It takes a particular kind of brain rot to believe that people who don't live in america, and don't do the majority of their business in america, care more about influencing the american people than those who live in america and do the majority of their business in america.

The ban is for the interests of politicians who want to stop the discorse happening on tiktok, and tech companies who want to run a shortform video site and have been unsuccessful in creating their own.

If tiktok is doing what they are accused of, reasonable legislation would ban that practice. When the bill is written to try and let google or facebook buy a successful implementation of shortform video, you know you have an entirely corrupt government.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Exactly! The biggest documented case of foreign influence on Americans happened through Meta’s Facebook, a US company now cozying up to the incoming administration. This isn’t about security—it’s about protecting monopolies and silencing competition. Real concern would mean regulating behavior, not banning rivals.

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

As a democracy, its probably a bad idea to have one of your biggest content-distribution-algorithm controlled by an antagonistic Nation.

[–] Hildegarde 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

as a democratic nation its probably a bad idea to allow a small number of businesses to control content distribution. Apps should be regulated based on their actions and practices, not national origin.

disinformation does not become a good thing when produced domestically.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 day ago

Yea, there do be more than one problem, but it's a start

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 day ago

too late russia already has our ass on that count 😔😔

[–] [email protected] 63 points 2 days ago (2 children)

For context, this is a Chinese social media platform called "RedNote," aka Xiaohongshu which literally means "Little Red Book." Apparently TikTok users have begun to migrate there in protest of the TikTok ban. I'd imagine there are Chinese government astroterfing efforts to boost the campaign (assuming it didn't start in China).

However, the ban was such a foolish move by Democrats in the first place, that I'd be happy if Xiaoshongshu gains traction. The TikTok ban was one of many out of touch moves by the Democrats that got us a fascist dictatorship. The government will probably use the same law to ban this app too, and for all his support of TikTok now, I doubt Trump will stop that from happening. If populist leftists are smart, they will distance themselves from the ban and the nationalist libs who pushed for it.

As much as TikTok did allow invasive spying and manipulation by China, the billionaires of this country do worse. No need to defend TikTok or China; we just need to refocus the issue as a distraction from the class conflict that centralized social media inherently suppresses. Centralized platforms in China work exactly the same way, so it's not like Americans being allowed to interact with Chinese citizens is all bad. Maybe Americans will introduce marginal dissent while the government allows us in temporarily (unlikely, but their government isn't all powerful or anything)

[–] [email protected] 32 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (2 children)

As much as TikTok did allow invasive spying and manipulation by China

Except they didn't, they literally handle US data differently than every other country to keep it on US-based servers and hired a bunch of US spooks. Do you think China wanted Tiktok deranking BLM videos in 2020?

You don't have to uncritically accept everything the state department tells you.

[–] [email protected] 34 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Like all other social media, they harvest an invasive amount of data. Not more than meta apps or anything, but it is part of standard capitalist practice. They exist, like every mainstream social media platform in China or America, to promote economic interests in a corporate system. It deranked BLM videos because deranking popular dissent is part and parcel with selling to advertisers. China doesn't even need a backdoor, just the basic understanding of how it's similar to all their own apps.

China is another capitalist empire under a different flag. They're neoliberal to the bone, only better at exploiting the system than America in certain ways. They don't want to undermine the global capitalist order, as they're quite good at winning in it. They've become more nationalistic and hawkish militarily, but that's a direct result of neoliberalism. It quickly becomes unpopular if there aren't internal and external scapegoats. The degenerate western influences are scapegoated there, while the degenerate commie immigrants are the enemy here.

All of it serves to protect power. Trump will adopt many strategies from them, because that is what their government exists to do.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 2 days ago (1 children)

harvesting makes it sound like genuine work which i'm not a fan of.. - like they are farmers actually harvesting stuff and making use of it (which, sure they make use of it but also eh, i donn wanna put that into the same category as genuine human labour.. which i know it is labour, but hmgrrrr idk feels bad.)

[–] [email protected] 8 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Scraping I'd say

[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Mooching

[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Smooching :3

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

rawr can i has ur identifiable personal data? UwU

[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 days ago

And they literally did, there were multiple investigations and reports that Chinese admins got access to these US servers

[–] [email protected] 13 points 2 days ago

I actually am immediately seeing some significant class consciousness going on over there. Tiktok communities immediately bonded with the Chinese users over their love for Luigi Mangione. Politics discussion is not allowed on the app, but you can see the Chinese users communicate their feelings of the CCP in kind of a wink and nod manner.

Regarding your astroturfing comment… maybe? I think Lemmy forgets that fediverse and Reddit hate Instagram Facebook and Twitter exactly as much as the rest of the English speaking internet does. I would point out that the most astroturf-y thing that’s happened is from the hands of Congress. Americans are pretty much primed for this by the blatant xenophobia showed at those hearings and the phony “concern for user safety” when Meta and X with its demonstrable damages gets a free pass.

[–] [email protected] 30 points 2 days ago

From memory Ross was a pretty annoying character but HOT DAMN does this meme do him dirty, Ross the Twitter, Facebook and Instagram of the Friends group, oof

[–] Sonicdemon86 31 points 2 days ago (5 children)

The funny thing is that the law states "a foreign adversary controlled application" is what is getting banned, e.i. all Chinese apps are being banned. It doesn't state that it is a TikTok ban. All apps owned by a foreign adversary say all Russian apps or all Iran apps would also be banned under this law. The people that are upset are only looking at one app, it is all of owned not by a US company that are in danger.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 day ago

The act gives the president discretion in order to determine if something is a "foreign adversary controlled application", not just if a certain state or entity is a "foreign adversary". So blanket bans on companies from certain countries is certainly a possibility but not guaranteed.

[–] [email protected] 19 points 2 days ago

Congress is just… an openly fascist body now huh. /gen

Ooh ooh! We should put up a giant firewall next to protect our users from all those adversaries. Call it “Great” after the G in MAGA! That will show those authoritarian fuckers over at CCP! /s

[–] [email protected] 7 points 2 days ago

damn, i guess Americans won't be on Tencent and riot games anymore lmao

[–] Nalivai 13 points 2 days ago (1 children)

That's even worse actually. Putin did exactly that to be the only one who controls the media, and look what it got him

[–] [email protected] 8 points 2 days ago (1 children)

A very long dictatorship and as many boats and bitches as he wants?

[–] Nalivai 4 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

A very long dictatorship but actually not a lot of boats. Most were either seized or sunk. Bitches however are plenty, he made the whole country his bitch. It's debatable how happy it made him

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

Rip my American friends on Telegram (?)

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

It never works out the way you hoped, you ignorant robber barons