Again. Not a TikTok ban law. A ByteDance ban law.
ByteDance could sell their stake, and TikTok would be just fine in the US.such a silly semantic statement
TikTok exists in its current manifestation because it is managed by ByteDance
If you sold TikTok to an American company it would immediately change into a different entity.
If we’re gonna play word games I’d call it a “anti-foreign social media ban”
now i’ll ask a question
are they banning it because it’s competition for our social media companies? so is this an economic anti-china policy designed to protect american company interests?
or are they banning it because right now TikTok is one of the larger social media platforms and it’s the only one that doesn’t have to bow down to the DOJ or DOD? i don’t think it’s a coincidence they’re banning the platform with some of the loudest leftist anti-government voices
I don’t buy the national security angle one bit. It’s like pretending the PATRIOT Act was to protect kids. It’s a veneer. Scratch off the surface and you realize if China wanted data on Americans, they can just buy it legally and cheaply from American data brokers
It’s not a semantic argument at all. It may be nuanced for some, but it is a vital, material difference.
First. You can’t know if it will substantially change under new management. That’s speculation
They aren’t banning ByteDance do to it being competition with domestic platforms. If that were the case the ban would be for TikTok directly. One example for it being a material difference.
Second. Yes. The fact that they are at least partly beyond our justice and regulatory system, is part of the reason for the ban. But it’s only a real concern because…
Third. They can and have already been shown to subtly manipulate the algorithm to artificially elevate China’s image.
It’s got absolutely nothing to do with China collecting data on Americans. As you said that’s laughable on the face of it.
First. You can’t know if it will substantially change under new management. That’s speculation
you would fundamental shift the power structure of the company. in one instance, it’s a company that ultimately answers to Chinese investors and the CCP.
in the other, it would answer to American executives and the US government.
the incentive structures are wildly different between these two. for example, if it’s an American company and the NSA comes knocking asking for data… they are under much more pressure to quietly bend over.
i think it’s absurd to say the company wouldn’t change. if the company wouldn’t change, they wouldn’t be forcing ByteDance to sell in the first place. they are forcing the sell because they need TikTok to change
Third. They can and have already been shown to subtly manipulate the algorithm to artificially elivate China’s image
yeah, they want to be able to subtly manipulate the algorithm to show pro-US propaganda instead.
forget about free speech and rights to association and all that, i guess
Management changes don’t necessarily mean product changes. TikTok is killing it. No reason to risk screwing it up.
As much as people think the US social media companies manipulate their algorithms for political purposes, nobody has demonstrated it. They’re only geared to maximize engagement, and profit.
