House passes bill to force ByteDance to divest TikTok

[tzolkin]

Anyway - this seems to be a way for some US company to buy TikTok on the cheap and make a big profit I wonder who will have stock in that company.....

Perhaps all these politicians invested in Meta, but now that Facebook and Instagram are declining in popularity they are trying to get rid of any competitors.

I'm getting whiffs of Fahrenheit 451, and it's coming from people addicted to TikTok (and cellphones in general). I get that it's just a huge scrolling advertisement app, but why would anyone want to spend hours a day scrolling through garbage like that anyways?

Because some people are not looking at "garbage" on TikTok. There are thousands of well-educated creators on TikTok who provide interesting and intellectually stimulating material about their particular subject of expertise. Biologists can share videos of the animals they work with and explain their features in a more engaging format than just reading about them. Authors can share insight and engage in discussion with readers about their work. Art historians can share the history, details, composition of the paint, etc in a particular piece.

I always find it weird that most adults dismiss TikTok as a "silly app with nothing but stupid dances", but I have never seen any of that content on my feed. In my opinion, I see exponentially more "garbage" on Facebook and even sites like the one we are here discussing on than I ever have on TikTok.

 

[AurumPunzel]

To each their own on how they feel but I don't think anyone wants to single anyone out, most people want ALL THREATS to be shown the door but if the Gov can only manage threats one by one because herding cats is hard, so be it.

I don't think it is neo anything to want to protect our country from exploitation, actually protectionism is the ONLY actual real role of government and many in these roles have been asleep on the job for a while now, either on accident or on purpose - as of late it is tough to say. I keep hearing this very very very old Poly Sci term that has no place in our world anymore, it was a call to arms way before my time and I'm a bit on the older side so it actually amuses me to see it used at all anymore. Like, who is it speaking to now anyway, not that many around alive in the 40's and 50's these days? Well that and Isolationism like it is a bad thing, which is what, like a hundred years old and also, just seriously has no place. Normal people close and lock their doors of their homes at night because there is a fundamental realization that bad things often happen when doors are not closed.

These terms were used before women could even have their own checking accounts in 1974, soooo really really really antique ideas that, at best, maybe belong in a history book somewhere when people talk about, "remember when?"

Seems the real culture wars coming are about this. My country is on fire and cities seem to be dying so I reject anything that is not 100% intended to benefit the American People above all else for the forseeable future. It seems I am not alone.

The reason why I thought is was neo-McCarthyism is because of how the debacle has echoes of past sentiment stemming from the Red Scares, where there was unfounded concern about the trades being influenced by the Soviets and the wider Marxist-Leninist-Bolshevik movements, fearing that it would undermine industry, institutions, and thus the American Dream of liberty. But with the added dimension of technology.

Granted, national security is important, but when it's executed in a way that goes against the people and fails to solve the problem, it can prove to be counterproductive. The most notable example is that of security theatre in airports post-9/11. When the attacks changed aviation security forever, it has led to procedures that have become superfluous, such as the "are you a terrorist?" question asked on the ESTA application, and body scanner usage that could easily be manipulated. Not to mention the 100ml liquids restriction that has persisted to the economic benefit of airside shops, who often charge higher prices for the same products sold before airside. What's to stop terrorists from engineering explosives that can sail through the liquids restriction?

As much as the question of whether Beijing can exploit the use of technology as an ulterior plot to subvert national security is complex, I think all of this is another symptom of a neverending American culture war that's become more fierce in recent years.

 

[Douglas Dubh]

If China won’t allow American social media to operate there, why should we allow theirs to operate here?

 

[BrianL]

If China won’t allow American social media to operate there, why should we allow theirs to operate here?

Well, the Chinese government does a lot of things that our government wouldn't do. I get what your saying, but "because they do it" isn't really a great precedent. Of course, there may be other reasons to do a certain thing.

 

[tzolkin]

I bet there is more to this than we know. You don't get 197 Republican and 155 Democrat votes on a bill like unless there is something really bad going on with this app. I suspect they have had briefings about dangers that they can't talk about.

I believe that Palestine may have more to do with the ban than data concerns. That's the one topic that the majority of politicians seem united on regardless of their party.

People in the US have not really seen uncensored war in our media since Vietnam, but TikTok has given us access to see in real time what the current conflict looks like from the Palestinians' own perspective. Our government has not been able to control the pro-Israel narrative and thousands of Americans have been protesting and boycotting for months.

Some say the nail in the coffin was TikTok encouraging users to reach out to their representatives in hopes to prevent passing the bill. It was proof of concept for the influence danger and backfired. The barrage of phonecalls only made the perception of TikTok worse.

Yes, several politicians have said this confirmed their decision. Young people taking interest in politics, calling their representatives, and boycotting--- better shut that down quick.