this post was submitted on 11 Mar 2024

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Unpopular Opinion

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They shouldn't ban TikTok in America (self.unpopularopinion)

submitted 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) by 3volver to c/unpopularopinion

15 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Banning social media is not good and it's something China would do. What we need is better education. If people want to give up all their data then let them do it, but they need to be informed about it.

all 16 comments

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[–] [email protected] 17 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (3 children)

The banning of a social media is not so much the problem. It is a bad precedent to set to simply ban communication and would potentially run afoul of First Amendment protections.

They wish to ban the chinese ownership of such a platform that may incidentally result in the app itself being banned. Allowing foriegn governments (who hold an explicit goal of overthrowing your country's stability!) to hold strings that control a VERY sizable portion of the public narrative is not something that really should be allowed.

[–] 3volver 1 points 9 months ago (1 children)

I understand the concerns, but why the fuck didn't any American company take the opportunity to make a good competitor? Instead we get Elon and fucking X which is full enshittification. Now, instead of competition in the "free market" we get the government telling a Chinese company they need to sell or be banned. Fuck the Chinese government, but also fuck the American government for telling a Chinese company to sell to non-Chinese buyers. America is failing, we need education and competition, not bans.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 9 months ago

Obviously it isn't a profitable venture. It is a data collection agent. Ergo the fuss.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 9 months ago

if the foreign ownership of American public, who "I Agree" always on terms of service, is an issue, & it is banned, an American substitute(s) will come along if it is profitable. If it isn't profitable, then why are the Chinese interested in it? I think that is the concern. It isn't profitable, that's why there isn't an indigenous alternative. Or distributed alternative. Like this.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

I think TikTok should be banned or forced to change operations under laws that will also apply to X and Meta. Because social media really does need to be reined in, but I do not agree with only applying it to the Chinese one.

[–] zeppo 4 points 9 months ago (1 children)

An interesting thing to me is that in China, rather than TikTok, ByteDance has an app called Douyin with built-in time limits and a focus on educational videos. Here, and I guess it's kind of our problem, TikTok is known for... you know, the kind of total crap you get on TikTok. Kids dancing, stupid pranks, and "here's how to steal a Kia" etc.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 9 months ago

I live in China, and Douyin is a far cry from educational. It's not as shit as tiktok thanks to the rampant censorship, but it's inherently the same crap. If you want education, you need to actively search for it, and I'm sure tiktok has some good stuff as well.

[–] Mojo 2 points 9 months ago

I don't think they should ban it either, but for what I've seen, they should better moderate some of the viral challenges or "life hacks" that end up with children injured or dead. I know some of the onus falls on the parents, but TikTok doesn't seem to care at all

[–] PoliticallyIncorrect 2 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

American elite knows well about using social media/corps info to do fucked up things with it, that's why they don't like TikTok at all.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 9 months ago (2 children)

China can just buy user data from Facebook, Twitter, google, etc... They dont need to "steal" it. So a ban is pointless.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (1 children)

China can just buy user data from Facebook, Twitter, google, etc... They dont need to "steal" it. So a ban is pointless.

Can you read your own sentence again?

I'll paraphrase a bit: "But they don't need to steal that if they can just buy it"

Are you sure there is no incentive to steal the data instead of buying it? It saves money and so far no one seems to take them to court on "stealing data" since its likely in their TOS and a legal grey zone. So why waste money if you can get it for free?

[–] [email protected] 0 points 9 months ago

Yes, I can. Even if they're banned, they can easily get it. Buying that data isn't exactly an insurmountable amount of money for a state actor. A couple tens of millions? Piece of cake. And also, they're doing the same stuff everyone else is doing. So if we ban tiktoc guess we gotta ban Facebook, Twitter, etc... to keep the CCP's hands off the data. And your point about TOS is a good one. Technically they're not stealing it, hence the quotations. So yes, a ban is pointless. Especially if the argument is data security.

[–] 3volver -4 points 9 months ago

Indeed, yet it seems like there's a big push right now to ban it.