bazkie bumpercar | unfluencer

It's weird to me how scared the US government is of TikTok, while stuff like Twitter or Instagram apparently is A-OK.

Why aren't Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk being interrogated about whether they sell userdata to the CCP?

What's the real difference between these companies, other than the CEO being Chinese in TikTok's case?

(This is an honest question btw; I'm not very knowledgeable on TikTok; it all just seems weird to me, and maybe a bit racist)

#TikTok

Mar 24, 2023 at 12:31amWeb
Show threadDefiance!Mar 24, 2023

@bazkie I have the same question. Just doing some reading about it now and hearing a recap on tv. I fear it comes down to Sinophobia because the questions asked by Congress seemed to indicate Bytedance's ownership by "China" (do they not have individual investors??) was their biggest concern. Otherwise, they seemed concerned about social media in general, as mentioned in this article.

https://www.vox.com/technology/23653884/tiktok-hearing-shou-chew-winners-losers

TikTok CEO’s testimony in Congress offers few clues about a ban

TikTok, and its CEO Shou Chew, never really stood a chance.

Vox
Show threadbazkie bumpercar | unfluencerMar 24, 2023

@Defiance Yeah just to be clear, I share those concerns about social media in general. Honestly I think they should all be regulated or banned, but maybe I'm a bit extreme in that regard :P

Thanks for the link, nice article, it focuses on some other things than the CNN I had read before.

Show threadKrazyMeanieMar 24, 2023
@bazkie It's not a race problem. It's a government problem. I don't know if you know but China has banned Facebook, Google, Insta and most if not all American social media platforms in their country. This commotion with Tiktok is just the US doing the same thing. The US isn't against the Chinese people it's against the Chinese government.
Show threadbazkie bumpercar | unfluencerMar 24, 2023
@krazydev You mean it's more of a "sending a message to China"-move? (as opposed to actually being worried about the CCP getting the userdata)
Show threadKrazyMeanieMar 24, 2023
@bazkie In my opinion pretty much. While the argument of whether or not the CCP is stealing and using US citizens data is true, it seems that its more of an excuse to "have" for American citizens. This isn't the first incident of ban wars between China and the US, its just the more popular one because it's Tiktok. (Look into the Huawei ban).
Show threadbazkie bumpercar | unfluencerMar 24, 2023

@krazydev Sounds plausible!

I wonder though, since TikTok is so popular, if banning it wouldn't be a "shooting themselves in the foot" thing; a lot of people would probably hate the government over it.

Show threadKrazyMeanieMar 24, 2023
@bazkie Honestly this one is sure to stir up alot of push back. Lots of content creators and their fans are gonna be upset about this, not to mention, people from the LGBTQ community that grew alot with the aid of Tiktok. I'm just as curious as you in terms of where this goes and how people would react.