Responding to a lawsuit from video-sharing platform TikTok, the US Justice Department argued that China could order the company to manipulate TikTok’s algorithm and expand Beijing’s “malign influence.”
The US Justice Department defended a law that aims to either ban TikTok or force it to divest its assets in the US after the social media company filed a lawsuit against the legislation.
Under the law, the social media platform will have to find a non-Chinese buyer or face a ban in the US by January 19, 2025.
The Chinese-based TikTok is challenging the law before a US appeals court.
Fun fact: Tiktok’s main competition are all owned by entities that spy just as much and are beholden to SEVERAL oppressive regimes rather than just one.
Two of them have even been instrumental in foreign actors successfully influencing the results of US elections, unlike Tiktok.
Then again, they’re based in the US and supply politicians with more legal bribes, so they’re exempt from even the most basic accountability.
X is owned by a South African and middle easterners, and is actively doing the things they fear TikTok May do today. Where is the outrage and laws banning X?
I know what you’re saying, and I agree that X is extremely problematic.
I think the difference is that X is owned by private individuals, whereas they’re saying here that TikTok is under the control of the Chinese state. I wonder if there are different rules at play for estate actors?
OR…and hear me out, two things might be bad at the same time.
Hell, maybe ALL of the things. Maybe too much information is being shared and traded.
Man… the red scare really did a number on the American psyche…
This comment section better remember that you can’t even order from McDonalds anymore without creating an account online. Hell, as of a few weeks ago I can’t even update apps on my personally purchased smart TV without creating a fucking account and letting them link my email to data they already have from Experian (all US companies btw). Tiktok is just a fucking scapegoat so y’all wont push for actual privacy protection laws.
If Tiktok gets sold to a US company nothing will change about their practices the CCP will just buy the data from a 3rd party vendor owned by a US LLC.
Why stop at just tiktok? All social media and hyper-targeted advertising poses the same threat and can be misused just as easily. It’s almost as if, and this is shocking I know, advertising and online privacy should be very strictly regulated as a national security concern.
Lobbying funds. $20M annually from Meta alone.
https://www.opensecrets.org/federal-lobbying/clients/summary?id=D000033563
And for all mankind too.
