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Exclusive: ByteDance prefers TikTok shutdown in US if legal options fail, sources say
(www.reuters.com)
this post was submitted on 26 Apr 2024
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What does everyone think about the TikTok ban?
Personally I think it's absurd. What happened to freedom of speech? Freedom of association? Free market capitalism?
If an American citizen wants to use a Chinese platform, why don't they have the right to?
I think the data collection stuff is a red herring. Real reason is that war is coming and they're preparing the online information space so they can more easily manipulate it. Sort of how they did a test run with covid. Banning misinformation and such.
They don't have such a friendly relationship with TikTok as they do with Google and Facebook, for example. Behind the scenes, the feds work with them to amplify or suppress certain types of speech.
If the sale doesn't go through, I don't see how this will eliminate whatever little bit of credibility the federal government has among the younger generations. 18~25 or so
Ehhh I was hopeful that it would lead to more EU style laws over users data and privacy in the US, then I stopped and thought for a minute and realized it wouldn't happen
It's not about data. It's about broadcast content curation (i.e. the TikTok algorithm and how it might be used to change US policy by presenting a very pro-China narrative).
Citizens of the United States have a right to free speech and curation of speech within the United States. Foreign governments do not have this right and having foreign governments directly control the dissemination of information poses a real and active risk (https://networkcontagion.us/wp-content/uploads/A-Tik-Tok-ing-Timebomb_12.21.23.pdf).
This is a principle that's been applied to traditional broadcast media for decades. It just hasn't applied to the Internet.
Data privacy laws would be great and we should be worried about how data is being used but, writing good data privacy laws wouldn't resolve the major issue here.