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Government: We don’t like competition.
“TikTok is influencing you politically”
So you’ll shut down Fox News, right?
Facebook too. Don’t forget Cambridge Analytica
US government couldn’t give two shits if TikTok steals your data. They just don’t want a foreign adversary to.
Also, they don’t care about the data. They care about the influence.
I support blocking Facebook and X from the EU for the same reason.
Apparently, Meta has just taken part in a huge destabilizing propaganda campaign here in Brazil. The kind that criminal law has punishment for.
It will certainly take a while to gather all evidence and verify it, so I’m saving the popcorn for later. But I just ensured I have enough kernel for a US-sized portion…
Another one: Elon Musk is pushing the whole Grooming Gang propaganda on X to cause tensions in the UK. As if nobody cares about victims when the perpetrator happens to be brown. It’s absolute populist BS.
He is also saying that the parliament should be dissolved, and is throwing around more outrageous accusations: https://www.forbes.com/sites/tylerroush/2025/01/04/elon-musk-pushes-for-britains-king-charles-to-dissolve-parliament-as-lawmakers-say-tesla-ceo-is-misinformed/
We have people with obvious political agendas controlling the world’s largest social media platforms, and it’s not just the CCP.
When you said “pushing the … propaganda” I assumed you meant using algorithms to artificially amplify these messages.
But the whole article is just about Musk posting his opinions on X.
You were right the first time. Not to defend Musk’s populist tirade, but I was talking about how he and others in power are using these platforms to inorganically amplify propaganda.
I’m not a free speech absolutist and I do not believe libel should be allowed. But this is about more than that just one person defaming others.
with obvious political agendas
On the case of Brazil, I think it has economical reasons. Meta sells stuff that compete with the social infrastructure it was trying to destabilize.
I would really like to see some laws against media concentration. It’s not even important who the media is. Instead, we have some laws that are the opposite of that, so if we solve the Meta problem, something else is due to break shortly after.
But hey, it’s entertaining anyway.
It will certainly take a while to gather all evidence and verify it
So … if the evidence hasn’t been gathered yet what makes you think it’s happening?
They suddenly showing select videos more times than they have users on the country.
The evidence needed is to determine who exactly and why. The what is very clear.
They absolutely should. In fact I’d be surprised if they didn’t do something about it eventually.
I support blocking commercial, proprietary and centralized social media everywhere.
I don’t like to be that guy, however if we play with your idea, there are some issues you will need to consider.
Centralization If we ban centralization then IRC, Signal, Xenforo, vBulletin, you name it will be forbidden as well. There is a reason why we always see some degree of centralization. Federation is tricky to get right from a technical point of view. Even when you have federation, each unit in that “web” will usually have a centralized moderation team and administration.
Proprietary Sometimes, spam/abuse is fought with the help of obscurity. In other words, service providers will hide exactly how they detect spam to prevent spammers from adapting and bypass their technique. Even Signal does this. They have a small proprietary piece of code, specifically designed to fight spam/abuse. The rest of their code is open source as far as I know. Can you suggest a comparable alternative?
Commercial Do you mean that they at most should be non-profit? And if so, why?
If we ban centralization then IRC, Signal, Xenforo, vBulletin
Signal is not social media, IRC is an open protocol, isn’t it? I do not know about the rest.
Even when you have federation, each unit in that “web” will usually have a centralized moderation team and administration.
I do not have a problem with that. The problem with centralized social media is that users are locked in to using some specific app because all their friends are there, which makes it harder to switch. This gives monopolies like Facebook an unfair advantage.
Can you suggest a comparable alternative?
I dunno, how Lemmy does this?
Do you mean that they at most should be non-profit? And if so, why?
Yes I mean that. For-profit social media profits from increasing user engagement, even if that means through getting people addicted, intentionally not dealing with misinformation (because misinformation is usually more outrageous and gets people more engaged), data collection and other unethical practices, all because shareholders need the line to go up.
We can’t afford bread and they’re trying to ban the circus
This was the obvious progression
The real kick in the nuts is that we get to see that the average Chinese can afford groceries and has disposable income for entertainment, and just in general doesn’t have the insane monetary burdens we have here.
The average Chinese citizen doesn’t have much access to the internet.
