this post was submitted on 18 Sep 2023

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Virginia, other US states back Montana in TikTok ban -court filing (www.reuters.com)

submitted 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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Sept 18 (Reuters) - A group of 18 state attorneys general said on Monday they backed Montana's effort to ban Chinese-owned short video app TikTok, urging a U.S. judge to reject legal challenges ahead of the Jan. 1 effective date.

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[–] ink 12 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

Didn't US use to condemn countries when they get authoritarian and ban Facebook, whatsapp or Twitter during political unrest citing freedom of speech, communication is human rights or some bs. Now that Tiktok reigns, yanks can't wait to ban it citing ~~political unrest~~ cough cough national security concerns.

oh, how the table… hypocrites.

Also CCP bans any international apps from running in their country so fuck em too.

It will be fun to watch these lying propagandist assholes fight each other.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 2 years ago (3 children)

I'm trying to think of another example where a US government entity prevented a private US company (Apple or Google) from distributing software within the US.

[–] [email protected] 19 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Bytedance is not a US company.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 2 years ago (2 children)

Yes but the owners of the OS and app stores are, which is I believe the original commenter’s point. And the text of the bill is not “TikTok you shall pull your app”, it’s “Apple you shall disable the App Store listing”.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 years ago

Oh, I see. But not just downloads, it also prohibits operation. https://leg.mt.gov/bills/2023/billpdf/SB0419.pdf

But not only do they have an argument on first amendment grounds, given that the company and product are specifically named and targeted, I think this would be considered a bill of a attainder, and explicitly unconstitutional.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 years ago (1 children)

It seems more like “These substances are now illegal to sell, possess, or use.” Right or wrong, they made it stick for a very long time.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Data gets a lot closer to "speech" than a substance does. This will be interesting to watch, for sure.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 years ago

That it will.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 years ago (1 children)

The closest I can think of is Napster and LimeWire, but I'm not sure if those died because of government action, or just civil lawsuits.

Then again, as pointed out, TikTok is not from an American company, so that's irrelevant.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 2 years ago (2 children)

But I'm talking about Apple being banned from distributing or, and Apple is a US company.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (1 children)

If you're concerned about stores, we have plenty of regulations around certain types of content. For example, if something infringes copyright, it must be pulled. I think there's something in the law about porn as well. Some states disallow gambling apps.

All of those hit Apple and Google Play, as well as other app stores.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 2 years ago (1 children)

I hear you, but those are classes of apps, not specific apps. And none of those laws would appear to apply to TikTok.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (1 children)

Surely "sends data to a foreign adversarial government" is on the books somewhere.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Perhaps, but Chrome does the same every time you hit a Russian website.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 years ago

That's an entirely different thing though, and it's like saying the government should block the Play Store because you can use it to download TikTok. The Russian website example is more like the government requiring ISPs to block certain domains, or requiring DNS services to change their nameservers, and we already do that with DMCA takedowns.

[–] [email protected] -1 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Apple hasn't been banned from anything and they have nothing to do with this. What's your point?

[–] [email protected] 0 points 2 years ago

So they won't be banned from distributing TikTok in the app store?

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 years ago (1 children)

PGP back in the day.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 years ago

It was okay to distribute in the US, wasn't it?

[+] [email protected] 3 points 2 years ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (1 children)

[deleted]

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 years ago (1 children)

write your reps

Not useful. And I doubt they are ignorant of our existence.

[+] [email protected] -1 points 2 years ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (1 children)

[deleted]

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (1 children)

They're more likely to get re-elected by pleasing the ruling class than your average Joe. It's what got them there in the first place.

If you want to make real change, threaten the ruling class directly. Cut out the middleman.

[+] [email protected] 0 points 2 years ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (1 children)

[deleted]

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 years ago (1 children)

You live in the country with the most resilient system serving ruling class interests. There's so many levels to keep you occupied trying to penetrate, but you will never win this game if you play it like that.

It is quite rare for an election as major as a senator's not be won by someone backed by money interests. Even their opponents are usually backed by interests. The mere prospect of running requires funds that most people don't qualify for. Just check the wealth of the poorest senator.

But even if you manage to penetrate this, you've only won one seat. Is that enough to make meaningful change? I'm yet to see that in action.

But even if your party of choice wins the Senate. If you're anything older than a teen, you'll remember the "ahh, darn! We only have the house but not the Senate!". But when you win both, "ahh, we have Congress but not the president! This maniac just throws executive orders left and right! We're so powerless". But then you win the presidency and suddenly we all forgot about executive orders. Oh wait, you forgot about the supreme court! Guys we just have to wait until they die. Don't worry, it'll happen any minute now. Oh no don't die during trump! Should've died during Obama. Oh wait one of them did. Wait what?

Yeah if you want meaningful change, this ain't it.

[–] [email protected] -3 points 2 years ago

If only the Dems had a Super Majority in both houses, plus the President, Plus the Parlimentarian, then they would certainly stop being Capitalist and supporting their class-allies.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 years ago (1 children)

In March, republican lawmakers accused TikTok of serving harmful content and inflicting "~~emotional distress~~ liberalness" on young users.

Fixed

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 years ago

I could see why they want to ban it. There are a bunch of tiktokers who are somehow guessing their trades days after they make them. Like weeks before they are publicly disclosed within the arbitrary 30 day period. Kind of crazy.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 years ago

Idk if it's just my algorithm but I get fed a lot of videos about small time corruption. And even some interesting theories about congress critters trades, that end up being accurate weeks before they are disclosed. I can see why they want this shut down. I can also see why China is laughing. "Oh you wanted free press, and the first amendment... well look how easy we can make it for your citizens to call you out in real time"

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 years ago

This is the best summary I could come up with:

TikTok, which is owned by China's ByteDance, did not immediately respond to a request for comment Monday, and filed a suit in May seeking to block the first-of-its-kind U.S. state ban on several grounds, arguing it violates the First Amendment free speech rights of the company and users.

The states say TikTok, which is used by more than 150 million Americans, has faced growing calls from U.S. lawmakers for a nationwide ban over concerns about possible Chinese government influence.

Last month, Attorney General Austin Knudsen, a Republican, said the state legislature and governor "did the right thing in prohibiting TikTok from operating in Montana as long as it is under the control of a foreign adversary."

In March, lawmakers accused TikTok of serving harmful content and inflicting "emotional distress" on young users.

Former U.S. President Donald Trump in 2020 sought to bar new downloads of TikTok but a series of court decisions blocked the ban from taking effect.

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