I am curios how this will play out because I believe this has nothing to do with privacy or Chinese spying. Instead congress is being lobbied by Facebook[1] and co to remove a competitor from the playing field that is currently eating their lunch.<p>One scenario I can see is that the US will ban TikTok while the EU will implement much stricter privacy rules which would need to be adhered by TikTok and all the other (Instagram, Facebook etc). Effectively making the whole reason the US is going to ban TikTok moot.<p>[1] <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/03/30/facebook-tiktok-targeted-victory/" rel="nofollow">https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/03/30/faceboo...</a><p>EDIT: Spelling
While playing with it for a short this morning, TikTok threw the CEO speaking at the hearing into my "For You" 3 times. Nothing else in my "For You" was tech related, and I didn't linger on them or provide other signals demonstrating interest.<p>Maybe it was complete chance, or maybe it wasn't. It made me consider the potential danger of a direct propaganda spigot from the Chinese government to today's youth.
Can anyone shed light on what exactly "banning TikTok" would look like implementation-wise in the US? Would ISPs be required to block them at the network level? App stores forced to remove the app? Is there any precedent for something like this?
Too little too late. TikTok is embedded in the culture now. They could've banned it four years ago when all these privacy concerns were first making headlines but now that half the population uses it every day there's no chance in hell.
there's no way bytedance will sell tiktok to an american company. anyone who thinks this will happen is high as a kite. imagine instagram had taken off in china. would the US allow it to be 'force sold' to bytedance or tencent or whatever? L-O-L.<p>bytedance will just shut tiktok down if the US "forces" them to sell. it will simply disappear one day -- maybe with a nice little note explaining the situation, maybe not. the domestic US political ramifications of this are unknown, because we've never been in this kind of situation before - half the country uses this thing, across the entire socio-political demographic spectrum.<p>if the ccp has ultimate control as so many people say, on what planet do they sell this market leading company and platform to a US buyer? one that plainly and openly calls china the enemy. the US can not split the political difference between an outright ban and permitting them to operate. it's a binary outcome. even entertaining the idea that the US would just simply take over this asset is pure, unadulterated fantasy. in fact it is delusional.<p>i mean is anyone actually thinking logically about this?
In a larger context, I find the priorities of all of this amazing.<p>The fact that social media (including TikTok) is actively designed for addiction and is currently causing a generation-wide mental health crisis?<p>Not a problem.<p>The fact that all of those apps have been collecting and trading personal data for more than a decade by now?<p>Not a problem.<p>The fact that we know of Facebook's experiments on mood manipulation and we had several scandals about social networks successfully manipulating political opinion?<p>Not a fucking problem.<p>Only when there is risk that all the data gathering, manipulation and exploitation might be done by a foreign state, <i>then</i> social media suddenly becomes a matter of national security.
I think this hearing showed how important playing politics is for any career.<p>One can be absolute incompetent and clueless in everything but as long as they are good at being performative and playing politics. They can reach top level of organization, have all the power and money without much of the responsibility.<p>Even if one doesn't like politics, knowing how to read people and identifying politics in play is crucial as an insurance in career.<p>It's bleak, but that's the way human works.
US government indescriminately hoarding American citizens' data? But if we don't, the terrorists win! It's not as if honest Americans have anything to hide, right?<p>US companies openly abusing their access to American citizens' data? I'm sure fining them like 0.1% of their profits will do the trick! No, we can't add more regulations to the industry! Haven't you read Atlas Shrugged?<p>Chinese company having access to American citizens' data? We need to do something about this ASAP! Maybe we can make them an <i>American</i> company!