According to this statista article at least 80% of their population has mobile phones with internet access as of 2023. So I’m not sure exactly what you’re talking about here.
Are you high or sth? The chinese are getting as much extorted as you do, the system of it just differs. Chona got a huge homelessness problem they try to hide from their own people (because officially homelessness was “eradicated” years ago according to propaganda). The worker extortion is brutal and child labour a big problem as well. However, you won’t see anything outspokenly crticial about those systemic problems im China on RedNote or sth., their deletion and suppression algorithms are extremely well tuned. Also they got stuff like neighborhood watch and other means of systemic social suppression who’ll be alerted of “problematic people” if you post (too much) criticism. Or of course police, in case you really annoy them or happen to be the wrong ethnicity.
Not high. Upvoted nonetheless because what you point out is a very important counterbalance in the conversation. It would be naive to believe there’s not some price paid for what looks like a more secure life.
Yes, china is doing horrible things behind the scenes. Uyghur genocide is beyond reprehensible, aggressive imperialist expansion posturing in the South China Sea, the Taiwan mess, wildly extreme censorship, the great firewall, crackdowns on dissent, intimidation and coercion of Chinese abroad under threat of harming their families in mainland china, corporate espionage, the list goes on.
But here’s the rub.
The cost of just existing here in the states is becoming simply unbelievable, literally. Chinese folks are asking us Americans on this new app if it’s true we need to pay thousands for an ambulance or work 2 jobs to simply afford to live. It’s so outlandish that these Chinese people thought it was their own government telling them made-up ‘America bad’ stories.
As you point out we pay a price for our lifestyle too, and the laundry list is just as long. Despite the evil things our government does, I’m wondering why we ended up with a system where you could become homeless from the financial shock of one ambulance ride, whereas the average Chinese doesn’t have to go live on a sidewalk in the same scenario.
So despite the roughly similar evil governments, why the disparity in daily affordable life?
If you’re at all open to critiquing new information and updating your worldview to accommodate, then you would probably be wondering similar questions as I am now.
I subscribe to anything you said, except obviously the last sentence. 😅 If there is new information I’m always open to it, as long as it doesn’t come from obviously bad sources. I’m just fed up with people simping for the picture the chinese propaganda paints as they grow tired of the US propaganda. It’s so stupid and unnecessary, and I saw your post as one of those. Apologies if it wasn’t meant that way.
Chinese people do suffer from economical hardship as well, it’s just badly documented and the problems are different but comparably awful.
You can both be right. The parent post is about perception and propaganda.
This is the most literate take on the issue that I’ve seen.
Actually, they clearly haven’t read anything about Divisions H and I of HR 815 or they would realize that WAS a broad privacy legislation to protect US Citizens.
Least glowing comment
YOUR data doesn’t matter. Information gained from mass analysis of data that is tied to govt workers and military personnel is a security concern and it is treated as such. Nobody cares about your particular data, on either side (well, maybe ad companies, but if you are a tiktoker, you are already fully compromised there).
On the up side for tiktok kids. The CCP will likely order trump to unblock it.
If our data didn’t matter, they wouldn’t be harvesting it, never mind making obscene amounts of money with it. If our data didn’t matter, there would not be a multibillion dollar industry based entirely upon it.
YOUR data DOES matter, if it didn’t, why would they go to such lengths to gather it in the first place?
Yeah … I said that. Your data can be used and sold, it just doesn’t have anything to do with a tiktok ban. They already have your ad data, especially if you are a tiktoker/social media user. The van stems from security concerns, it has nothing to do with the average user, no one cares about them.
What part of “China is a geopolitical adversary so maybe it’s fucking different” is so hard for paint chip eaters to understand?
Them being adversarial doesn’t really matter. The allies of today are the enemies of tomorrow and the converse, so the who shouldn’t matter. The problem is with anyone collecting data on your citizens because it can be sold, traded, stolen, or abused.
If it was about protecting people, a wide-spread countermeasure would be used instead of a pinpointed assault targeting a single app.
Haha NO!? We’re gonna ban it, and whatever platforms you move to, in a game of whackamole until you pick the “right one”, like facebook!
