Sell or Be Banned: Anti-TikTok Bill Passed by US Representatives (npr.org) 96
The U.S. House of Representatives just passed its long-delayed Ukraine aid bill. But along with it they also approved a bill banning TikTok "if its Chinese owner does not sell the video app," according to NPR:
While lawmakers in the House advanced a similar bill last month, this effort is different for two reasons: It is attached to a sweeping foreign aid bill providing support for Ukraine and Israel. And it addresses concerns from some members of the Senate by extending the deadline for TikTok to find a buyer. President Biden supports the effort. That means TikTok being forced to sell, or face a possible ban, is on the fast-track to becoming law.
It would mark the first time ever the U.S. government has passed a law that could shut down an entire social media platform, setting the stage for what is expected to be a protracted legal battle... TikTok says it has built a firewall between its headquarters in Los Angeles and its parent company in Beijing, but some reports indicate U.S. user data does still move between the two.
While there has been no evidence made public that Chinese government officials have accessed Americans' information through TikTok, the idea that China has the theoretical ability to weaponize an app used by half of America has been enough to set off an all-out crackdown. In Saturday's vote, 360 Representatives voted in favor of the sell-or-be-banned TikTok bill, while just 58 voted against it.
While there has been no evidence made public that Chinese government officials have accessed Americans' information through TikTok, the idea that China has the theoretical ability to weaponize an app used by half of America has been enough to set off an all-out crackdown. In Saturday's vote, 360 Representatives voted in favor of the sell-or-be-banned TikTok bill, while just 58 voted against it.
That is awesome (Score:3, Funny)
A platform free of Yanks, sounds heavenly.
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Comes with Xi Jinping and Putin Spying
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Well, since I plan to neither go to China nor Russia but might have to go to the US, I guess that's the lesser evil.
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Re: That is awesome (Score:3)
If all that TikTok consisted of was just cat videos, you would probably be on to something. But you know as well as everyone else that it is not just cat videos.
Instead of falling victim to the hasty generalization fallacy of taking the irrelevance of a single data point and stating that all data points must also be equally irrelevant, you would be better served asking yourself why TikTok as we Westerners experience it is not available in China. If TikTok is so benign and harmless, why does the Chinese gove
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why does the Chinese government not simply allow undiluted, unfiltered, uncontrolled access to it for their people?
China doesn't allow any of that kind of media.
The point is. America pretends that it does. But is showing us now that it doesn't.
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Considering FISA and section 402, China and Russia spying on me is a possibility, and the US spying on me is a certainty.
Who is the bad guy here again?
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While there has been no evidence made public that Chinese government officials have accessed Americans' information through TikTok, the idea that China has the theoretical ability to weaponize an app used by half of America has been enough to set off an all-out crackdown.
As opposed to the US services where we know the USG has been accessing the information, over and over again. Heck, they just renewed a law saying that's exactly what they're doing. But hey, bread and circuses, look at the yellow bogeymen over there and pay no attention to what your own government agencies are busy doing.
Psychosis (Score:2, Insightful)
Purely an act of hysteria. We should act on evidence, not prejudice.
Re:Psychosis (Score:4, Insightful)
Ehh, I also see this as a tit-for-tat measure as well, basically a social media trade war as China outright bans pretty much all western social media in it's borders.
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Perhaps Trump will get his wall built after all. Difference being the wall isn't built to keep out the global south but in the new global north.
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I never said it was the *only* reason but China also doesn't block against American social media the the same reasons, let's not kid each other here. Trade wars never have to be and often are not about or go about enacting the war with all like for like.
Case in point: Chicken Tax [wikipedia.org]
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Purely an act of hysteria.
Well, it uses hysteria, as a tool, for purpose of distracting people from our own domestic problems that are actually important
Tik Tok will be OK with US servers & without C (Score:3, Insightful)
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There's more CCP and communist/anti-USA propaganda on all other platforms than on TikTok. TikTok is mostly15 second videos of people dancing.
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There's more CCP and communist/anti-USA propaganda on all other platforms than on TikTok.
There is more balance on the non-TikTok platforms. TikTok is more consistently anti-US. It is a long term strategic tool of the CCP.
TikTok is mostly15 second videos of people dancing.
The bait for the propoganda.
Re: Tik Tok will be OK with US servers & witho (Score:2, Insightful)
US government wants control over TikTok so they can use it to spy on everybody. Theis issue is not that China spies with TikTok, they are jealous US can't spy with it.
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US government wants control over TikTok so they can use it to spy on everybody. Theis issue is not that China spies with TikTok, they are jealous US can't spy with it.
Its not just spying. Its the control of information, which manufacture opinions. TikTok in China is extremely different due to the way China wants to influence Chinese youth vs American youth. Its a long term strategic tool of the CCP.
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Tiktok prompted people to do that? You have evidence of that? Btw, have you ever tried to take a kid's phone away? How do they act?
