Interesting to note here: getting preteens to confusedly call Congress with threats of self harm and questions like “what is Congress” with a push notification is not the best plan
Democracy doesn’t work when centralized powers build tools like TikTok or Facebook to influence people’s thoughts with bias and other psychological hacks.
If it were me, I would ban all social media platforms larger than 100,000, and create task forces to reign in on predatory marketing and social media collusion.
People just can’t be trusted to see how they are constantly being manipulated by companies with deep pockets and foreign governments. Children and adults alike. It’s not people’s fault either.
Either that or we need a widespread social repudiation of these platforms, a wake up to the fact that our minds are constantly being poisoned, like Tobacco was reigned in.
Tobacco took like 50 years. I genuinely don’t think we have the time ;-)
I’ve never used TikTok and probably never will, but I still don’t think it’s the government’s job to decide what apps I’m allowed to use and what not. Educate people about the dangers of social media and if that doesn’t work then it’s out of your hands.
We will eventually scientifically determine the neurological impact of social media is both damaging long term and requires health treatment.
This isn’t about the content itself, it’s the addictive nature of how it’s delivered and the ability to rapidly manipulate people.
And this isn’t even about social media. This bill is to prevent the external data collection and manipulation of a group of people by an external to the US organization. If this was about with of those in general, then I’d be all about it. We need better data protections here in the US and we need social media platforms to be held accountable on that charge, but this isn’t that bill. This doesn’t affect Meta, or X or any other domestic site which are just as bad at both manipulation and data gathering/selling.
I totally agree that it’s bad for us but so are a thousand other things aswell. I wouldn’t want the government mandating what I can eat and drink, how much I have to sleep and exercise, what substances I’m allowed to smoke, which risky activities I can to partake in etc. I should be allowed to live an unhealthy lifestyle if I so decide.
If we’re going to ban TikTok based on the negative health effects then it seems a bit hypocritical to me that we’re ignoring things like sugar, tobacco and alcohol or if we’re strictly speaking of media content then porn should be the first thing to go. I don’t understand how one can be for banning one but not the another.
But the government literally already does that. There’s a whole food and drug administration. Weed isn’t completely de-scheduled yet despite the number of states that have legalized it. You literally can’t go to a shooting range without following the rules of the range, or go skydiving without signing a waiver, you can’t buy alcohol until you’re 21, and in some states can’t even buy cigarettes until then either. Want to rent a car? Can’t at 19. The government interferes in cases of public safety all the time.
That being said they aren’t attempting to ban tik tok because of the effects on the public’s mental health. That’s BS. They are trying to force the sale of tik tok to a US friendly tech company because they don’t like how much power the CCP has over it. The purpose isn’t to protect privacy or mental health. It’s to only allow companies friendly to the US to affect the mental health of its residents and collect their private data.
Disagree. It is the governments job to protect themselves and their citizens. The problem is the government only wants that responsibility when it suits them. When Google is collecting your data it’s fine. When Facebook is collecting your data and leaking it, and poisoning you with unsolicited propaganda, that’s fine. But when tik tok does it it’s not fine because tik tok is controlled by the CCP and they’re a foreign power who are trying to sabotage the US. This bill is a BS money grab being pushed by politicians who’s pockets are being lined by big American Tech companies. It has nothing to do with consumer protection because if it did, Facebook and Google and Twitter and Amazon would all be in the same boat.
American Tech companies
And AIPAC.
Do you also think the same about alcohol, tobacco, drugs and gambling?
3/4 of those are literally allowed in the United States and most of the rest of the world (in fact the US is stricter on drugs and alcohol than a lot of it’s peer nations.) And nobody’s forcing Smirnoff to sell to AB InBev.
You seem to be missing the point.
in fact the US is stricter on drugs and alcohol than a lot of it’s peer nations
This is exactly why I posted my comment: Those things are regulated since they have age restrictions/bans/taxes(tarrifs?). TikTok doesn’t have any of those. It’s not like you can tax TikTok use like you can tax alcohol use so I don’t understand your comparison with Smirnoff.
Yes. See my other reply.
Literally freedumb.
The only danger coming from TikTok is governments can no longer control the narrative, we are seeing through many government lies and hurting corporate profits. It’s helping break down the divisions that keep us separated and them in power.
After this staffer asked a caller to give their name to record their message, the young caller asked if they could leave their comment without giving out their information. The senior staffer recalled explaining that protecting the caller’s private information was exactly the point of the legislation they were calling about.
No, every other platform is free to violate your privacy and serve you up propaganda from domestic/foreign misinformation campaigns without any repercussions. If this bill addressed that in some way I would likely support it.
But this is about China, specifically. Russian bot/click farms and homegrown manipulation of social media platforms are a much more apparent and immediate issue that has already played a significantly role in the destruction of Democracy and accountability in this country.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-WI), who chairs the Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party and is a lead author of the bill, said he’d worked for eight months with colleagues including Ranking Member Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL) to prepare it.
Many members have already looked skeptically at the proliferation of pro-Palestinian messages on the app in the wake of the October 7th terrorist attack by Hamas, and the subsequent Israeli response that has killed tens of thousands of Gaza residents.
In a letter to Gallagher and Krishnamoorthi on Monday, TikTok’s vice president of public policy Michael Beckerman wrote, “It is offensive that you would complain about hearing from your constituents and seek to deny them of their constitutional rights.
Immediately before the House Energy and Commerce Committee voted 50–0 to pass the legislation last Thursday, they heard from representatives from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Department of Justice, and Office of the Director of National Intelligence in a classified hearing.
In a statement after the House vote on the TikTok bill, Cantwell said she’d try to find “a path forward that is constitutional and protects civil liberties,” but did not necessarily commit to advancing that exact legislation.
“I’m very concerned about foreign adversaries’ exploitation of Americans’ sensitive data and their attempts to build backdoors in our information communication technology and services supply chains,” Cantwell said.
The original article contains 2,511 words, the summary contains 224 words. Saved 91%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
censorship, censorship, censorship = narrative control. That simple.
