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Japan Social Networks

Japan Lawmakers Eye Ban on TikTok, Others If Used Improperly (reuters.com) 22

A group of Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) lawmakers plans to compile a proposal next month urging the government to ban social networking services such as TikTok if they are used for disinformation campaigns, an LDP lawmaker said on Monday. From a report: Many U.S. lawmakers are calling on the Biden administration to ban the popular Chinese-owned social media app, alleging the app could be used for data collection, content censorship and harm to children's mental health. "If it's verified that an app has been intentionally used by a certain party of a certain country for their influence operations with malice ..., promptly halting the service should be considered," Norihiro Nakayama told Reuters in an interview. "Making it clear that operations can be halted will help keep app operators in check as it means TikTok's 17 million users (in Japan), for example, will lose their access. It will also lead to sense of security for users," Nakayama said. Nakayama, a senior member of a ruling party lawmakers' group looking into ways to enhance Japan's economic security, said that proposal will not be targeting at any particular platform.
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Japan Lawmakers Eye Ban on TikTok, Others If Used Improperly

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  • ...into the International Group of Lawmakers Against Tools, IGLAT (which, holds almost all Lawmakers in the Earth).

    Why? Because banning a "tool" is the stupidest a mind can go. A knife is a tool. Are Japan lawmakers' eye on banning knifes if used improperly?

    • Re: (Score:2, Flamebait)

      If they are Chinese knives that the Americans don't like, then yes.
    • by tsqr ( 808554 )

      Whatever your opinion might be on the subject of banning a "tool", the only place "if used improperly" occurs is is the Reuters article headline (and of course the Slashdot summary headline, which is just a verbatim copy of the article headline). The use that would result in a ban is "If it's verified that an app has been intentionally used by a certain party of a certain country for their influence operations with malice", according to the Parliamentary Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs in Japan. That seem

  • by oldgraybeard ( 2939809 ) on Monday March 27, 2023 @03:26PM (#63404312)
    Why is this such a big problem for adults, especially adults in government.
    • Some adults realize that all social media can be used for government propaganda and misinformation, and that all apps can harvest private data, but after weighing the risks are more comfortable with foreign government spying on them than their local government who is more likely to be able to abuse the data they collect in practical ways.

      US based social media companies are disproportionately used to push partisan politics and censor alternative perspectives, especially on key issues such as elections,

    • by tsqr ( 808554 )

      Adults in government generally tend to be wary of anything destabilizing, such as a bullshit conspiracy theory that gains traction through amplification of disinformation on social media. Adults outside government tend to feel the same way if they're paying attention and haven't become part of the problem.

      Of course, banning political speech in the US raises Constitutional issues, and something even the current very conservative Supreme Court is likely to frown upon unless it's very tightly bounded and well

      • Adults in government generally tend to be wary of anything destabilizing, such as a bullshit conspiracy theory that gains traction through amplification of disinformation on social media.

        Come on, man, you act like the American public is just plain stupid, I am PRETTY sure that the highly educated American public will not believe things for which there is not ample evidence.

        Seven in 10 Americans continue to believe that Iraq's Saddam Hussein had a role in the 11 September 2001 attacks, even though the Bush

        • by tsqr ( 808554 )

          Come on, man, you act like the American public is just plain stupid, I am PRETTY sure that the highly educated American public will not believe things for which there is not ample evidence.

          Will, I did add that "if they're paying attention and haven't become part of the problem" disclaimer.

          But it may be worse than you think. According to this, [forbes.com] a surprising number of Americans believe the Earth is flat. There appears to be a strong inverse correlation with age, and correlation with religious belief and low income. Surprisingly, slightly more Democrats than Republicans think the Earth is flat, which contradicts the popular "reality has a liberal bias" aphorism; however, that is probably just a b

    • by shanen ( 462549 )

      Very interesting angle, and I can answer your rhetorical question, even though you forgot your question mark.

      Have you ever heard of "Ore ore"? It's actually related to my earlier comment about cyber-crime in Japan. One of the specific crimes the international gang started with are in that bucket. The "ore" (pronounced sort of like "oh-ray") is a familiar form of "me" that might be used by a grandchild. The idea is to call old people at random and claim to be "ore". It's actually a kind of phishing scam. I d

      • by shanen ( 462549 )

        I must be tired or stressed out by that computer problem... Numerical agreement slip? Really?

        s/are in/is in/

  • by OzPeter ( 195038 ) on Monday March 27, 2023 @03:34PM (#63404328)

    Many U.S. lawmakers are calling on the Biden administration to ban the popular Chinese-owned social media app, alleging the app could be used for data collection, content censorship and harm to children's mental health.

    Well, if you had robust data protection laws, then that would be a good first step. But of course the U.S. lawmakers apparently don't seem to understand that aspect.

    • Many U.S. lawmakers are calling on the Biden administration to ban the popular Chinese-owned social media app, alleging the app could be used for data collection, content censorship and harm to children's mental health.

      Well, if you had robust data protection laws, then that would be a good first step. But of course the U.S. lawmakers apparently don't seem to understand that aspect.

      On the contrary, they understand it just fine. But their corporate overlords, sorry, I meant campaign contributors, sorry, I meant lobbyists, sorry I meant owners, damn, it's hard to keep track of all the ways big money infuses itself into political pockets. Where was I? Oh, right, Big Tech, which the government likes to make a big show about being against, have managed to convince lawmakers in the US that data mining is profitable enough to not outlaw. Because, and let's be real here for a moment, profit i

  • And put an embargo on all imports from china, since china wants to use their products as weapons of empire expansion then they deserve to be banned and embargoed, have the navies of the west sink all Chinese cargo ships too
    • TikTok is not the primary source of disinformation in social media. That pretty clearly falls on Twitter and Facebook, which are packed full of older people less interested in dance trends than health scams and "revolution".
  • it's not just tik-tok being looked at - but pretty much every app that may go onto sensitive smarthpones.

    typical of the idiot press to make idiot headlines to make idiot points against China - because they are owned by idiots.

    I remember when the Soviet TASS news was looked at as nonsense and with humor. US media today has gotten far worse than even that stupidity.

  • by YuppieScum ( 1096 ) on Monday March 27, 2023 @04:10PM (#63404398) Journal

    ...why "US lawmakers" need the US President to ban an app?

    Why can't "US lawmakers" make a law banning the app in the US?

  • It was never big on software or cryptography, so its fate on this level is mostly out of its hands. Either the American NSA successfully protects them, or they're owned by China. Not much prospect of an independent local security.

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