TikTok could be banned from America, thanks to proposed bipartisan bill The US government's crackdown on TikTok continues, with the latest salvo being a bipartisan bill that would outright ban the popular social media app from doing business in the country. TikTok is owned by Beijing-based ByteDance, which has led it to become a battleground for privacy advocates who argue that it could be used to …
"In China, no company is truly private. Under the country's 2017 National Intelligence Law, all citizens and businesses are required to assist in intelligence work, which includes sharing data,"
"In the United States, no company is truly private. Under the country's 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (and Executive Orders 12333 (1981), 13355 (2005), and 13470 (2008)), all businesses are required to assist in intelligence work, which includes sharing data,"
Under the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, there needs to be a warrant, probable cause, a time limit, and all unrelated records must be destroyed. Under China's law compliance is mandatory and continuous with no cause needed and cooperation must be unrestricted. Resistance is Futile.
Also, the U.S. law prohibits surveillance based solely on First Amendment activities - in other words, it's illegal for the gummint to implement surveillance because they don't like what you say. China has demonstrated that they will proactively implement surveillance only because they don't like what you say.
If you fail to comply with the USA law you are charged with a crime and then you go to trial. China has no such protections.
Now show me a case where illegal access to data by agencies has actually had consequences for the agency involved instead, and please don't tell me that the US does not engage in proactive surveillance via third parties such as Google and Microsoft (there's no real other explanation for the need to have local authentication to involve Microsoft servers otherwise IMHO).
Laws are pointless if they do not yield consequences for those who break them.
I'm not defending China here, but the US are not exactly shy either in helping themselves to information if it's in the national interest or if there's money to be made. They just make up more excuses for it.
Now show me a case where illegal access to data by agencies has actually had consequences for the agency involved
You have very valid points; however, I was pointing out what the law says. Enforcement is another matter and in the USA I admit is very selective, especially with the well-known politicization of the agencies responsible for these investigations.
I would suggest that the fuzzy line demarking "social media" lies more or less with the sites which are primarily people chatting/pontificatin/ranting on random subjects on one side and on the other, "not-social media" being the likes of comment section such this, which I suspect you are alluding to, where the conversation is generated and guided by the posted articles.
If Tic Toc is banned in the US, China could still get a majority of the information directly from data brokers for a small fee.
Congress has had many opportunities to pass some sort of privacy legislation but has backed away after some lobbying cash has been splashed around.
This is just another performance by a Congress-clown and the fact that the main beneficiary would be Facebook is indicative of how bad it really is.
I am an old curmudgeon, I don't understand TikTok. That said, the idea that TikTok poses some massive threat seems silly when the US is very happy to allow any other social media platform (And most tech companies) to essentially act as private surveillance companies selling personal data for profit. Practically the entire internet economy is built on the buying, selling and use of this information. Singling out TikTok is just sinophobia, I seriously doubt that the information they can get from TikTok is materially more important than all the information on the open market right now. The US needs comprehensive privacy protections, but I imagine that would be bad for profits and won't be happening.
The idea that China could use the platform to influence people may have more reality to it, but again it ignores the insane ideas that have sprouted up on US owned social media platforms (Which foreign actors could influence anyway). Facebook didn't need to be owned by a hostile nation to spread conspiracy theories like Q-Anon, and that isn't even considering the damage they have done overseas. Social media sites all make content decisions that influence public perceptions.
I can't tell if this is just cold war style fearmongering or if these politicians just prefer the US companies not face competition in the market, but it seems pretty unlikely to me that this is all in good faith.
Not that I disagree with any of this, but I do feel that a foreign government specifically directing the presentation of conspiracy theories (even if it's just by promoting the right user-generated-content) is a lot more concerning that conspiracy theories cropping up naturally on a platform.
Totally agree about privacy protections. They are a human right, let's make them civil.
You're right, a foreign power directing conspiracy theories (or other propaganda) is different from something organic. I don't think ownership of the platform is a necessary precondition though. Another country can still amplify harmful content on US owned platforms just from the user side as opposed to altering any suggestion algorithms. Still, platform ownership does matter there, it enables a more direct boosting of harmful content. This is definitely the best case for action on TikTok. At that point the argument is divorced from just talk about privacy and is more about what kind of regulation you should have on how platforms suggest, boost and limit content.
I think that is a thornier and more complicated topic than privacy protections. I try and avoid algorithmically chosen content personally, but I am not sure what kind of society level actions should be taken with regard to it.
I try to at least. I mostly just watch videos from a few creators I enjoy, and I manually check their channels periodically.
Every time I open youtube on a new PC before I pog on I am kind of shocked by what the default suggestions are. It really seems bleak in that generic view!
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