Good luck everybodyyyyyy (starts swinging mallet) /S but also that seems to be their mindset
Political interference, that’s what people need to fear from the platform. I’m sure if it was Russian I wouldn’t have to say it.
Hell, just look at the number of pro TikTok memes being shared right now, there’s something fishy happening.
Young people love the platform. Was it fishy when there were Luigi memes? Regardless of how much the state is involved with the app, it’s popular.
Oh look, I must be an agent for the CCP cause I’m suggesting there’s a legitimate reason for memes.
just look at the number of pro TikTok memes being shared right now, there’s something fishy happening.
If by “fishy” you mean “the ban is going into effect so people are expressing frustration”, sure.
I don’t think I see pro-TikTok memes, but rather “why stop at TikTok” memes
As far as I understand TikTok is used as the main example but it will apply to all similar Chinese (or just Bytedance owned?) platforms.
And their dickhead CEO is invited to the inauguration. Yeah, fishy.
Trump went from wanting it banned to not wanting it banned because it was working in his favor this time, which is… Political interference!
Crazy how hypocritical people are… X should be banned because Musk can interfere in politics with his algorithms, but TikTok doing the same thing on behalf of the Chinese government? No problem!
Musk’s X hurting America is just America hurting itself, deservedly. TikTok hurting America is the CCP hurting America, undeservedly.
You can see how an American Company operating rationally would want to limit negative socioeconomic outcomes, but a Chinese Dictatorship Military operation would want to maximize it?
His stacked ass SCOTUS all agreed on this. But let me get out my crystal ball… I predict they will change their minds too. Hmm
Honestly at this point I rather have China steal my data vs. The US government. I’d be more likely to see a negative impact from data collection from the US government rather than China. China can’t really influence my insurance rates. The US can.
“Actually, I want to own it”
Meanwhile there’s https://loops.video/ and you should share that like I’m doing with your friends that are hooked on tiktok.
Cuz, fuck, this banning our voice thing is getting old.
Pretty sure they’re getting the internet hug of death atm.
Lol. Very true. And on a weekend! Lol. With great pow…app comes a bunch of users.
If the catered ads weren’t so obvious that pretty much most social platforms are stealing your data, not sure what is.
Nothing is free. Especially a ‘free’ account. You are the product at that point.
I’m really not able to keep up with the hive on this. One minute- they hate TikTok, A day later, they defend TikTok?
The hive is (or at least was) a bit split. Many users seem to hate TikTok because they just dislike it for whatever reason (e.g., addictive short form videos), but others view this as a fascist move by the US or anti-China.
They aren’t defending TikTok so much as calling the bluff. The US govt doesn’t actually give a rats ass about privacy or data collection. Some relics in Congress were convinced its a national security threat and needs to be banned OR SOLD TO A US BASED BUYER (I’m personally thinking this is the Muskrat’s doing, but that’s all conspiracy) to preserve national security.
A massive, comprehensive data privacy law would’ve covered the TikTok base and any software by any other threat. Home run, Grand slam, easy win and easy points.
Of course it’s not going that way because it was never about national security.
OR SOLD TO A US BASED BUYER (I’m personally thinking this is the Muskrat’s doing, but that’s all conspiracy)
If true, Musk may have bought shares in companies that deal with data and wants to simply profit. I have had a work colleague who got rich buying stocks and is bit of a fan of Elon Musk. He admits that private data is basically the new gold but the masses is all too unaware or uncaring for it. So you might be on to something with this.
A massive, comprehensive data privacy law would’ve covered the TikTok base and any software by any other threat
That’s assuming the ban is motivated by privacy reasons, but i don’t think it is. It’s far more likely that it’s because the US has no control over the platform’s algorithm, which they fear is feeding Americans media and perspectives that are antithetical to their foreign policy objectives (Blinken and Romney have both stated as much).
A US buyer would be more friendly/responsive to US regulatory influence. That’s the only reason this isn’t a privacy bill instead of a ban or forced sale.
In other words, they (the US government) can’t influence who does or doesn’t see certain content, so they need it to sell to an “american” owner so that they can make sure they only see pro us propaganda.
I think Trump is going to try to work out a deal where TickTok gets to stay the way it is if the company publicly blames Democrats for all the noise.
