US House passes bill that could ban Tik Tok

[bpmMonkey 7,832]

1 hour ago, StarstruckIllusion said:

I know half of you here hate TikTok but this is actually a bad thing… 

The premiere platform for social change getting wiped out is like it good despite how much some may hate it’s vibe or control over the music industry

Hope this fails in the Senate but I’m a bit worried

I mean, we also survived tumblr being killed… something new will come 🤷‍♀️

[Mister G 10,516]

This is just a distraction from the real issues...like what's happening overseas...or for that matter the fact we can't even have sensible gun reform or universal healthcare. But again, leave it to these old white men per usual to push for a ban of an app simply because that's the real priority.

[NUTELLA 29,976]

42 minutes ago, bpmMonkey said:

I mean, we also survived tumblr being killed…

Such a dark day... 😭 twitter has all the same p*rn but none of the empathy lol

~~~

I've never used tiktok in my life, but knowledge is power, and certain people want to maintain a status quo, at all costs.

Food for thought.

[ActualPatient 2,512]

i don't like tiktok but i'm pretty sure i already hate the only real competitor, IG Reels. somehow the comments section on IG Reels managed to be much more toxic.

what are the odds of bytedance selling though?

[ActualPatient 2,512]

5 minutes ago, JessFletch said:

Such a dark day... 😭 twitter has all the same p*rn but none of the empathy lol

i miss all the dramatic gifs and photo sets. it was an aesthetic of a generation

[alsemanche 97,825]

Not people actually celebrating this  

[Fantina 3,438]

Americans will literally ban anything before they ban guns

[Dennis 8,391]

This is good. But they also need to crack down on Twitter if they're worried about foreign interference.

Btw, I don't think the app will be banned. They're just trying to force a sale.

I do think that TikTok and Twitter have become ways for Russia and China to heavily influence public opinion in the U.S by manipulating the algorithm to amplify certain stories over others.

This bill doesn't solve the bigger problem however. 

[LaLa 19,909]

Internet censorship by the government is BAD, actually, no matter how much you personally hate this social media or that

[Dennis 8,391]

13 minutes ago, chuck said:

what are the odds of bytedance selling though?

very high, because they built this whole platform for the west, it's banned in China and India.

This is their biggest market

[PartySick 174,250]

Oh look, an actual Republican saying what actual Republicans are supposed to say:

Some Republican opponents of the bill said the U.S. should warn consumers if there are data privacy and propaganda concerns, but the final choice should be left with consumers.

“The answer to authoritarianism is not more authoritarianism,” said Rep. Tom McClintock, R-Calif. “The answer to CCP-style propaganda is not CCP-style oppression. Let us slow down before we blunder down this very steep and slippery slope.”

THIS is what the GOP is meant to stand for. Small government, fewer regulations, less taxes, more freedoms, and more power to the consumers. It's a philosophy that can be disagreeable at times but it's one you can at least respect.

Wtf happened to the GOP since Reagan where true conservative beliefs are in the minority 

[Babel 41,643]

If americans cannot see they're trying to silence the only platform that helped spread information against their government, allowed people to organize and go out protest, yall are helpless. 

[Ladle Ghoulash 55,282]

3 hours ago, Natalia Kills said:

I wish this happened sooner before TikTok properly took off. It's ruining our attention spans with fast food content, especially kids. 

Unfortunately, all this potentially means now is that some competitor will just ramp up their product to mimic TikTok and the same poor-quality content cycle will go on.

The only plus is on the data collection side. The connections to China are weaker than they used to be, but its data is extremely valuable for bad actors who'd want to use it to sway politics under the guise of democracy (e.g. like how Russia interferes but to a more larger scale).

Banning TikTok for the sociocultural reason isn’t particularly legally sound. Also the data mining argument is pretty weak, given that US companies willingly sell data to Chinese companies. IMO, the ban is a pretty clear power and cash grab by the US gov’t and their corporate sponsors. 

[Ladle Ghoulash 55,282]

1 hour ago, LaLa said:

Internet censorship by the government is BAD, actually, no matter how much you personally hate this social media or that

Yeah, I don’t know which part of that people are having trouble wrapping their heads around 

[Ladle Ghoulash 55,282]

1 hour ago, Dennis said:

This is good. But they also need to crack down on Twitter if they're worried about foreign interference.

Btw, I don't think the app will be banned. They're just trying to force a sale.

I do think that TikTok and Twitter have become ways for Russia and China to heavily influence public opinion in the U.S by manipulating the algorithm to amplify certain stories over others.

This bill doesn't solve the bigger problem however. 

This is actually pretty bad lmao. The US gov’t’s definition of foreign malign information is overly broad and giving them license to ban apps/speech on the basis of that is pretty authoritarian. The DHS defines foreign malinfo as, “Any information that drives a wedge between the US populace and the government.” Notice that they don’t care about the *veracity* of the info, just the fact that, if they deem that the source is foreign, that they should be able to tamp down on it. IMO, dangerous precedent. Dealing with foreign interference cannot be blanket policy, it has to be a case by case basis and foreign interference has to be tied to a clearly defined motive if they want to use it as a basis for trying to censor anything.