TikTok Could Face US Ban Unless Chinese Owners Sell Stake

[sw1tcher]

Also isn’t Meta and YouTube banned and/or restricted in China? I don’t see the big reason for outcry over the US wanting to do the same to a Chinese social media company.

Do we want to be like China or should we aim to be better and hold ourselves to a higher standard by showing them (and the world) how banning/censoring things is not a solution?

 

[Obioban]

Zero chance the Bytedance sells their stake in TikTok. TikTok will be fine without its western userbase.

TikTok is also banned in China, so... won't have that user base, either

 

[bookofxero]

Why are they focused so much on this one app? Especially when you have whole computer companies that are partially owned by the Chinese government (like Lenovo). Much of our electronic devices are made inside of China. Many of the components of...well, everything... are also made there. But it's TikTok that's the focus?

This one app is, last I remember hearing, scooping up vast amounts of information in near real-time in a way that could jeopardize secure facilities and legitimate government activity. Remember when the fitness tracker was basically giving away base locations and even patrol details?

To put another angle on it: there are already very stringent guidelines on what computers can be used, what components they come with, where they can be used, etc. As far as I can remember, last I heard Lenovo machines were still banned from official government use thanks to their rootkit shenanigans.

 

[bookofxero]

Thank god. I was terrified what they were going to do with them knowing I love cat videos. Can you imagine if the government found out I like cats?! The horror!

They do not care about you or your browsing habits - they care about newly-enlisted soldiers and people working in critical functions where their location and other data could pose substantial security risks, or who might be targeted so that their motion sensor can be used to catch them typing something they think is innocuous (“loose lips sink ships”).

 

[bookofxero]

now try to imagine china demanding facebook to sell instagram because its US-based
lol

You meaning prohibiting the app outright? They do that with tons of apps. In order to operate in the US, a business has to follow certain rules. Those rules are a lot stricter when your business is owned and operated by foreign interests.

 

[bookofxero]

Why have they then banned Facebook? Try to show a Chinese person pictures of what happened at Tiananmen Square back in 1989. They either refuse to recognize it or simply don’t know what it’s about. The CPC and Xi Jinping is doing a lot to remain in power. China is surely not innocent and running a peaceful democracy with human rights and all.

But - and I know it’s classic “whatabouterism” - if Russia or China were flying drones 100 km from US airspace they would be shut down. I think that was proven less than a month ago.

I’m all in for more peaceful talk between superpowers and less blame game because no one is innocent here and US is certainly pushing it to the limit with drones and destabilizing countries just because they didn’t like whatever government has been elected. The US “interest sphere” goes way beyond what other superpowers have.

By “100km” and “last month”, I think you are misunderstanding the difference between “100km” and “directly violating airspace”.

 

[bookofxero]

This is one way to perform a hostile takeover. Imagine China demanding US to sell a big stake of Apple or they will ban Apple products in China.

Except that is not what is happening or being asked, but good use of the false equivalency fallacy.

 

[bookofxero]

Given the economic contributions of those two, I think that would be called shooting yourself in the foot if you’re China.

Two false equivalency fouls for your team within a few posts - sheesh!

ETA: fixed a silly typo.

 

[Unsupported]

TikTok: UK ministers banned from using Chinese-owned app on government phones​

British government ministers have been banned from using Chinese-owned social media app TikTok on their work phones and devices on security grounds.

The government fears sensitive data held on official phones could be accessed by the Chinese government.
Cabinet Minister Oliver Dowden said the ban was a "precautionary" move but would come into effect immediately.

TikTok has strongly denied allegations that it hands users' data to the Chinese government.
Theo Bertram, the app's vice-president of government relations and public policy in Europe, told the BBC it believed the decision was based on "more on geopolitics than anything else".

"We asked to be judged not on the fears that people have, but on the facts," he added.

Mr Dowden said he would not advise the public against using TikTok, but they should always "consider each social media platform's data policies before downloading and using them".

