[HN Gopher] Nationwide Ban on TikTok Inches Closer to Reality
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Nationwide Ban on TikTok Inches Closer to Reality
Author : arkadiyt
Score : 71 points
Date : 2023-01-29 19:19 UTC (3 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (gizmodo.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (gizmodo.com)
| grapesurgeon wrote:
| [dead]
| readonthegoapp wrote:
| I'd be surprised if this happens
|
| Because we usually are more subtle about our censorship and
| anticompetitive behavior
|
| Think al azeera
| Vecr wrote:
| What's "al azeera"? You mean Al Jazeera?
| xiphias2 wrote:
| ,, TikTok is China's backdoor into Americans' lives." He added,
| "It threatens our children's privacy as well as their mental
| health''
|
| At this point the legislation should just copy Chinese law: it
| already limits what social media can show to kids to just
| education, and also disallows apps from other countries.
| imbnwa wrote:
| Except the point isn't anyone's mental health or privacy, or
| they would've acted on Facebook or Instagram a long time ago.
| This is a campaign to eliminate TikTok as a competitor in the
| American social media market, nothing more.
| xeromal wrote:
| I disagree. I'd say it's more of "We own American data
| through typical backdoor channels. China shouldn't have that
| privilege". As an American citizen though, I'm inclined to
| agree.
| pessimizer wrote:
| Not even. It's a campaign to threaten TikTok into giving
| censorship and editorial power to the US government
| equivalent to what they have on the other large social media
| networks, and it already worked.
|
| Now it's just grandstanding from local nationalists.
| ergocoder wrote:
| "grandstanding from local nationalists"?
|
| You do know China and US are in multiple global conflicts,
| right?
| devinprater wrote:
| A good start. Ban Facebook next.
| lopkeny12ko wrote:
| > The app has already been banned on state-issued devices in 28
| states and is facing a blanket ban across all federal employees
| that would prohibit them from using or downloading TikTok on
| government-owned devices.
|
| Is it just me, or does this sound completely reasonable and not
| at all newsworthy? Why were government employees, with
| government-owned devices, allowed to install any third party apps
| (much less social media apps) to begin with?
|
| I don't need any security clearance for my job yet my employer
| MDM-managed device only allows about 10 work-approved apps to be
| installed.
| pessimizer wrote:
| > Is it just me, or does this sound completely reasonable and
| not at all newsworthy?
|
| It's not even you. You seem to find it notable that government
| employees were allowed to install social media apps at all, so
| you must find it baffling that they banned TikTok and didn't
| ban the others.
| blondin wrote:
| well, most government have a social media presence. it seems
| easier to reach people that way. why wouldn't they allow
| these apps on employees devices, or at least some employees?
| ThinkBeat wrote:
| It is reasonable to ban all social media of any kind of on an
| employee phone in my opinion.
|
| The government deciding that you can use set of social media
| apps but not another one is not as reasonable.
|
| (Somewhat depending on what classifies as social media, where I
| would put "hooking up sites" in a different category)
| TAForObvReasons wrote:
| It is not unreasonable for governments to require all apps be
| published by US companies
| noitpmeder wrote:
| So I shouldn't be able to install an Australian banking app
| on my US phone?
| TAForObvReasons wrote:
| It's not unreasonable for the US federal government to
| ban employees of the US federal government from using
| Australian banking apps on work devices issued by the US
| federal government.
|
| It is a separate conversation if any of those variables
| change.
| dpkirchner wrote:
| What counts as a US company? TikTok Inc is based out of
| California.
| tenpies wrote:
| [flagged]
| alberth wrote:
| Genuine question... what does TikTok do from a privacy concern
| that FB isn't already doing?
|
| Because if it's the same, this feels like US nationalism (and the
| US creating its own version of the Great Firewall like China does
| to us).
| thehappypm wrote:
| FB will send requested data to the USA, not China. That's
| really it.
