TikTok ban in the US - what’s the aim here?

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I couldn’t see another thread on this. If there is one, please link it as it’d be interesting to read.

Is this genuine concern over harvesting of data? Or a play to pull all social media in the US under government control? Musk already owns X, if he was to buy TikTok then surely you’re looking at large swathes of social media being run by the government?

It's not available in China, where it originates and it is already banned in India. It is horrendous for a multitude of reasons.

I don’t disagree that the platform itself is awful. But how does it differ from other forms of social media? They’re all fairly unhealthy. Especially for young people. I just don’t believe that the US ban is simply for the welfare of their citizens

I'd be very happy if it was banned here. I hope it happens.

Discussion here.

http://www.mumsnet.com/Talk/amiibeingunreasonable/5254439-aibu-to-think-tiktok-should-be-banned-in-the-uk-too

Anyone who thinks this is about protecting American citizens is spectacularly naive

I would imagine Trump will sweep into power tomorrow and reverse the decision so he looks like the saviour of TikTok 🙄

I hope it is banned here. 👍

It won't be banned outright, because there is to much money involved.

But will be slowly replaced by a similar platform that's owed by Musk.

He's also the one who tried to ban it when he was in office. As usual, Americans are sheep and will believe that he has saved them when he started it all

The aim is for trump to look like the hero and save the day by bringing it back despite being the one who initiated all of this back in 2020.

I don't for one second believe it's anything to do with national security, TikTok is showing the realities of life in the US to the rest of the world and they can't control the narrative. It's also showing US citizens what the rest of the world is like which again they don't want.

I live in China and it is available and massively popular here. It's called Douyin rather than TikTok but is the same app with the same logo/features, run by the same company, etc.

I can’t say I would lose any sleep
over it!

It's a video sharing app much like YouTube. I have gotten loads of useful information and inspiration from it. It's not all toxic drivel and if that's what you're seeing it's because somewhere the algorithm has identified that's what you want to see.

I feel really sorry for Americans who have made businesses and livelihoods from TikTok. I still don't fully understand why it's being banned but I don't think it's up to those jn power to determine how we use social media.

The discussion on this topic is seemingly centred around what ‘value’ TikTok has in itself. People either saying it’s a terrible platform and should be banned and others saying it’s algorithm driven and you can set your own feed.
I personally don’t think, in the context of this discussion, that’s it’s particularly important and good or bad TikTok is. It’s more trying to understand why the US are so keen to ban or to force it to sell to a US company. We know it’s got fuck all to do with protecting US citizens.

Most governments only do something like this to either make more money or take more power. How would a ban/US ownership of TikTok help the US government to achieve either of these aims?

Well, TT is a business. So that answers the money question. But what about the power question? Could this end up being a Cambridge analytica style scandal where all SM is owned and therefore controlled by people like Musk - who happen to be working for the government?? They can control the narrative and stay in power that way.

I have to say, i dont like or have tiktok but still dont really understand why its so terrible, if thats your thing, surely instagram is kind of similar

It would be incredibly naive to think this is anything but power and politics.

Zuckerberg and Musk (both new friends of Trump) hate it, it is overtaking Facebook and X.
Meta harvests more data than TikTok.
It continues to fact check where others are not.

Numerous senators who voted to ban it have in the past two years bought large amounts of Meta shares.

It stinks of corruption which ironically TikTok creators are great at exposing.

You might be interested to watch live coverage of the supreme court arguments from both sides OP. I watched it along with a YouTuber called "Emily D Baker", who used to be a prosecutor/ deputy district attourney in LA for many years. She breaks the arguments down for the everyday person to understand. It was very interesting to listen to.

The same company - that'll be the Chinese communist party

It's no worse than any other form of social media. There's a lot of teachers on it and I get a lot of ideas from it.
This will be about Musk bringing out his own version

It's the TikTok algorithm that makes it so different from other social media sites.

But I'm not a fan of banning stuff like this and it's worrying that so many people think the government should have this much control.

Emily is just the best & her commentary is so good,she really breaks it down so it's understandable for everyone.

It is available in China, just under a different name. I follow lots of Chinese TikTok-ers.

Glad see another fellow Law Nerd! 🤓 She really is great, and incredibly knowledgeable!

Its not the same though, the content will be very strictly moderated

Several companies have been found to be far worse than TikTok for data harvesting, funnily enough these haven’t been flagged as a problem.

Those making the decision for the ban have showed a severe lack of competence at what tiktok is, how WiFi works, even showing their educational incompetence - thought Singapore was part of China.

Depending on how you use it TikTok is amazing. If it’s toxic it’s down to your viewing habits which dictate the algorithm.

I don’t think children should be on SM at all.

What has been discovered is that many US politicians responsible for this ban have been buying shares in Meta, and possibly taken “donations”.
TikTok seems different to other SM in that it gives people the potential to earn money and support themselves and even pay medical bills, and doesn’t seem to line billionaires pockets quite as much as meta and X.

There’s lots of important information shared there which holds those in power to account, which I’m sure is a big reason they’ve wanted to ban it.

It all points to a big power play and quite a fascist move which I suspect (hope?) could seriously backfire on the US government. The corruption, greed and lack of care for the US population is disgusting.

The rich elite are just fighting for power over AI. It's about money and politics as ever, similar to Brexit being pushed on us by Cambridge Analytica (a tester). The richest are scared they've not got platforms as powerful as TT (because they had the Alpha versions) and are stomping their feet because that power is all that was keeping them at the top of the pile. My heart does not bleed for these people who aided this situation developing and are already richer than some countries.