Dan Gillmor

TikTok is, as security expert Bruce Schneier says, part of a "shady" company.

China is a vile dictatorship that censors and spies on its people, and is an international predator.

But Congress members are lying when they pretend that banning TikTok is a solution to the problems Congress itself has allowed to fester -- namely the tech and big data industries' relentless spying on all of us.

Solve that, with tough laws, and TikTok is much less of an issue. Hint: Congress prefers theatrics.

Mar 29, 2023 at 1:04amWeb
Show threadcobalt going beige todayMar 29, 2023
@dangillmor glad to see you say online that a vast problem in the US exists. It’s getting more intrusive and the surveillance of Americans by Americans is becoming such a vast endeavor I fear there’s no stopping point possible with any federal laws that might be considered. Oh and of course the financial ties with legislators are only getting more lucrative.
Show threadnumbakrunchMar 29, 2023
@dangillmor And because TikTok is a Chinese owned company, the #GOP can't use it to amplify their narrative like they can #Facebook and #Twitter.
Show threadLaureMar 29, 2023
@dangillmor the primary difference is we have some (potential, theoretical) political and legal remedies for the cesspool #social platforms based here.
Show threadJohn GordonMar 29, 2023
@dangillmor The valid criticisms of TT are not directly related to data it gathers.
Show threadLot⁴⁹Mar 29, 2023
@dangillmor "B-but mah Facebook!"
Show threadzeruchMar 29, 2023
@dangillmor it also solves the problem of the fact that US companies lobby and play 'nice' on content moderation arbitrage. When #TikTok shows French populist riots and US environmental disasters readily and IG/FB shows the Eiffel tower and Trump delivering his own branded water bottles to East Palestine, pinching TikTok from "incitement" is likely a targeted outcome.
Show threadkairos staMar 29, 2023
@dangillmor of course is a shady company, as much as others do it already, go ahead and ban it like India has done or force a sell it in a Facebook way but don’t say China is working in malicious ways because it’s just doing business as usual. Lucky we are that they don’t do business like the US used to do in the ‘40s and ‘50s in Central America!
Show threadYahya AL-FadlyMar 29, 2023
@dangillmor all social media are shady companies.
Show threadnewsorpigalMar 29, 2023

@dangillmor

Tiktok isn't doing anything that Twitter, Meta, Google or Microsoft doesn't already do.

The great American hypocrisy is this: Americans don't like others to do what they are already doing.

Show threadpermafrost biteMar 29, 2023
@dangillmor there is also the fact that the bill that they are trying to pass will make anyone that wants to use a VPN into a felon with a 20 year sentence...maybe they shouldn't make bills that they think people will just accept openly...just saying.
Show threadQuincy ⁂Mar 30, 2023
@dangillmor *this*!
Show threadJimi Viita-ahoMar 30, 2023
In nowhere are people demonstrated that they can actually choose the software they use and how that impacts their control of their own data. An improvement to the situation would be to introduce a course in schools in which basic factors to privacy and their rights as user are explained by examples. Teaching programming is same as it would be to replace physical exercise lessons with factory tours of sports equipment manufacturers, while useful, more focus should be on the current tech standards