Re: Psychosis (Score:1)
This was well publicized, either you are very lazy or a useful idiot.
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TikTok facing a global ban (Score:5, Interesting)
That means TikTok is already banned for 1,464,000,000 people. That's about 18% of the population of earth. And then if you count the population of China, that adds another 1,412,000,000 people. So it's more like 36% of population is already banned from using TikTok.
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It's awesome that the US is being compared to third world countries. The country has fallen a lot since Trump became president. It has become the same as shithole countries that he was complaining about in the first place. So much for MAGA.
Re: TikTok facing a global ban (Score:2)
Who is more socialist? (Score:1)
So, who is is more socialist now? The country that wants to spread memes through soft power or the country that wants to ban an app because they fear what they don't understand?
Re:Who is more socialist? (Score:4, Insightful)
PRC banned tiktok long ago. So by your logic, China.
You really need to work on your well poisoning skills.
Who is more silly? Luckyo is. (Score:1)
Just like they 'banned' any other company that doesn't follow the laws. Same as every country everywhere does.
How do you think this makes them different again?
America basically banned a single company because it doesn't like them. Not because they broke any laws. They are specifically making a new law, because there was no legal reason to 'ban' them otherwise.
Re:Who is more socialist? (Score:5, Insightful)
I don't think you understand what 'socialist' means, and are simply using it as an epithet. That does not help you get people to pay attention to your position.
You would have been somewhat better to go with 'authoritarian', or 'nationalist'.
And it's not a battle over memes, it's over who has direct access to the raw data for data mining and who has direct control over an agitprop channel.
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And it's not a battle over memes, it's over who has direct access to the raw data for data mining and who has direct control over an agitprop channel.
So it is okay to have an agitprop channel that is used for data mining? The only issue is who owns it?
Oh my. The bar has been lowered some more.
Apple (Score:3)
And if the Chinese government tells Apple: Sell to Chinese buyers or be banned?
Same for Tesla. Microsoft. Boeing. Etc.
All these companies collect massive amounts of data inside China.
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Then they will have to find another place to produce their stuff.
With a bit of luck, eventually jobs will have to come back home because everyone else would want to steal the whole production.
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It already did. If you want a subsidiary in PRC, you need to take on local investors. Until recently, these investors were required to have a majority stake for most industries, though large players can go 50/50. This was changed very recently in the wake of the economic clusterfuck that is PRC's investment market today. That's why if you go look at for example foreign cars in China, they're not called "foreign brand". They're called "local brand - foreign brand". For example, there's no Ford in China.
But t
Re:Apple (Score:4, Insightful)
trump imo is "right" about a lot of things, in that a lot of the problems he talks about are in fact real problems
the issue is that either his solutions to those problems are terrible or he simply lacks the drive or ability to actually enact solutions to begin with. he ironically is absolutely terrible at executive functions
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China did that because they had seen how other countries were exploited. Foreign companies using them for cheap labour and little else, avoiding local taxes along the way with licencing agreements. You know, the kind of thing Starbucks UK does, where they licence the Starbucks name for crippling fees that wipe out all their profit and mean they pay next to no tax.
It's not dissimilar to how things are in the US, only the enforcement mechanism is different. Many foreign brands have subsidiaries who are staffe
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I love how you're the meme of a communist to the point where you're literally jumping through multiple steps in the process straight to the end point of a typical far left narrative pusher.
"They're not going it".
"Yes they're doing it and here's the evidence".
"They're doing it, and it's a good thing!"
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The meme capitalists can't comprehend that anything China does could be good.
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Your stupidity generates a lot of confusion. For example here, I demonstrated YOU to be the meme. And your delusion made you think it was the opposite.
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Thanks AC, you made more effort to debunk him than I could be bothered to.
Re: Apple (Score:2)
That already happened and they already did. Chinese subsidiaries are all controlled by the communist government. Apple and Microsoft infrastructure in China is ran by a government cloud provider, Google, Facebook and other social media sites has Chinese censors employed. Gaming and porn companies have compulsory identity verification and Android is required to install government spying and tracking apps.
China is not much different than East Germany, Cuba, Soviet Union or Venezuela, just a little more techni
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The whole point of this bill was to give this Fascistic State the power to now kill any form of descent on the internet.
First, learn what fascism is really about [imgur.com] then tell us how telling TikTok it needs to divest itself of Chinese ownership fits into the list. Also, let us know which of the two major parties is following the list almost to a T.
Second, dissent.
Hans Kristian Graebener = StoneToss
Re: For FUCK SAKE! (Score:2)
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First, learn what fascism is really about then tell us how telling TikTok it needs to divest itself of Chinese ownership fits into the list. Also, let us know which of the two major parties is following the list almost to a T.
If you read mussolini's manifesto fascism is basically stateism / totalitarianism with aggressive expansionism (usually but not exclusively militarily) baked in. The gist is that everything in society is organized around and in service to the state/leader which takes precedence over all else. Basically the fever dream of a petty tyrant who thinks the world revolves around him.
