this post was submitted on 12 Jan 2025
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[–] [email protected] 10 points 2 days ago (2 children)

I might be killed, but seeing the comments i feel like lemmy is getting too into the zone of umm like judging the action based on the person instead of judging the action/statement itself, yeah the US gov is a piece of shit, and also they probably don't have the peoples best interest in mind, but the act of banning tiktok, according to me, is a right move, i can see nd myself have felt the humongous mental impact it has on teens (like me) basically killing their attention span, and making them feel like they need to pick up their phone, heck kids cant read 10pages from their physics book, infact reading a page only thoroughly is a tough task for most of them, and i m not talking abt a few select cases, i can see this in 95% of kids (this is anecdotal tho), ever since i stopped using reels/tiktoks/shorts, i can feel my mind improving

Also the whole slew of misinformation and propaganda tiktok is, is another issue

Again I agree with ppl that the US doesn’t hv the ppls best interest, but i do feel this might help atleast some ppl break their addiction, so many I know are aware they r addicted but can’t stop, banning the app altogether might help

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 days ago (2 children)

I don't use tiktok because I don't want to get addicted personally, and I know a few people who borderline are.

That's not the point though, not the real one anyway. Even if this ban was going through with good intentions, it doesn't actually solve anything. Everyone will just find a new PRISM-compatable app to get addicted to. The government's "action/statement itself" is precisely the problem. If they passed a law that forbid certain addicting behaviors, and TikTok ran afoul of that law, then I'd likely be in support, because it bans those behaviors in general. But that's not what's happening here, instead the government is targeting the individual company, so it's pretty clear to me that the cited privacy and addiction concerns are only an excuse. Don't take this combatively, I just think this is important, but I think that ironically you're the one who needs to separate the action from the actors. I think you're underestimating how dangerous a precedence this sets.

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[–] hark 45 points 2 days ago (10 children)

Can someone explain to me how it's worse for a foreign government to have your information than your own government having that same information? Your own government is far more likely to actually be able to do something about you.

[–] Semi_Hemi_Demigod 11 points 2 days ago

Foreign governments are supposed to buy information from American social media companies. Tik Tok cut out the middleman so they're getting banned.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 days ago

Yup, much better to let a foreign evil government have your data than the local evil government that actually has control where you live.

[–] JargonWagon 11 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

It probably won't make a difference for you, but if you worked in a government facility and they're spying on you, obtaining credentials, obtaining information on infrastructure in the energy sector, government facilities, etc., getting network credentials, getting floorplans, getting times where a changing of the guard occurs, etc. - any foreign entity can use that info to tear a country down from the inside and kick off a full scale war.

Local government isn't going to self-saborage with that information. Yeah, spying on the citizens is awful and we should avoid any apps/devices that do that too, but that's not as bad as war unless it gets so bad that it gets to a point of civil war which seems unlikely.

inb4 tankies claim "conspiracy":
China hacked US Telecom Infrastructure
China hacking US Treasury
Two recent events I was able to dig up fairly quickly. Wouldn't be surprised if there's more. Apparently they tapped Trump's phone too, but not sure how credible the article/source is.

[–] hark 9 points 2 days ago

That's true but it doesn't apply to the vast majority of people. People who work in the government should be more aware of these things and I believe the tiktok ban started as only on government devices which is a lot more reasonable than a blanket ban.

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[–] [email protected] 72 points 3 days ago (18 children)

Imagine cheering that your government decided witch social media are you allowed to use.

[–] BeMoreCareful 21 points 3 days ago (2 children)

Well yeah, but it's the US government which hasn't ever done anything problematic before. I'm sure it's for everyone's best interest. /S

Which if that were true, still wouldn't matter.

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[–] SmilingSolaris 13 points 2 days ago

This meme brought to you by some poor CIA agent

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[–] FrankFrankson 75 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (18 children)

There is sooooo much weird conspiracy shit in these comments. The government is banning TikTok becuase they collect too much data and the Chinese government could eaisly get access to all of it. The correct thing to do would be to regulate data collection but that would be problematic for Google, Meta, Microsoft, Apple..etc etc... so instead they just ban TikTok. All this TikTok refusing to spread deep state US govt propaganda horse shit is a bit past nuts.

[–] surph_ninja 7 points 2 days ago

They’re not hiding it. It’s not a “conspiracy” when it’s out the in the open.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/blinken-romney-israel-hamas-tiktok-b2540021.html

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[–] [email protected] 75 points 3 days ago (12 children)
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[–] Lulzagna 6 points 2 days ago (3 children)

It wasn't. There's zero proof of this currently.

The app is banned because congress can't control. They want you using the platforms where you can't become class or politically aware.

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[–] Filthmontane 65 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Oh yeah, I forgot the other social media apps don't collect data and spew propaganda. Oh wait... They do.

[–] [email protected] 37 points 3 days ago

Yeah but only for the benevolent western ultra rich oligarchs, so it's gucci.

[–] alekwithak 21 points 2 days ago
[–] [email protected] 58 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (13 children)

FTFY

edit : ooooh the wee St Petersburg trollies are tryin’ ta tryin’ ta ain’tcha!

News flash, responder-guys: if you’re even humans & not the AI bots who took most of your colleagues’ jobs, you’re still always be undervalued by your bosses. They’ll never, ever save you: they’ll save their Teslas and stock portfolios instead. Your life kinda sucks and there’s nothing you can do about it AND YOU CHOSE THIS LIFE, DIDNT YOU. Free yourself. Quit this shit job and go back to school before it’s too late.

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[–] Sorgan71 13 points 2 days ago (9 children)

I think tiktok should be banned for its addictive algorithm. It is far worse than any other social media for that reason.

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

I think it should be banned because of all the noisy cunts using it on public transport.

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[–] De_Narm 213 points 4 days ago (18 children)

The last panel applies to every other social media, just replace the spying country.

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[–] [email protected] 59 points 3 days ago (40 children)

Tiktok got banned not for peddling "chinese propaganda" but instead not peddling the US one.

All the major tech companies in the US take measures to ensure content deemed unworthy by the government never become mainstream or viral.

This is done under the pretense of stopping "hate speech" or "terroristic propaganda" but often include things like pro-palestinian content or class struggle content (like luigi mangione stuff).

Tiktok was bold enough to not do that by default, cuz they wanted someone to ask them to do this and then it would become a huge scandal about how the US suppresses free speech. And US gov don't want to do that for this exact reason as well. So they decided to ban it.

Remember talks for this "law" were initiated when all of a sudden tiktok became a host for pro-palestinian voices. We should ask ourselves, how is it that 60% of americans want the government to stop arms sales to israel but this 60% never shows up on the big social media platforms. But on other platforms like here in lemmy and tiktok, pro-palestinians is the majority.

For further reading, listen to employees fired from big US tech companies for voicing their concerns over the palestine issue, or read Meta's new terms and conditions specially the section on "dangerous organizations and individuals".

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[–] surph_ninja 4 points 2 days ago (7 children)

Disinformation.

TikTok has been under control of the State Dept for years, since TikTok transferred custody of US servers to Oracle. The ban is to force a sale to a US competitor, and decrease transparency on censorship activities, especially regarding Palestine and pro-communism material.

https://www.mintpressnews.com/tiktok-chinese-trojan-horse-run-by-state-department-officials/284353/

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