US Congress is like "We're gonna ban a website to prove that we're not like China".
@Alex TikTok is CCP spyware and mind poison. If Tiktok wants to operate in the states than they must sell the intellectual property, domain name and algorithm to a U.S. company. Don't forget that the CCP has a level of control over its citizens that Kim Jong Un could only dream of, and they are perfectly willing to censor people in the United States by exercising their soft power of U.S. companies. The CCP actively hates us and pushes destructive ideologies on us to weaken our country.
@realjosephknapp This is not even remotely a reasonable take. I've heard plenty of claims of data harvesting and propagandizing, but I have yet to actually see any real evidence of these claims. Real world analysis shows that TikTok is gathering the same data every other social media service does. If you want to fix that, pass federal privacy laws...
What you're saying comes across nothing more than anti-China ideology, which is not an ideology I take particularly seriously.
“The communists are harvesting our data.”
“Okay, then legislate strong data protections for social apps ala GDPR.”
“No that’s what communists do.”
Tale as old as time
@GrantRVD @Alex I never said that. I fully support a legal standard of opt out by default. I also support repealing the 3rd party doctrine and I support the California consumer privacy act as a model for other U.S. states. The legal system is only a temporary solution, we need privacy by design as a long term solution. I think for social networking NOSTR and Activitypub can lead the way if the fediverse gets out of its own way.
@Alex @realjosephknapp okay, that’s fine and all, but none of it is relevant to the point you seemed to be pushing about tiktok being villainous just because it’s from a Chinese company.
First, tiktok isn’t unique in being an app developed in China - there are many other popular apps that fit that description and are conspicuously absent from any alarmist claims. Second, tiktok isn’t even the biggest offender harvesting or selling data. The emphasis on it is ludicrous.
@GrantRVD @Alex Until Chinese citizens can use facebook, gmail, mastodon, youtube, gab, bitchute, twitter etc then America can do without tiktok. If China does not respect the right of our websites to exist across the global internet then neither should we. I agree with you that the restrict act is way too overbroad to achieve this purpose and is likely unconstitutional. For me this is a trade issue not a moral panic.
@GrantRVD @Alex I see it as a trade issue. If the CCP wont let American apps compete on a level playing field, then congress should not let Chinese apps compete on a level playing field. I say no US company can advertise on tiktok and any money flowing towards Chinese apps be tariffed at 19.89% and any data broker selling to any chinese company or company that in turn sells it to China be fined $17500 per data point and $25000 per person and 3.4% of their yearly revenue before taxes.
@realjosephknapp @GrantRVD There are no winners in a trade war.
@Alex @GrantRVD Maybe there are not, but do you really want to let other countries get away with giving their companies special preferential treatment at the expense of our domestic businesses. It is clear that being a part of the CCPs propaganda arm makes tiktok too big to fail. If china doesn't let American websites make themselves available to chinese readers under reasonable rules, then neither should any chinese company, not just tiktok, but temu and wechat too.
@realjosephknapp @Alex your points were not compelling 9 months ago, and they're not compelling now
@GrantRVD @Alex It is not about trade, it is about protecting our people from having their jobs sucked overseas and sending the message that if they do not want to play fair than neither will we. I only want to forbid the sending of money, commodities, advertisements and data, not prevent people from seeing it.
@realjosephknapp @GrantRVD How is that not about trade?
@realjosephknapp @Alex or maybe you should fucking strengthen your data protection laws rather than engaging in moral panic
its the republicans that created the legislative environment that allows for such abuse of sensitive data.
@CauseOfBSOD @Alex The third party doctrine started it, and that was a liberal supreme court. The democrats are equally complicit in jawboning big tech into collecting data as well. They pay lip service to privacy and repudiate it with bullshit such as the earn it act, amending section 230, and bowing down to big tech lobbyists that want to sabotage meaningful privacy legislation. How bout a $10,000 fine minimum for each data point breached on a person.
@Alex If U.S. websites can't operate in China, then Chinese websites can't operate in the U.S. Simple! The danger in Tiktok is not what it is already has been proven to have done but what it can do in the future. Until China lets U.S. companies compete on a level playing field, then Chinese companies don't get to operate here. Besides, tiktok collects data that not even mark zuckerberg could get away with collecting. Like the files in your phone's filesystem.
@realjosephknapp If you're worried about the "weakening of the United States", You should reconsider your advocacy of broad sanctions against China...
The ramifications of that would be pretty brutal.
Besides, if you disagree with the way China censors the Internet, you shouldn't be advocating that we do the same thing.
@Alex @realjosephknapp Banning TikTok is not the same as internet censorship. Only social platforms from China should be banned. Because China does the same to the US.
It’s how sanctions work. Sanction wars are bad, but China started this war by essentially blocking all american social media apps decades ago.
@nmn @Alex We should ban all Chinese websites until our websites are available in china. We should also refuse to protect Chinese intellectual property until china respects ours. I fully agree with @nnn@indieweb.social on this. When China respects our websites and our intellectual property then we will respect theirs.
@realjosephknapp @Alex if you think the cia/nsa isn’t collecting the same data through US social media companies then you haven’t been paying attention to the surveillance state leaks that come out every so many years. Only difference is the US agencies have a chance to impact my life in a way that China doesn’t.
@Alex Well sometimes you just have to speak to these people in a language that you understand.
@Alex Americans about China:"They don‘t have any data protection, we don’t trust them with what they will do with our personal data!"
Fun fact: we in Europe think exactly the same about our data on US servers.
We don‘t block Facebook or Twitter. Even though you Americans are supposed to be the "free speech" guys.
Think about it.
@Alex China bans for the content, because it's a problem for the internal propaganda. TikTok's content is fine, those who say it isn't don't get it.
So no, the US wouldn't be "like China".
The point is where the metadata it collects are kept. If the servers are in the region, it could be fine. If they go back to China, it's a big problem.
But it's the same for any other social media platform. That's why the EU wants the data collected by Facebook, Instagram et al. to be kept in the EU.
@Alex Granted, I don't know what the Congress is going to decide, but an outright ban wouldn't look good. The CEO committed to transfer the data from US in a center in the US, so that should resolve the issue, IMO.
@Alex just like communists and socialists were harangued and eliminated from the political scene but treasonous Republicans are allowed to stay after attempting an insurrection.