: post #719

If you told me Facebook directed some AI chatbots here to discuss how great this is, I'd believe you. It seems the initial comments are positive, followed by a lot of arguing. It's usually pointless debates, like whether it's a ban. Yes, it is effectively a ban, similar to imposing a million-dollar tax per gun, or required to be age 85, which essentially bans something protected by an amendment. Then there are those…

[dead]

Re: Biden signs TikTok bill into law, starting clock for ByteDance to divest

#723

Post by intrasight »

brfox wrote: post #171
returningfory2 wrote: post #38

The work "ban" is in scare quotes for a reason. The law doesn't ban TikTok. Rather, it bans TikTok from having Chinese owners. If the law stands, the end result will likely be that TikTok will be sold to US owners, rather than TikTok going away. It's surprising to me that this this pretty significant distinction has been glossed over both in media reporting and in general comments here on HN. To be clear, I'm not sup…

I've seen articles saying that it would be hard to find any large enough investors to buy it who also don't cause a monopoly. Can ByteDance spin off TikTok to a separate company which would have an IPO and go public and in the process no longer have Chinese owners?

IPOs usually involve selling only a small fraction of outstanding shares. Aramco sold less that 2% of it's shares.

Re: Biden signs TikTok bill into law, starting clock for ByteDance to divest

#724

Post by budududuroiu »

whatasaas wrote: post #719

If you told me Facebook directed some AI chatbots here to discuss how great this is, I'd believe you. It seems the initial comments are positive, followed by a lot of arguing. It's usually pointless debates, like whether it's a ban. Yes, it is effectively a ban, similar to imposing a million-dollar tax per gun, or required to be age 85, which essentially bans something protected by an amendment. Then there are those…

It’s not about you and your kids’ usage, it’s about the general population. Let’s not be naive, TikTok is the 2020s version of “Radio Free X”, a state-backed propaganda tool where anyone can run targeted ads with pinpoint geo accuracy, and cause division and social unrest. And unlike Facebook or YouTube, you can’t hold a company owned by a near-peer geopolitical adversary liable in the US.

Re: Biden signs TikTok bill into law, starting clock for ByteDance to divest

#725

Post by intrasight »

ok123456 wrote: post #475
mhardcastle wrote: post #411

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For what it's worth, "play money" betting site Manifold is currently at a 69% chance of sale versus 31% of shutting down. https://manifold.markets/mint/conditional-on-the-tiktok-ban-...

What about no sale yet they continue to operate because the ban is not enforceable either legally or technically?

Plug pulling is easy technically. I think plug pulling legally is also easy. Bytedance just doesn't have a strong defense.

Re: Biden signs TikTok bill into law, starting clock for ByteDance to divest

#726

Post by ajross »

whatasaas wrote: post #719

If you told me Facebook directed some AI chatbots here to discuss how great this is, I'd believe you. It seems the initial comments are positive, followed by a lot of arguing. It's usually pointless debates, like whether it's a ban. Yes, it is effectively a ban, similar to imposing a million-dollar tax per gun, or required to be age 85, which essentially bans something protected by an amendment. Then there are those…

> If you told me Facebook directed some AI chatbots here to discuss how great this is, I'd believe you.

Relevant to context: whatasaas is an account with 10 karma and 9 total comments that has been mostly idle for its 14 month existence. Many of the trench fighters in the threads here are names I recognize.

Re: Biden signs TikTok bill into law, starting clock for ByteDance to divest

#727

Post by budududuroiu »

SuperHeavy256 wrote: post #608
intellix wrote: post #64

if you've been to China, you'll know that they ban all western products: facebook, google, etc etc and replaced them with their own variants. If they want to run around free-range without any restriction with their own products then they should respond by loosening restrictions in their own country. This is an absolute no-brainer. If you want Tik Tok in the US, lower your middle finger. Am I missing something?

Yes, you are missing something. Because you're seeing tiktok as a product, not as a community of millions of people. There are tens of thousands of small family-owned businesses that are only able to survive because of Tiktok. For a lot of the younger crowd, Tiktok is part of social culture. Cutting out a part of someone's life like that is not a decision that should be taken lightly at all. Peace.

There’s tens of thousands of families that depend on income from meth production or trading. Meth is part of the social culture for a significant subset of people.

Re: Biden signs TikTok bill into law, starting clock for ByteDance to divest

#728

Post by intrasight »

christkv wrote: post #397
returningfory2 wrote: post #38

The work "ban" is in scare quotes for a reason. The law doesn't ban TikTok. Rather, it bans TikTok from having Chinese owners. If the law stands, the end result will likely be that TikTok will be sold to US owners, rather than TikTok going away. It's surprising to me that this this pretty significant distinction has been glossed over both in media reporting and in general comments here on HN. To be clear, I'm not sup…

There is another possibility. TikTok exits the us market.

That's been widely discussed. But it's basically the same end result - for users.

Re: Biden signs TikTok bill into law, starting clock for ByteDance to divest

#729

Post by spiderice »

eBombzor wrote: post #721
symlinkk wrote: post #718

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You’re saying you don’t believe in freedom of speech.

You are free to post whatever you want on a different platform. Banning TikTok and its algorithm has nothing to do with free speech. It's funny this always gets brought up, like what is TikTok allowing you to say that you can't say on FB, YT, etc?

"The government isn't allowed to ban speech, but they can ban the tools used to speak". Pretty scary argument.

Re: Biden signs TikTok bill into law, starting clock for ByteDance to divest

#730

Post by Golden_Wind123 »

budududuroiu wrote: post #724
whatasaas wrote: post #719

If you told me Facebook directed some AI chatbots here to discuss how great this is, I'd believe you. It seems the initial comments are positive, followed by a lot of arguing. It's usually pointless debates, like whether it's a ban. Yes, it is effectively a ban, similar to imposing a million-dollar tax per gun, or required to be age 85, which essentially bans something protected by an amendment. Then there are those…

It’s not about you and your kids’ usage, it’s about the general population. Let’s not be naive, TikTok is the 2020s version of “Radio Free X”, a state-backed propaganda tool where anyone can run targeted ads with pinpoint geo accuracy, and cause division and social unrest. And unlike Facebook or YouTube, you can’t hold a company owned by a near-peer geopolitical adversary liable in the US.

At this point Tiktok is getting more regulatory action against it than Facebook has....and Facebook's lax moderation spread the wildfire of genocide in Myanmar.
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