| alberth wrote:
| Dumb question: are you suggesting FB doesn't have to comply
| with other (non-US) government data requests?
| mattnewton wrote:
| Not for the data of US citizens, no?
|
| I'd imagine (but don't know) that they do for the citizens
| of those countries, but wouldn't, for example, give your
| list of Facebook groups to the Indian government if asked.
| The later sounds like a major incident for FB to me but if
| TikTok was asked by the Chinese government we might not
| even know.
| ergocoder wrote:
| I'm surprised that people don't know nor understand this huge
| huge difference.
|
| Don't they know US and China are opposing global super power
| with multiple region conflicts like Taiwan, Japan, and etc.?
| Overtonwindow wrote:
| Would this really work? Between side loading, and VPN, this might
| just force an entire generation of people to learn about block
| avoidance
| laweijfmvo wrote:
| Not to mention the security nightmare of teens everywhere
| googling "how to sideload TikTok" and following whatever the
| first result says to do.
| laweijfmvo wrote:
| Actually, if I was China and wanted to spy on US citizens, I
| do this
|
| - Release an "official" version of TikTok APK with
| sideloading instructions, which no longer has to pass app
| store scrutiny and oh, btw, make sure you allow the app to
| install software, so it can "update itself"
|
| - Start a bunch of VPNs under a bunch of made up company
| names and pay Youtubers to vouch for them and give them away
| for free
|
| Congratulations, NOW China has ALL your data!
| threatofrain wrote:
| Merely putting chocolate milk on a somewhat higher shelf will
| substantively discourage buying. Making it difficult to find
| pirated media increases demand for subscription services.
| Making it so you have to follow a slightly off-beaten path to
| sideload apps means no company wants to do it, because
| difficulty works.
| idopmstuff wrote:
| It's probably good enough to shift people to competitors. When
| it gets that much harder to use, a lot of people will go to
| Facebook/Instagram/whatever, and if enough of them go then
| network effects will bring the rest.
| nonrandomstring wrote:
| It's a win-win situation really isn't it? If the ban works
| young people are shielded from corrosive mind addling junk. To
| the extent it fails they learn to circumvent patrician
| censorship. Hard to see any downsides.
| jacooper wrote:
| > If the ban works young people are shielded from corrosive
| mind addling junk.
|
| Have you even tried Instagram reels or YouTube shorts? They
| are the same if not even worse.
|
| What happening here is that the US tasted its own medicine of
| foreign tech influence for the first time. The US government
| always complained when other countries put limits on their
| companies, yet now they are doing the same, heck unlike the
| EU they are completely banning it!
|
| If tiktok was american or European, no body would've bat an
| eye.
| verdverm wrote:
| > If tiktok was american or European, no body would've bat
| an eye.
|
| That's because most Chinese companies are subservient to
| the Chinese Communist Party, whom are doing all within
| their power to undermine the West. Influencing young people
| is just one part of that. Is there something wrong with
| calling it out and preventing it, or should we just let
| them manipulate opinions?
| the_only_law wrote:
| No, but don't for a second pretend that banning a single
| app will shield young people "corrosive mind addling
| junk".
| mc32 wrote:
| The app is more of a "like to have" more than a want or need.
| So it would seem people would migrate elsewhere with no big
| loss (with exception of so called "influencers" who parallel
| parasitism than productivity.
| s1mon wrote:
| I've played with some of the competitors* and nothing else has
| the responsive UX, or algorithm or the critical mass of
| creators. The only thing I haven't tried is Snapchat.
|
| * Triller, YouTube Shorts, Instagram Reels, Byte, Clash, Likee,
| and Dubsmash.
| [deleted]
| ghoomketu wrote:
| Nationwide bans do work. Tiktok was banned in India even though
| it was quite popular here. After ban its usage almost flat-
| lined within days.
|
| I think an app like that needs a lot of mass and momentum and
| side-loading and VPN are limited to a very few savvy users.
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