I’ll tell you a secret you might have missed.
It’s not about the privacy.
It’s about a foreign country of similar power levels having the ability to shape your people’s political opinions.
They’re shitting themselves because it’s one of the first times it’s happened to them instead of them doing it to someone else.
The key difference is that American Government agencies don't have access to the information TikTok steals from its users.
Edit: This comment implied the US has easy access to the data from companies like Facebook.
This is naive. America has all the laws they need to get data from private companies, just the same as China
And thanks to Snowden revelations we know for a fact that US companies work directly with US government and share all their user data.
At least in theory they have to get a warrant, although there are plenty of examples of tech companies handing over information without one. They definitely have access to all the same information if they really want it though.
Edit: In hindsight I think I may have misinterpreted how that post was intended. American government agencies do have a harder time getting access to TikTok's information, although at least for US users TikTok has separate servers that make it possible for them to do so.
They have to get a warrant to demand it, yes. But if they show up with a bag full of money, the companies will just turn it right over.
They probably don't even need that. Corpos like to work with the government, it's mutual.
Yeah, what does Meta have to lose? Only their reputation for protecting user privacy, which was lost long ago.
America is guilty of everything Americans accuse China about.
Ya, but when America is in control it's okay. /s
True but also true: you are comparing multinational corporations to the Chinese government, who is currently waging cold war against Western states. That's the quiet part they're taking care not to say loud, hence posturing.
Americans when Canadians say they'd prefer TikTok spying vs an American company:
but seriously. I want no one to have my data, but if someone HAD to have it, I would prefer TikTok over anything from Meta, Amazon, Microsoft, etc..
My country wont export me to China if I post something negative or pirate something. My country will export me to the US if they come banging on my door. I am quite literally safer letting China have a bit of my data.
Has everyone forgotten when Zuck was brought before congress and grilled about Facebook? True, the reps merely embarrassed themselves through their own ignorance, but being ineffectual is not the same as hypocracy.
Can't we just say that both are bad?
We should be saying both are bad. We need much stronger, EU like privacy laws.
And how would privacy laws be applied to TikTok, which is outside the jurisdiction of these laws?
The only way to get TikTok to have any privacy policies at all is by threatening to block them.
Which is what's happening.
TikTok isn't outside of that jurisdiction, they are operating in places like the US. If they violate privacy laws, you remove them from accessing that market
It's like picking on a younger sibling.
It's okay when you, the older sibling, do it. But when a stranger does it, you kick their ass.
I remember articles in the early 00s about how China wouldn't allow Google to operate there and a big deal was made about "the great firewall of China" and how it was all about censorship, but now that China has an influential internet service, US congress is demanding they hand over ownership of US operations to a US company.
So many people here who don't understand why people are able to criticize more than one country be like:
A: "Tell me the difference between these pictures:" || xor
B: "They are the same"
Xenophobia (from Ancient Greek ξένος (xénos) 'strange, foreign, alien', and φόβος (phóbos) 'fear') is the fear or dislike of anything which is perceived as being foreign or strange.
The same fearmongering would've happened to American social media apps if it wasn't for that sweet sweet data the US government is able to get.
Hypocrisy at its finest.
its almost like foreign governments collecting information about your population is a bad thing for your people and your government, or something.
It's worse for the US to have my data as a Canadian than China. America can come for me, and my country would hand me over. China can't do shit to me.
i'd rather be spied on by an allied country, or my own, than a somewhat hostile country.
I'd rather be spied on by a far away country than by one with armed bastards on my street
If you're being honest to yourself, when your own country is spying on you it might have a bigger impact on you than a country you might visit for a week or never.
Do other people who defend China even use or like TikTok? I sure don't, I have never used TikTok as an argument for China.