Derek Powazek 🐐Mar 23, 2023

The #TikTok congressional hearing today was depressing as hell. Meta spent millions lobbying Congress, and it worked. Politician after politician lambasted the TikTok CEO for problems that Facebook created or exacerbated WAY before TikTok ever came around.

This whole thing stinks of xenophobia and sets a scary precedent.

Show threadDerek Powazek 🐐Mar 23, 2023

If Congress really wants to protect Americans, secure our private data, and punish social media companies for not doing enough to prevent harm to Americans, they should write some fucking legislation to do that.

But no, it's easier to just make a punching bag out of the CEO of a foreign company.

And it came from Democrats, too! So this really is a "both sides suck" moment.

Fucking embarrassing.

Show threadDerek Powazek 🐐Mar 23, 2023
Every problem they brought up - kids, privacy, safety, content moderation - is shared by every social media company. Are there problems that need addressing there? Fuck yeah there are. But the only thing unique to TikTok is its Chinese ownership (and the fact that Meta has been spending millions to lobby against them because they can't compete on the merits).
Show threadDerek Powazek 🐐Mar 23, 2023
Is it a problem when products that are popular in America are owned by Chinese companies? I dunno, maybe we should ask AMC Theaters, Riot Games, General Electric, and the Chicago Stock Exchange (?!), all of which are owned by Chinese investors.
https://www.cnbc.com/2017/05/11/10-iconic-american-companies-owned-by-chinese-investors.html
Daniel ChapmanMar 23, 2023
Show threadDerek Powazek 🐐

So it's not about about protecting Americans from social media companies (if it was, there's be more than one there).

And it's not about Chinese ownership (they own a ton of American companies).

So what is it about? It's a moral panic, and it's been bought and paid for by Meta/Facebook since at least last year. https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/03/30/facebook-tiktok-targeted-victory/

Facebook paid GOP firm to malign TikTok

Targeted Victory pushed local operatives across the country to boost messages calling TikTok a threat to American children. “Dream would be to get stories with headlines like ‘From dances to danger,'" one campaign director said.

The Washington Post
Mar 23, 2023 at 9:52pmWeb
Show threadDerek Powazek 🐐Mar 23, 2023
Call your reps. Tell them you want meaningful protections of your personal data from ALL social media companies, but you don't want to see TikTok singled out.
Show threadDerek Powazek 🐐Mar 23, 2023

Vice has it right here: Banning TikTok Is Unconstitutional, Ludicrous, and a National Embarrassment

https://www.vice.com/en/article/epv48n/banning-tiktok-is-unconstitutional-ludicrous-and-a-national-embarrassment

Banning TikTok Is Unconstitutional, Ludicrous, and a National Embarrassment

It would also be an act of charity for Facebook, which the government has utterly failed to meaningfully regulate.

Show threadKelly GuimontMar 23, 2023
@fraying this right here. The whole kerfuffle would be a non-issue if we had anything resembling data protection in the first place.