this post was submitted on 19 Jan 2025
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And what is the evidence for it being a Chinese spying platform? Is it owned by a Chinese company? Is there any hard evidence? Why is it so controversial?

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[–] [email protected] 10 points 6 days ago

It's because it pissed off the wrong people. The initial push to ban tiktok was by Trump and republicans after TTers organized a mass RSVP of one of Trump's events and he spent a lot of money on extra staff and ended up performing in an empty stadium.

That failed and Trump was mocked. 4 years later, it was used to counter zionist propaganda, and that got the democrats on board. Here's Blinken admitting as much.

Additionally, Insta is TT's biggest competitor, and FB, which owns Insta, lobbys to the tune of 20M/year.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) (1 children)

Two reasons, both related to being owned by a Chinese company.

  1. It's mining data for the Chinese company.

  2. The Chinese company can make their algorithm present whatever they want. So they can play up criticism of the US and downplay criticism of China.

The degree of separation between the communist government and private companies is uncertain, so yeah.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 6 days ago (2 children)

Finally, someone who seems to be providing an answer based on objective fact rather than their own political perspective.

I’m getting the sense that the issue is simply that ByteDance is a Chinese company and their data farming is suspected of being accessible to the CCP, which may effectively be a means of spying on American citizens and as misinformation tactics. Not really any different the other way around, of course, but at least that makes sense as a rationale for banning it in the U.S.

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[–] [email protected] 8 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Because Facebook can't compete fairly so they're using regulatory capture to kill it.

Technically the Chinese government could also use it to spy on Americans and that's a problem because they'd be taking Er Jerbs - 'Muricans should spy on 'Muricans.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 days ago (1 children)

China blocks much of the internet its citizens can access in order to preserve its ideological grip on their country. I share concerns about data privacy in the U.S., but I would definitely be more concerned about a foreign government (especially an enemy of the U.S.) having access to our private data than our own government or even our own corporations.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Corporations don't have residency in specific countries. They are subject to the laws of all the countries they do business in. It is quite fair to be more concerned about China than other jurisdictions but... don't underestimate the greed of corporations. Meta itself has been specifically entangled in election interference before via Cambridge Analytica.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 days ago

Yeah, I don’t trust corporations to do the right thing either, but at least their motivations are based on greed, not nationalistic concerns.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 6 days ago

They want them to force to sell it to a US company, so the US interests can be forced onto the algorithm....

[–] [email protected] 53 points 6 days ago (2 children)

Tiktok is owned by a Chinese company, so all of the data harvesting that's perfectly fine for Facebook and Twitter to do suddenly became a problem for the US government.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 6 days ago (3 children)

Seems like the most honest answer so far. The U.S. doesn’t trust the CCP with its citizens’ data. No surprise there.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Except FB and Twitter sell their data to the highest bidder. If China wanted American's data, they can just buy it.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Good point. Seems like another issue of concern. As usual, the issue seems to be data privacy laws overall.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) (6 children)

It is, but the relevance to the discussion is that China getting american's data isn't the reason for the ban. Nor is China influencing Americans because they tend to derank politically spicy videos. If China was controlling the algo to make the US look bad, videos tagged BLM wouldn't have been deranked.

Tiktok also wouldn't have hired a bunch of state department spooks if they weren't intending to keep amplifying US narratives.

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[–] [email protected] 12 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Please read my reply to the comment, it's not about data ownership, it's about weaponizing algorithms.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) (3 children)

Just like meta and xhitter are doing.

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[–] [email protected] 59 points 6 days ago (5 children)

It's not about the data harvesting, please stop repeating this falsehood.

It's about how China is controlling the algorithm for polical goals. From pushing its claim over Taiwan to interfering with global elections by showing(or hiding) speicifc content to sway peoples choices.

[–] [email protected] 58 points 6 days ago (2 children)

So what is considered perfectly fine for Facebook and Twitter to do, got it

[–] [email protected] 33 points 6 days ago (16 children)

What if I think Facebook and Twitter should be shit canned too?

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[–] [email protected] 21 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago)

It's like having siblings. It's okay if I call my siblings buttheads, but you're not allowed to because you're not family.

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[–] [email protected] 15 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Appealing to an out of touch, jingoistic voting base and cracking down on a social media platform where "the youths" are exposed to "woke commie socialist propaganda". Also, yes it is owned by a Chinese company, ByteDance.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Your link provided me with more proper information than your biased quick take, so thanks for that, I guess.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) (1 children)

By the way, there's also a Wikipedia article about TikTok with a whole paragraph about privacy and security concerns. Along with references. None of it is refuted. TikTok / ByteDance themselves tell who owns the platform. And they seem to be very clear themselves in that they log your interactions, location, mobile carrier, information about your phone, your biometric face features and so on and so on.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Thanks. I’m getting the sense that, while ByteDance doesn’t collect any more information than Meta or Instagram, it’s info is suspected to be accessible by the CCP, which may be used for anti-US programs/policies, etc.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 6 days ago (1 children)

This is the most accurate conclusion so far. The US government considers it a national security threat. There are lots of things it's "okay" for your own government to do but not a foreign government :)

[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 days ago (3 children)

Which makes perfect sense. I don’t think this would be a thing if ByteDance was a British or Canadian company either. The issue is it’s Chinese, and China is an enemy of the U.S. right now.

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[–] [email protected] -1 points 6 days ago

TikTok became one of the only places you could see and hear what was actually happening in Gaza.

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