• Deceptichum@quokk.au
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      23 days ago

      They aren’t banning it because China can see what you put on it, they’re banning it because China can control what you see from it.

      • Kecessa@sh.itjust.works
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        22 days ago

        Banning TikTok would actually help the Democrats though, so it will probably be reversed

          • Kecessa@sh.itjust.works
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            22 days ago

            Sure, I’m just saying that Republicans are taking over and they rely on the disinformation machine to have a chance to get elected so banning TikTok goes against their interests.

        • AwesomeLowlander@sh.itjust.works
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          22 days ago

          There’s no evidence that China can control what’s shown on a China-owned app?

          In case you’re still unaware, the China govt is the ultimate authority within China, even in private companies. More so after recent crackdowns on their oligarchs and billionaires. The idea that they have no control over tiktok is plain laughable.

          • Maggoty@lemmy.world
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            22 days ago

            TikTok has gone out of their way to show they’ve siloed American operations. There has been no evidence that the Chinese government could or would breach that.

            • AwesomeLowlander@sh.itjust.works
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              22 days ago

              So you’re arguing that TikTok US, despite being fully owned and controlled by China, has full independence and decision making capability? Even regular western companies don’t have that. What the home office says, goes. At most, their American operations are making sure they’re abiding by US law with regards to data and such (and even then I’d highly doubt that, given all the forensic breakdowns about TikTok sending encrypted data to China).

              • Maggoty@lemmy.world
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                22 days ago

                If it sends encrypted data to China it would be the first I’ve heard of it. The worst the news could come up with last time is headcount data. And yes they went on an entire project to silo it. At the end of the day they want the money, and TikTok shop provides it. Other than that they sell the same info Meta does on the open market.

                • AwesomeLowlander@sh.itjust.works
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                  22 days ago

                  And yes they went on an entire project to silo it

                  So? It doesn’t matter what internal bureaucratic sleight of hand they pull. The bosses are in the CCP, and when they say ‘jump’, the answer is going to be ‘how high?’. That’s how private companies work.

                  At the end of the day they want the money

                  TikTok wants money. The CCP wants other stuff. As long as the CCP isn’t making demands, TikTok will make their money. The moment the CCP says to do something, TikTok will do it.

                • sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works
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                  22 days ago

                  I really don’t think China is nearly as interested in siphoning data as controlling the algorithm. Getting people to see more pro-Chinese videos, more anti-US videos, and some bias toward candidates they want to see win is completely doable without exfiltrating any data.

                  Basically, all the stuff people are pissed about Musk doing to Twitter (changing algo to push right wing content) are just as feasible for TikTok to do, with the main difference being China is a state actor, whereas Musk is a private billionaire.

                  We should be very worried about any social media app that’s very popular and controlled by an org with political motivations.

                  • Maggoty@lemmy.world
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                    22 days ago

                    I mean sure, if you can find any evidence they’re actually doing that. We have the best intelligence agencies in the world, both domestic and foreign facing. So where’s the meat?

                • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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                  21 days ago

                  If it sends encrypted data to China it would be the first I’ve heard of it.

                  No shit. Do you think they would tell everyone? Do you think it would be easy to prove?

                  • Maggoty@lemmy.world
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                    21 days ago

                    Easier than you think with the NSAs reported reach into back end Internet systems.

        • Plastic_Ramses@lemmy.world
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          23 days ago

          Except for the extremely obvious disparity between chinese tiktok and american tiktok.

          Nothing at all.

          • Maggoty@lemmy.world
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            22 days ago

            So are you saying they run the algorithm in their country? On their internal mirror app? The exact same setup TikTok offered the US?

            I don’t see how that’s the evidence you’re looking for.

        • Moc@lemmy.world
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          23 days ago

          Inversely, they’re banning it because the US cannot control what is posted on it— regardless of whether the central party in China can (they can and they do though so I am not sure why you’re debating it).

          • Maggoty@lemmy.world
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            22 days ago

            Really? Then you can point to the news article that lays out evidence of that actually happening and not just quoting FUD?

            What the government wants out of this is to make an example. Then whenever they want something from Meta, Google, Apple, X, etc, they’re going to remind them of TikTok while pointing to the third section of the definition for foreign control. The catch all that says the app can be considered foreign if the government claims the owner has been unduly influenced by a foreign entity.

      • actually@lemmy.world
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        23 days ago

        That and labor organizing, environmental awareness, and many other things where the absence helps the rich get wealthier .

        It’s also just a blatant theft; there is a lot of money to be made here however it goes down , and that money goes to connected arseholes

        • finitebanjo@lemmy.world
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          23 days ago

          It also broadcasts propaganda disproportionately highly and harmful ideologies as much as that little list of yours.

          On its face the platform itself is neither good nor bad, but the massive theft of identifying information, photos, and personal conversations leading to increasingly common hacking and theft from Chinese sources tips the scales a bit.

      • gcheliotis@lemmy.world
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        23 days ago

        Because when US politicians advocate for a single, global market, and a single, global internet, it is with the understanding that US firms and allied parties will dominate the space anyway. When that is no longer the case they get about as nervous as the Chinese got when they went and built the Great Firewall and made a clone of every popular western platform. Now that US/Western dominance is seriously challenged, we are seeing more and more signs of protectionism.

    • rumba@lemmy.zip
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      22 days ago

      Theater.

      Cybersec is hard. There are always more holes. China exports a LOT of stuff with holes. We can do little more than stick our fingers in the dyke. This looks like they’re doing something.

      What they’re not going to expect is how much people hate them for taking their entertainment away.

          • surph_ninja@lemmy.world
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            22 days ago

            What are you suggesting? That Congress didn’t force TikTok to hand over control is US servers years ago? You didn’t see it in the news at the time, or you just don’t believe it?

            Or do you think China has been censoring on behalf of the state dept?

            • rumba@lemmy.zip
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              22 days ago

              I think they still get all the data of what goes off the servers, and I think that the Chinese side of the company still has ultimate control over what gets displayed.

              The servers being in the US means that the Chinese government doesn’t have to have access to the servers but it doesn’t mean that they still don’t have the equivalent situation silently going on.

              • surph_ninja@lemmy.world
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                22 days ago

                I really don’t care if China gets my data. They don’t have any jurisdiction over me. I’m concerned about domestic surveillance.

    • MimicJar@lemmy.world
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      23 days ago

      Because it’s bad if China has the information. It’s fine if “US entity” had the information. The ban is ultimately fake. No one banning the app cares about TikTok, they just hate that China is getting the information they want. What will happen is some US based company, Oracle last time, but someone like that will buy a sufficient enough stake in the company and the ban will not happen. It will be declared “safe” and the data will go to a US controlled entity, but also still secretly to China. (The later will be revealed years later, to the shock of no one.)