I guess it is better for stateless companies to use our data any way they want or the federal government to secretly have the cell phone companies give up our data without a warrant.
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Apple Explains Why It Removed TikTok From the App Store in the U.S.
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But we let the voice of the Trump political machine, Truth Social, free to corrupt the minds of the uneducated masses.When the US sends troops to take either of these by force, call me. Until then I won't hold me breath.
IMHO is almost a guarantee that China will take military action in Taiwan.
On this we can agree, see it finally happened!
Tell me you don't live in the US without telling me you don't live in the US.Fake news son.
I don't see "ban social media", I see ban one that is effectively owned by the CCP. There is a difference.
X is not banned in China, just like how Facebook/Google are not banned in China either. These companies simply opted not to operate in China because they chose not to comply with Chinese internet security laws (which is totally their prerogative). That’s why there were numerous reports of meta/Google trying to develop China compliant versions like project dragonfly a while back before there was an outcry. If they were truly banned this wouldn’t have happened in the first place. Apps that do comply like iMessage function just fine.
The problem with the TikTok ban is that it only targets a specific company and doesn’t really do much to set standards solve a wider problem. It just becomes a game of arbitrary whack-a-mole with profit motives on the side. Even if we assume the data security risks are legitimate, this law does nothing to protect users from other Chinese apps.
It's hilarious for Apple to say that they're "obligated" to follow the law in each jurisdiction because of the way they clearly refused to follow the law in the EU. But I guess censorship isn't a problem for Apple since it doesn't affect their money
The way they kowtow to authoritarian governments like China and Trump is sickening
The way they kowtow to authoritarian governments like China and Trump is sickening
Since that's not what's going on, it doesn't apply
They believe they’re following the law in the EU (and the EU hasn’t told them they aren’t, for what it’s worth).
Even if we take that argument at face value, why aren’t the other thousands of Chinese apps, especially ones that use Chinese servers, banned by the law of the threat is so serious? There’s nothing in the law to prevent another Chinese app from taking its place. Why was there universal no standards set at the federal level for data protection for American users instead of targeting a specific company? The profit motive behind this is extremely blatant.
It’s not about profit. The issue is having a geopolitical adversary having the ability to tweak an incredibly popular algorithm used by over a hundred million Americans to weaponize propaganda to advance their interests. Which the Chinese have already done with TikTok. If any other company owned or controlled by China (or other foreign advisory) becomes as popular as TikTok (I believe the metric is over 1 million active US users in two of the previous three months), then the law will apply to them too.
If it truly wasn't about profits, the law would have set automatic and universal standards for national security for all apps with Chinese ownership or Chinese servers. There was no reason that thousands of Chinese apps should be left on the App Store to be potential replacements for TikTok (as we saw with people flooding to RedNote).
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Again, it does set standards. If one of those apps gets over a million monthly active US users then the law applies to them. If they have fewer users, it’s not a national security issue.
Not automatically. The law singles out TikTok and for apps other than it, it has to have over 1 million monthly active user and presidential approval to require divestiture. It more or less becomes a matter of political convenience for the president when it comes to regulating companies that are not TikTok. It’s quite obviously targeted toward it specifically. If the base assumption was that all Chinese-owned social media apps are also controlled by the Chinese government, the law would have applied universally and not made this differentiation.
In any case, having 200 apps collect data from 1 million users each isn’t necessarily better than 1 app having 200 million users from a privacy perspective, but it does differ a lot from a profitability perspective.
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I think the bigger concern isn’t data security but the risk of social engineering. By subtly curating a generation’s feed to reflect specific ideologies, you can shape their worldview and make them more susceptible to influence.
That list is impressive…What is this Twitter you speak of?
If that is what Germany feels is in the best interest of its citizens, then I am fine with that. Any country, can choose whom they to do business with. China has banned many things from many countries, as have others.
List of websites blocked in mainland China - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
According to the list above, they are blocked…
But doesn’t that specifically go against free speech? What place does the government have of dictating what ideology should be censored or not in a society that is supposed to have free speech enshrined as a fundamental right?
Please reread my comment. These sites are not blocked because the government decided to target them specifically but rather because they chose not to spend the time and resources to make their site compliant with Chinese censorship laws. It takes a lot of resources and manpower to do the moderation (with also a huge risk of bad PR with western customers), and a lot of western tech companies simply decided it wasn’t worth it. As you can see from that list, sites that comply like Skype and Bing, or sites that don’t have politically questionable material like the NWS function just fine. That list is also not exhaustive. There are millions of western sites both blocked and unblocked that are not part of that list.
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The first amendment doesn’t apply to foreign companies. All the first amendment says is the government can’t punish American citizens for their speech (with limited exceptions for things like death threats, etc.).
I’d also add the app or the algorithm isn’t banned. The law simply says that foreign adversaries can’t own apps with more than 1,000,000 monthly active users if the President determines it’s a national security issue. If TikTok was partially owned by Japan instead of China it wouldn’t be an issue.
Trump stopped short by not giving Elon an office in the Oval Office complex. Does anyone believe that Elon would have the ear of the president if he supported the views of the Democratic party ?
Russia and China won the day it became acceptable that you speak of your fellow citizens this way. This is how "they" win. They have a country divided, unable to get anything substantial done since each administration spends 90% of their energy undoing the work of the previous administration. As a proud Canadian I am terrified that his disease of hate is spreading north.
FOX labels those that don't agree with Republican viewpoints as the enemy. Haters gonna hate.
I’m not saying the law itself is unconstitutional, simply the fact that it results in the federal government being able to use this method to determine what’s the “right” ideology for Americans, which is against the spirit of free speech.
On the contrary. The law creates a separate category specifically for TikTok and its affiliates by name without additional determination. The other category is, as you say, for apps with 1 million+ users where the president has the deciding power.