What sucks is I've imagined a social media platform that was built with good intentions to actually better being people together and make their lives better. It's one of the worst missed opportunities in recent memory.
I believe they use a different backend/storage. Different content shows up depending if you are searching from Tiktok or Douyin. Perhaps someone from Bytedance is curating select content from Tiktok for Douyin.
Either way, if I put a video on Tiktok it does not mean Chinese users on Douyin will see it.
And it’s not like they can’t maintain use of the thing while not being owners. Come on. Like there’s some magic rule if a company’s not owned by China, it can’t be used as a Chinese intelligence source? Come on.
If social media is in cahoots with foreign intelligence, there are better ways to handle it in my opinion.
Lmao, the USA doesn't operate the commercial sector outside of power, trains, rockets, and planes. It won't benefit from the sale in any way other than lowering Chinese involvement.
"TikTok" is an American Company. Their owners, ByteDance, also own a nearly identical product in china called 抖音 (Douyin). The Chinese version is much more closely operated by the military, their offices are literally military owned buildings and lots.
Douyin is what China has. That came first, then the parent company developed tiktok for release outside of china.
Then they bought Musical.ly, merged it with tiktok, and that became the modern version of the app
It's not the same platform. Douyin has a different, separate database of content. Even though they share the same idea of how the app should function, they are disjoint social media platforms.
but all these talks about keeping children off phones is restricting the flow of information to a point that it scares me. we have Enciclopedias in our pockets ffs.
if the bar kids from easily accessing the internet, they're effectively blocking 2mil people (14-17) from instant access to information. (I did some sleep deprived math, dont @me if its off)
As far as I know, there’s no legislation being talked about to keep kids off their phones, or even social media. This is more of a concern about China having unfettered access to user data at the drop of a hat, which I can absolutely agree is an issue. Though I don’t know that current legislation is the solution.
That said, kids absolutely do need to spend more time off their phone than they do. We’ve seen legitimate issues arise from perpetual phone use. The issue is… you can’t really legislate that. It’s parents that need to get their heads out of the sand and actually parent.
If they actually cared about that, they would legislate data privacy laws that keep our data from being sold on the open market. As it is now, everyone from the FBI to your local cops, to the RNC to Chinese or Saudi companies can pay cash for user data. This legislation is largely protectionism for our own domestic surveillance capitalism industry.
My self hosted DNS does all of that banning too. But that's just my little quality of life thing (and whatever little that does fighting the global data overlords).
But it's a blurred lines between having to do something or being pressured or heavily encouraged to do something (otherwise you are left out of an important social system).
I'm totally agreeing with you, just adding that sometimes infrastructure matters (as it gives little choice to population) & can be especially bad if there is a single entity behind it with it's own agenda not aligned with users interests (eg for profit companies, or in this case I guess geopolitical stuff too).
The same could be said of the US. GAFAM works for the US just like TikTok works for China. I'd like to see the reaction of the US if the EU told Meta to sell the European branch so they "can't spy on EU citizens".
There’s a difference here. Neither the US not the EU can just put their hands out and say “data pleeeeeaaase” and get what they want. There are legal and procedural protections in place for such things.
Chinese companies on the other hand, are required to do whatever the CCP says, when they are told to.
I've said this like a thousand times and I hate repitition, but the USA as a whole has never tried to ban TikTok. Trump claims he did, it isn't allowed for military servicemembers, but it has never been banned.
Forced sale only works if your government has any control over the organizational structure of your company which the USA does not. What they are effectively doing is forcing the American arm of Tik Tok to sell without access to it's technology which China can absolutely deny. If the sale doesn't go through, the US will ban its use. If they do sell, it will be without the technology and a company will be Tik Tok in name only having to essentially build the service from the ground up. This is an effective ban of Tik Tok regardless of the outcome.
What makes you think the proprietary rights held by the Chinese hold any sway in the USA? If they want to try suing they can, heck they can even take it to international courts, but they won't have much luck given the evidence that China was using it maliciously.
TikTok is literally a weapon created and used to undermine the USA (among other democracies but mainly USA) and to brainwash its citizens. Anyone who doesn't see it is a useful idiot who bought into Chinese propaganda.
Imagine blocking TikTok for being a competitor in a so called free market under the guise of national security and privacy
They didn't blink an eye when Facebook had to testify about blatantly abusing COPPA and doing the exact same thing.
And not even the platform itself, just the company so it can be liquidated or sold to an American megacorp so it can make money for the poor shareholders and let the NSA do their funny PRISM plugin.
The company is allowed to operate under different ownership. It's pretty simple, and makes a lot of sense for the nation's interests given the amount of hostility from China.
Americans are the most propagandized people on earth. They'll kick and scream about Chinese Censorship, then accuse a Singapore CEO of being a Chinese Communist and pass legislation to Censor an American company because it took money from Chinese investment group ages ago.
But china doesnt claim to be a paragon of freedom unlike the united states. No one cares that china banned american social media becuase its expected. People care that america bans tiktok because its hypocritical.
Besides, tiktok isn't even "chinese", their government only has a 1% stake in the company while foreign investors(mostly american) hold 60% IIRC. Y'all can fact check me on that. This is an attempt by the American bourgeosie to force bytedance into being publicly traded so that Americans can have more sway over the companies decisions. This allows them to silence an alternative news source that often conflicts with their interests or make a shit ton of money if they give in and opem up to public trading.
The American bourgeosie is nervous about actually facing competition on the online market place. They've dominated it so long thanks to silicone valley and they got used to it.
More stunning are the terms of these investments. ciif’s 1% stake in a ByteDance subsidiary gives it the power to appoint one of three board members in a unit that holds key licences for operating its domestic short-video business.
To what extent the CCP will exert control or what ByteDance has agreed to is unclear. And who knows if any of that matters.
It’s not being more like China. It’s treating them the way they treat us. Simple reciprocity. The same thing is often done when other countries level a tariff against our products.
What kind of brainwashed supporter can you be to say such thing? This is about freedom of speach and right of property, the things supposedly sacred in the USA.
It’s not being more like China. It’s treating them the way they treat us.
So..acting like China acts is not being like China?
The same thing is often done
Did nobody ever teach you that two wrongs don't make a right? Or about the Appeal To Tradition logical fallacy?
when other countries level a tariff against our products.
Which rock were you living under when Trump waged his stupid tariff war with China? Nothing good came from that bullshit, least of all for the working class people of both countries.
Your whataboutism doesn't change the fact that the west's claims of valuing "press freedom" turning out to be completely false posits severe implications for your ideology, liberal - not anyone's living in China.
China isn't a good country either. I don't get why your so excited to back people up who commit genocide.
Also is banning TikTok really preventing freedom of the press? They are beholden to the Chinese government and used to suppress talk about the Uighyur cultural genocide.
How about we instead replace it with something like Lemmy but for video?
Also is banning TikTok really preventing freedom of the press?
What (alleged) "freedom of the press"? This (supposed) "freedom of the press" is a cornerstone of liberal ideology - not whatever it is that China is doing.
Again... the realization that liberal ideology is full of holes (and always have been) has implications for liberals - not people living in the PRC.