this post was submitted on 17 Mar 2024
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Seriously, I hate TikTok, yet I still recognize that everything you've said is bullshit. I get 0 news from TikTok and still know that none of your concerns are justified. Foreign countries can just buy your data from every other social media company. It's not uniquely spyware for the CCP.
There's no evidence that China has a secret backdoor to suppress evidence of their genocide, while Israeli and Christian fascists are openly manipulating social media to hide their genocidal actions and promote hate. TikTok is evil, but not a unique evil worth fighting in particular. They're evil as a social media company, not because of their ownership.
Democrats are ridiculous for supporting this, as they rely on the youth vote more than Republicans. If right wing billionaires take over TikTok to promote fascism, Democrats have shot themselves in the foot. If the app shuts down, they've shot themselves in the foot. This political theater will probably hurt them more than help, but they genuinely believe there are enough nationalistic liberals who give a fuck about banning TikTok to outweigh young people they'll dissuade. Nationalistic liberals aren't going to change their voting behavior much over this, while young people honestly might.
Edit: missing words
I've learned long ago from many conversations with MAGAs that the request for evidence is a tactic to get someone to waste their time. If I provided you evidence it would be rejected as being from a biased media or some other excuse. The indoctrinated cannot be convinced by words on the internet because you can always find other words on the internet that say the opposite.
But maybe take a moment to consider that you're behaving in the exact same way as the MAGA crowd when the sources of their narratives are questioned. Do you really want to be like the MAGAs? Not able to question the motives of people that are shoving out endless narratives that making you constantly angry? Is that who you want to be? Someone that's made to be constantly angry and just trusting that authoritarians would never try to manipulate you?
Do you think Xi Jinping is a good guy in the same way as the MAGAs think Vldimir Putin is a good guy? Yeah they're authoritarians but they'd never ever cross the line and use their power to manipulate you... right?
Crafting strawmen and equating me with American fascists and Chinese fascists? You're hilarious. I make the mistake of assuming people are bad faith actors sometimes. That's why I try to account for nuance in my responses, allowing geniuses like you to completely gloss over my actual arguments like cartoons stepping on rakes.
People just don't want to comprehend my arguments, as they might actually need to question their opinions if they do. It's not even indoctrination per say, your brain is just protecting itself from having to challenge your beliefs or identity.
China's government is bad. They are not socialists, but national socialists interested in their own power. I've seen no evidence of TikTok being manipulated behind the scenes at the moment, while Twitter is being openly manipulated by Musk to push fascism. Facebook, Reddit, and Instagram are a hive of manipulation that the owners refuse to moderate unless it pleases advertisers, allowing unscrupulous movements of tribalism and lies to spread unimpeded. The Democrats are making a TACTICAL blunder in banning TikTok, endangering democracy in the process.
Do you understand, or is this still too much for you to grasp?
I don’t think it’s about the data as much. If you can predict and influence the civilian population of your global competition, that’s immense power from abroad. I could see a national threat. It’s not an accident that hearts and minds are underlined when attempting to project power into a region.
And they already can, probably more effectively on other platforms as well. This bill will not address the issue. They'd need to target all social media companies instead of just one. If fascists unwilling to do basic moderation acquire TikTok, the problem will only become worse.
When all social media companies oppose a bill, maybe we'll actually have something effective.
Except that America can tell American companies not to do certain things. You can’t stop china from essentially causing instability here through tiktok, they own it. You could stop them if they were using Reddit, Facebook, etc. it’s not going to happen. But to pretend that a foreign owned mass media app is anything but a way to control a population, or narrative, is sort of funny. America does it with their shit. Why would we not be more threatened by something abroad. Why would a nation allow foreign propaganda?
We won't tell companies to do anything at the moment, and yet this is somehow a priority. It is a problem, but it isn't as pressing and they aren't addressing it well.
Well the Chinese communist party isn’t a US owned company. So, it is most definitely a priority. This isn’t the first time it’s almost been banned. It is a pressing concern. Why don’t you feel that it is?
We also fined the shit out of YouTube in 2019 for collecting and selling children’s data without consent. Can’t do that with the CCP. I’m actually shocked that I’m proud of the FTC for once.
Priority in comparison to every other national security concern? No, definitely not. Not even as far as keeping American data away from adversaries.
We need to focus on regulating who all social media companies sell their data to, not just who "owns" a single company. Twitter could sell extensive user data to Russia, yet not face the same repercussions as TikTok. Google probably sells more useful data to the Chinese government than TikTok could, all while not getting punished in any way. Banning TikTok does more harm to the Chinese shareholders than the Chinese military.
You think the $170 fine against YouTube stopped them targeting kids? That's just the cost of doing business. Do performative bullshit and pay a one time tax every decade or so. That's all fines can do. Unless the fine is ongoing and harsh relative to the company's size, it doesn't move the needle much.
The current YouTube algorithm demonetizes all videos with swearing or adult themes. Advertisers pay to target kids more than ever. That's a big motivation behind making videos "advertiser friendly." It's like how blockbuster movies push for a pg13 rating; to target impressionable kids with disposable income. Advertisers know kids have more free time and less fiscal responsibility. It's less about moral values that adults hold nowadays, and more about getting money from parents through their kids.
You don't seem to understand how tech companies actually operate, or what the government could actually do to keep Americans safe. The problems are actually worse than you think. The government doesn't make much of a difference because politicians are unwilling to take meaningful action.