TikTok Ban

[Jazzy]

The House passed a bill Wednesday morning that would force the Chinese owners of TikTok to sell the app or risk having it banned in the U.S. The bill passed with 352 lawmakers voting in support, but this does not mean the app goes away instantly.

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This is a genuine question but does it seem wholly inappropriate for the US to pass a US law in order to try and strongarm a foreign company into selling its ownership stake in one of the biggest apps on the market? Is the US trying to force a play where TikTok gets sold to an American company so they can reap the benefits of it?

 

[Lamb]

Apps can listen in, has access to your photos, when you allow those things, but you often NEED to allow those in order for the app to function. So those are high security risks when near certain people of importance, which is why the government banned it for their workers. Except, I guess Biden didn't get the memo since he's putting out TikTok videos for his campaign. Talk about hypocrisy.

 

[tango]

Apps can listen in, has access to your photos, when you allow those things, but you often NEED to allow those in order for the app to function. So those are high security risks when near certain people of importance, which is why the government banned it for their workers. Except, I guess Biden didn't get the memo since he's putting out TikTok videos for his campaign. Talk about hypocrisy.

A large part of the problem is that so many people simply don't take responsibility for their own lives. People complain that apps steal their data but when asked for permission to have the data they just click "agree" and move on.

People get so used to being presented with a huge list of terms and conditions that they just click whatever button makes the legalese go away so they can get on with having their fun. Then they complain about the terms they agreed to without even reading them, as if they were somehow forced into doing something.

If you're into data harvesting it's a numbers game, like so much else. You put out endless requests for permissions and you only need a few people to agree before you've got a big enough picture of what you're looking for. And if you do manage to land a high value target along the way so much the better.

 

[Lamb]

One thing the news mentioned is that since it's Chinese owned, they can manipulate the videos that people see about the news and politics. Young minds are seeing one side of things...the Chinese viewpoint and that doesn't even have to be truthful!

 

[tango]

One thing the news mentioned is that since it's Chinese owned, they can manipulate the videos that people see about the news and politics. Young minds are seeing one side of things...the Chinese viewpoint and that doesn't even have to be truthful!

It's probably no less truthful than a woke American corporation manipulating algorithms to control what people see about the news and politics.

 

[Lamb]

It's probably no less truthful than a woke American corporation manipulating algorithms to control what people see about the news and politics.

I think it's all shady. Reading how people reply on forums and on social media shows me that they've been easily swayed.

 

[Forgiven1]

While I don't like it that we are suppressing speech, I do think in this case it is probably warranted. It was only a matter of time that somewhere on the web that this would come up. I don't think it is for the money though, I think that it comes out of real concerns of how the Chinese uses what it hears and sees.

 

[tango]

I think it's all shady. Reading how people reply on forums and on social media shows me that they've been easily swayed.

I'm sure there are more than a few people out there who get news from their preferred social media site and nowhere else. The question is whether getting information exclusively from TikTok is so much worse than getting information exclusively from Facebook or Reddit or whatever else.

If you're not getting information from a variety of sources the chances are you're getting a very biased feed. The only question is whether the bias is overt.

 

[tango]

While I don't like it that we are suppressing speech, I do think in this case it is probably warranted. It was only a matter of time that somewhere on the web that this would come up. I don't think it is for the money though, I think that it comes out of real concerns of how the Chinese uses what it hears and sees.

If the Chinese can gather information from the people I guess those at the top who might make a lot of money selling it to them will have to find another way to make a buck.

 

[Lamb]

I'm sure there are more than a few people out there who get news from their preferred social media site and nowhere else. The question is whether getting information exclusively from TikTok is so much worse than getting information exclusively from Facebook or Reddit or whatever else.

If you're not getting information from a variety of sources the chances are you're getting a very biased feed. The only question is whether the bias is overt.

The problem comes from the fact that the majority of users on TikTok happen to be kids. They aren't going to look to any other news sites or sources for information and they're the ones who will be easy to manipulate, even when it might seem benign at first.

 

[tango]

The problem comes from the fact that the majority of users on TikTok happen to be kids. They aren't going to look to any other news sites or sources for information and they're the ones who will be easy to manipulate, even when it might seem benign at first.

The question remains whether it makes any practical difference being spoon-fed garbage by TikTok or spoon-fed garbage by Facebook.

Another thing that's curious is why it's such a bad thing for the Chinese to have TikTok when it's apparently OK for them to own so many companies that can harvest data from so many people, and it's apparently OK for them to buy up farmland and other real estate.

 

[Lamb]

The question remains whether it makes any practical difference being spoon-fed garbage by TikTok or spoon-fed garbage by Facebook.

Another thing that's curious is why it's such a bad thing for the Chinese to have TikTok when it's apparently OK for them to own so many companies that can harvest data from so many people, and it's apparently OK for them to buy up farmland and other real estate.

Good concerns all around!