[greatjack613]

(Views are my own and unrelated to my employer)

This shouldn't surprise anyone. Tiktok has made it clear many times over that while they pretend to be in the clear and un affiliated with the ccp they are a direct arm of the ccp that uses tiktok as an arm to influence global politics.

Why this stuff has not been banned as a national security threat is beyond me.

[nebula8804]

I hope it does not get banned. Even if they try to ban it, they have to then contend with all the people building their careers on it/consider it a essential part of their lives. Might be enough to motivate Millenials/Gen Z to cone out to the ballot box and remove anyone who was responsible. (This is probably why they havent banned it yet)

While I don't use TikTok, its been fascinating watching the US lose its marbles over the idea that there is an avenue for mass dissemination of ideas that they cannot control. It really became real when the Pro-Palestine content translated into mass protests all across the west. Israel really dug themselves into a hole and I sometimes wonder, if this trend continues, what are they going to do once the Boomers die and down the road we get a Gen-Z president?

Sure you have state sponsored channels like RT that try to provide alternative views but they dont have anywhere near the eyeballs TikTok gets and they can be easily discredited.

The last time the US had a major competitor was in the 80s. Finally someone has come along that is challenging the US on many levels, not just social media apps.

I had always wished Europe to get their act together and serve as a democratic counter balance to the US but these days they are not even in the conversation. But at least China is trying despite the fact that they are less than savory.

We will continue to have access to American social media apps pushing their nonsense and acting like they provide freedom while quietly suppressing content they don't like (ex. anti-Israel). Meta/Youtube/X platforms are not going away. I love the fact that the mass market has some choice now.

[lpcvoid]

RT doesn't provide "alternative views". It's pure, unfiltered propaganda. Can you honestly navigate there, read something and then claim "yeah, just another viewpoint"?

[nebula8804]

Yes its nonsense but it does push the Russian point of view. You might think its absurd but they don't. Its just as absurd as the US pushing "weapons of mass destruction" down peoples throats and running with that nonsense for years. The point is that it is on a US owned platform that allows it to be suppressed, removed or outright dismissed.

Tiktok is not in that situation at all and that is a new paradigm we haven't had in a while.

[2OEH8eoCRo0]

It's wild to believe that if you just consume the worst information diarrhea from "both sides" that you'll have a nice holy unbiased universe-brain view. It's even more wild to see this fallacious nonsense here.

[nebula8804]

The point is that you have the option whereas before it didn't really exist in a mass market fashion.

[Dah00n]

I certainly wouldn't! But I would also add that many (most?) prominent US news outlets are just as bad.

[jumpman500]

Because if we’re willing to export propaganda and unwilling to receive any in return then we’re a nation of hypocrites.

[JumpCrisscross]

> if we’re willing to export propaganda and unwilling to receive any in return then we’re a nation of hypocrites

To the degree war and competition are hypocritical, sure. All you’ve done is expanded the definition of hypocrisy to meaninglessness.

[jumpman500]

There’s a culture war, not a real war with China. If we censor the CCP just like they censor us then we are just as authoritarian as them.

[JumpCrisscross]

> There’s a culture war, not a real war with China

China’s a geopolitical adversary. We didn’t need to go to war with the Soviets for the Cold War to be real. (Also what on earth is a “culture war” in geopolitical terms?)

> If we censor the CCP just like they censor us then we are just as authoritarian as them

Only to someone with no sense of scale. Again, you can do that. But you expand the definition of authoritarianism to cover just about any human activity.

[gettodachoppa]

>Only to someone with no sense of scale. Again, you can do that. But you expand the definition of authoritarianism to cover just about any human activity.

So start referring to America as "softer authoritarians than China" instead of this charade you put up now. Then people would be less miffed by your hypocrisy.

Everything political that comes out of America is such self-serving slop that I don't understand how anyone above age 30 buys it. When mass-censorship and consensus manufacturing is enacted on mainstream social media (oh sorry, when the US does it it's just "the algorithm" and "alignment", not a mean evil dictatorship), when Americans are forbidden from having a chance to vote for their preferred president in Colorado, when you wage a proxy war against Russia to the last Ukrainian man, when you get Ukraine to ban all opposition political parties, when you bomb countries for decades in the Middle East, every time it's done in the name of democracy.

[15457345234]

Unfortunately a lot of 'special interests' are trying as hard as they can to turn that culture war into a genuine hot war - which I don't feel anyone has any real appetite or need for - and all/most of the media seem to be playing along.

It's a bit exhausting and frankly, pathetic, to watch people literally talking it into existence out of thin air.

[jacquesm]

That does not follow at all.

[beeboobaa]

What a ridiculous take. Do you also want to be worked to death in a sweatshop because banning it would be too authoritarian?

[jumpman500]

No because I believe in workers rights… and freedom of speech. Civil rights are important democratic principles.

[blitz_skull]

We should accept foreign propaganda due to… hypocrisy? What does that even mean?

[jumpman500]

Due to freedom of speech being a core value of democracy and censorship/information control being a core value of authoritarianism.

[JumpCrisscross]

> Due to freedom of speech being a core value of democracy

Freedom of speech != freedom to operate a company or platform.

[jumpman500]

Fair point. Banning a social media platform because of topics discussed though seems like a dangerous precedent to set. Seems like a free speech issue to me though.

I think most people are aware of the CCP influence on TikTok. I hope reports like these make people question if they’re being manipulated on the platform. People should always question the validity of the media they consume.

[geraldhh]

citizens rejecting foreign propaganda is a solid display of strength

[brookst]

Statistics and large numbers say that citizens will not do anything uniformly.

It would be nice if people universally rejected smoking, but there are social/economic benefits to banning it because statistics.

[avalys]

This is nonsense. In war, is it hypocritical to bomb the enemy but not your own side? Of course not. Propaganda is a weapon, you deploy weapons against your enemies and you protect your own people from your enemy's weapons.

Foreign adversaries do not have free speech rights in the United States.

[DirkH]

We aren't at war. Propaganda in peacetime and bombs at any time are so disanalogous it is comical.

You win a war of ideas by presenting better ideas, not by censoring bad ideas.

[ycombinatrix]

why would that be hypocritical?