[...]

 

[Unsupported]

Two false equivalency fowls for your team within a few posts - sheesh!

I think you mean fouls, not "fowls", ie; 🦃 🐓 🦆

😉

 

[GeoStructural]

Why are they focused so much on this one app? Especially when you have whole computer companies that are partially owned by the Chinese government (like Lenovo). Much of our electronic devices are made inside of China. Many of the components of...well, everything... are also made there. But it's TikTok that's the focus?

Unlike device manufacturing which the US cannot compete with China, in this they can… that’s why they focus on TikTok. The app is really eating the competition.

 

[collin_]

I've always wondered why Western countries allow China to play by completely different rules.

I'm not saying I disagree that TikTok should be banned but "China does [x] so why doesn't the US do it, too???" is... quite the sentiment.

I feel like we should generally not be copying the actions of an authoritarian dictatorship.

 

[DMG35]

Yeah.... but that orange administration didn't capture a spy balloon either. And there has been a lot of escalating factors that are data/fact driven .... the orange administration has none of that going on. China has also been busted attempting to spy on other countries in the past year. Response based on evidence is 1000% different.

Lol please. This was being suggested well before the spy balloon was ever a thing. And you think the spy balloon was some lightbulb moment where the Govt said "Oh the Chinese want to spy on us?" Give me a break.

 

[DMG35]

A broken clock is right twice a day.

I don't think many people were in opposition the previous administration's outlook on this issue.

Wrong:

Trump’s TikTok worries are grounded in xenophobia and fear | Opinion

The president’s proposal to ban TikTok looks very much like childish retribution with a dash of racism.

www.inquirer.com

Is This The Real Reason Why Trump Wants To Ban TikTok?

The president and his advisors say TikTok is a national security threat. But maybe the ban is really about Trump's hurt feelings over his ruined rally in Tulsa.

www.forbes.com

Trump's TikTok Drama Is a Distraction

As the White House zeroes in on a single app, some experts say more pressing issues are going by the wayside.

www.wired.com

Racism, McCarthyism and Trump’s attack on TikTok - Global Times

www.globaltimes.cn

I could go on and on.

 

[quietstormSD]

TikTok is 1/1 following the recipe for behavioral addiction which is already having a detrimental impact on the predominantly developing brains that are using the app.

Yes, many apps and digital platforms exploit these vulnerabilities in the human brain/sensory system. But TikTok has taken it to an extreme.

They’ve done brain scans of Internet/video game/media addicts/phone(etc.) addicts and their brains patterns (reactions to visual input) shift away from normal brain patterns and get close to or completely identical to drug, sex or gamble addicts.

At its core, TikTok is essentially your classic slot machine but with perpetual visual/auditory stimulation that continuously adapts to show more of the content that gets the most watch time from the user.

If you think it’s completely benign that every person below 25 is glued to the same app for 6-12 hours a day then obviously I have no argument here.

My gripe with the app isn’t that it’s made by China but that it’s creating a generation of smartphone addicts.

TikTok would have been long gone before these privacy concerns if anyone listened to the research done on smartphones and behavioral addiction.

Have you ever read about the mice that get their brains wired up to a machine with a button they can press that releases dopamine in their bodies indefinitely without them having to move or do a single thing to get the “reward”? They press the button over and over again, more and more until they forget their other needs and their health withers away.

TikTok is an instantaneous, no effort, no payment dopamine trigger for humans that’s continuously being adapted to get better at making the user press the trigger again.

It’s completely terrible and I pray that ByteDance don’t sell their shares and that TikTok gets banned in the West permanently.

So your saying parents shouldn't be parents and ban the app for everyone in the US that has the ability to make their own decisions.

 

[quietstormSD]

How many Western social networks are allowed in China?

Zero.

I've always wondered why Western countries allow China to play by completely different rules.

It was high time for something like this.