Tired of these ridiculous over-encumbered bills. (Score:1)
All that money to another wealthy government and they can't even pass a small bill to continue things like the ACP for our own poor on our own soil.
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Those are, in fact, separate bills. Ukraine funding, the Tiktok ban, and Israel are separate; ironically, the one that passed on the narrowest margin was the Ukraine funding, because Fox has been spewing pro-Putin propaganda for months now and so a bunch of the Trumpers are voting to let them conquer a New Warsaw Pact by force.
If you instead wanted to complain about enjoining 9 billion of Gaza funding to the 18 billion of military aid to Israel then you'd actually be correct.
A Sigh of Relief (Score:3)
Thank god someone is stepping up to protect us from Gen-Zeers miming pop songs.
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Has America ever forced a company out of business before who had not broken any laws nor violated any industry norms?
Does toppling the government of the country that company is in count?
Aid to Israel and ban TikTok (Score:3, Insightful)
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The other thing that's weird about this bill is it Purports to Restrict how the law could be challenged in court By stating that there is a Very short time limit to file any kind of challenge against the law, and the DC Court of Appeals has exclusive jurisdiction.
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You have to understand that it is not permitted in the United States to point out that Israel is committing genocide, using weapons and money provided by the United States, and getting away with it. Uncle Sam is Netanyahu's bitch, and he'd better get used to paying for the privilege and getting slapped around when he doesn't obey fast enough.
TikTok's expiration is past due. (Score:2)
It is way past time our elected leaders defended our interests. Whether is it the notorious technology transfers China has required to do business there, its banning every major Western social media platform, and now communication platforms such as What'sApp, Telegram and Signal, [slashdot.org] or it directly subsidizing the export of Fentanyl or its components on a global scale, our leaders have been meek and weak. [npr.org]
Banning or forcing the sale TikTok, manifestly under the CCP's thumb [fortune.com] is just one of many steps that nee
Yay! (Score:2, Insightful)
I don't know if TikTok was the reason people saw through the IDF and US State Department lies over Gaza, but if it w
They should rather have banned vertical videos (Score:5, Insightful)
Phew (Score:5, Interesting)
Now inconceivably vast amounts of highly detailed and personal data on citizens will only go to that one safe place, American corporations. Well, I guess also by extension, the American government. But what are the chances anyone would come to regret that!
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Governments on both sides are well aware that influencing a democratic population in certain ways can direct it in certain directions. TikTok could be influencing certain segments of the American population using its algorithms to stir up trouble and destabilize regions, or ignite issue between group
What about Russia? (Score:3)
By that metric, Facebook should be sold to, um, never mind.
Selling TikTok means China can no longer apply Chinese law to the internet and censor statements they dislike. Theoretically, China can sell TikTok to US owners, then like Russia, publish their disinformation and propaganda under US 1st Amendment protections.
For Pete's sake people (Score:2)
You commenters defending TikTok do realize that TikTok is BANNED in China right? RIGHT?? It's sole purpose is disruption and influence by a foreign government adversary. Good riddance to it.
Is it a poison pill (Score:2)
Is the inclusion of the tiktok ban a poison pill that Johnson expects the Senate to reject. He can then say he tried.
BTW, parents need help. The law prohibits kids from accessing alcohol, tobacco and porn. Adding social media is for the same reason. Their minds are not developed enough to understand the harm. Kids should also be protected from high fructose corn syrup and ultra processed food.
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Either Gen Z and Alpha will rebel or need serious (Score:1)
Didn't Trump try this already? (Score:2)
Re: Didn't Trump try this already? (Score:1)
Biden is now also trotting out Trumps immigration and economic policy and trying to sell it as his own.
This is actually late (Score:2)
We should not have CBS owned by Soviets in cold war, why have the most popular media platform in US teens owned by another foreign entity.
This is not about "free speech", or "capitalism", but basic common sense. If you want to invest in the US, that is fine. If you want to post terrible vertical videos, nobody should stop you. But if you are harvesting US citizen's data, and making it available directly in China, it is not fine.
And this is not hypocrisy either. When EU asked Microsoft to do the same, they s
Now to see if ByteDance has the balls⦠(Score:2)
The confusion here is Mind boggling. And sad (Score:1)
The number of people quoting TikTok as the source for knowing the âoetruth âoe about Gaza without realising thatâ(TM)s exactly the power of CCP to conduct successful misinformation campaigns which is undesirable and sought to be controlled by this ban, is mind boggling!
They are ready to believe 99% of the media is controlled by US Govt but not that TikTok is controlled by CCP ? Not even the Chinese Govt but a single political party in China.
And itâ(TM)s not even a news / journalism platf
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Not even the Chinese Govt but a single political party in China.
"Potayto, potahto"
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