So you're saying the US should be more like China? I completely disagree with that.

 

[3xBoom]

QikQok can go f isself...

 

[dontwalkhand]

Why are they focused so much on this one app? Especially when you have whole computer companies that are partially owned by the Chinese government (like Lenovo). Much of our electronic devices are made inside of China. Many of the components of...well, everything... are also made there. But it's TikTok that's the focus?

And I’m certain the Lenovo ThinkPad is littered all over government offices of various types. I’ve seen it just going to court and PD.

 

[dampfnudel]

Zero chance the Bytedance sells their stake in TikTok. TikTok will be fine without its western userbase.

I seriously doubt TikTok will be as fine as it has been the past few years. It won’t be the money-making TikTok it is today for sure. A good future for TikTok lies in the hands of users in the US/EU/UK.

 

[MacProFCP]

How many Western social networks are allowed in China?

Zero.

I've always wondered why Western countries allow China to play by completely different rules.

It was high time for something like this.

Why would China allow for an app where freedom is speech is…

oh wait…
Facebook, no
Twitter, nope
Truth Social? Hell no

Nevermind. My bad.

 

[JamesHolden]

Right on the money. And as for your last sentence, the suicide rate among teens (in the US) is skyrocketing.

I'm glad I don't have kids. I watch my friends and family struggle with their kids and social media. I've had a number of conversations recently with younger folks (anywhere from 17 to mid 20s) about social media and they've all told me how much they hate it, how much it is ruining their social interactions, but they have to use it because everyone does. My nephew, the TikTok junky, told me he has four friends who have tried to kill themselves.

I've grown tired of the social media apologists making excuses for all of these platforms. They're a cancer. They've made us more divided than ever, more hateful, less patient, less understanding. We wouldn't have all this "fake news" and "alternative facts" nonsense were it not for social media. The promise of connection is a total lie. The connection social media offers is not real connection. It has no substance. It creates silos and echo chambers. Kids don't know how to socialize. I find it all very depressing. I can't imagine working for one of these social media companies and having to look at myself in the mirror every day knowing what damage my actions are causing.

 

[laz232]

If the French government are saying it, the same government currently being directed by an investment banker, then it must be true! 👍

The French government and European business interests at large have absolutely zero reason to vilify China :^)

So you are claiming that the Chinese government does not partake in social media influence campaigns?

As I've said, the US and other Western powers definitely run influence campaigns using social media, but just because they do, do you think that means that the Chinese do not?

Wow.

 

[laz232]

I'm glad I don't have kids. I watch my friends and family struggle with their kids and social media. I've had a number of conversations recently with younger folks (anywhere from 17 to mid 20s) about social media and they've all told me how much they hate it, how much it is ruining their social interactions, but they have to use it because everyone does. My nephew, the TikTok junky, told me he has four friends who have tried to kill themselves.

I've grown tired of the social media apologists making excuses for all of these platforms. They're a cancer. They've made us more divided than ever, more hateful, less patient, less understanding. We wouldn't have all this "fake news" and "alternative facts" nonsense were it not for social media. The promise of connection is a total lie. The connection social media offers is not real connection. It has no substance. It creates silos and echo chambers. Kids don't know how to socialize. I find it all very depressing. I can't imagine working for one of these social media companies and having to look at myself in the mirror every day knowing what damage my actions are causing.

Whilst social media, and the omnipresence of the Internet have driven this into overdrive, phenomenon of fake, sensationalistic news, and subsequent echo chambers has existed for more than a century:

Yellow journalism - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[aaronhead14]

Good.

 

[JamesHolden]

Whilst social media, and the omnipresence of the Internet have driven this into overdrive, phenomenon of fake, sensationalistic news, and subsequent echo chambers has existed for more than a century:

Yellow journalism - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Of course it has. People have been lying since humans developed language. But social media has catapulted us to a whole new level. The yellow journalism of old seems positively quaint by today's standards.