• 3volver@lemmy.world
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    8 months ago

    The loopholes are there by design, it’s not a mistake. Just look up lobbying in the United States.

    • Daft_ish@lemmy.world
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      8 months ago

      It’s funny watching whatever whacko shit politicians have to say any time theyre asked a question that challenges the status quo. Thes3 people truly suck.

  • MiDaBa@lemmy.ml
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    8 months ago

    The problem isn’t that they want to ban Tik Tok, it’s that they completely ignore ever other questionable app. Let’s make laws that address both data harvesting as well as platforms that use misinformation to manipulate large groups of people in exchange for money. We already know Facebook has been guilty of this but as an American company they can offer campaign donations to make politicians forget the problem. Sigh.

    • Krauerking
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      8 months ago

      Absolutely. Is apps using addictive based systems to hook people in and then harvest their data aggressively to turn around and sell it to groups who use that data however they want an issue?
      It sure feels like it should be. And if it is then it should be an issue of any app doing so.

      But it’s keeping the wheels on this economic disaster of a ride. So only the ones that don’t pay directly back into the country letting this run full scale without restrictions because of small kickbacks, aren’t ok?

      It becomes abhorrently two-faced. And it should be apparent by now that the wealth generated by these American companies are not actually being shared with the American government or people. But getting to be close to it and get small feedings from them is enough to appease our geriatric/out of touch ruling class.

    • bumphot
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      8 months ago

      Banning TikTok and not banning Meta and Google is a stupid idea that will just give more power to the fewer people with less competition. They are all bad of course and they should all be banned, but giving one bad group all the power is worse then letting two bad groups compete for power.

      • jaschen@lemm.ee
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        8 months ago

        OK, you have this all wrong. Let me explain what the differences is. Tiktok has NO COMPETITION. Tiktok’s ***intent *** is not like the others. The others are competing for ad revenue. Tiktok’s purpose is solely to influence us Americans. Tiktok doesn’t care about your ad revenue or even a sustainable business. They are banked rolled by the CCP.

        If META or Google(um…what social media company does google have?) was banked rolled by Russia and had its servers all there and the app was installed on 75% of all Americans, they essentially have eyes and ears on everyone in America. But they are not owned by Russia. Its own by stakeholders who only care about money and how much they will make them.

        While I agree that META and Google(really google?) has too much control over our data, at the very least the intent is not to disrupt the American democracy.

        • kofe@lemmy.world
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          8 months ago

          I’m sorry, what evidence do you have that they don’t care about ad revenue, or that no other businesses are interested in influencing elections?

          • TempermentalAnomaly@lemmy.world
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            8 months ago

            They’ll double down on condescension, derision, and dismissiveness in order to maintain a rhetorical higher ground while never doing any work to substantiate their point.

            Inevitably, they’ll distort your question to something you’re clearly not saying and answer that. It’s all very predictable and still frustrating. The only thing left for them is to ignore your question because they don’t have answer to it.

        • bumphot
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          8 months ago

          Google owns Youtube (and gmail, most popular mail provider). You should think more deeply about what ads are and what are governments motivations. It is both the same thing. Google and META want power, they want money, because money is a voting power for allocation of resources in the society. Chinese governments want power, so they can have more money and more voting power for allocations of their resources.

          The nationality of people in these governments doesn’t matter at all to them. Chinese government doesn’t care about regular Chinese citizens no more then US government does about their own. They simply care for their own power/money. And that is their interests.

          Google and META work with the governments, they have actual NSA offices and follow any orders from the government, just like TikTok does. The problem here has nothing to do with what country it is in, it is simply that one set of rich folks are bothered that they can’t control something other rich folks are controlling. People, in both cases, suffer and have no power whatsoever in the process.

          • jaschen@lemm.ee
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            8 months ago

            Meta has zero interest in destabilizing the American democracy. China does. China wants to take over Taiwan. Meta doesn’t.

            You see where I’m getting at? It’s in Meta’s best interest to have a vibrant democracy and a strong economy. China does not.

            Meta doesn’t give a flying fuck who owns the south China seas. Guess who does and has the tools to influence the people who vote for the politicians that will ignore an invasion to Taiwan?

            Sure China probably wants money. But imagine how much money they can have if they influence America not to step into an invasion into Taiwan. 90% of the world’s semiconductors would be under the influence of China.

            • SquirtleHermit@lemmy.world
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              8 months ago

              Meta has a vested interest in making money. This has caused them to force polarizing content onto users pages, even when the information presented is false. They have worsened the political divides in America, and caused a significant number of people to believe lies about their fellow citizens.

              The fact is Meta has damaged democracy for it’s own profit.

            • This is fine🔥🐶☕🔥@lemmy.world
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              8 months ago

              Mate look at neo-fascist/white supremacist content on Facebook and tell me with a straight face that Facebook isn’t destabilizing American democracy.

              Also, fuck their rebranding. It’s always going to be Facebook for me.

              • jaschen@lemm.ee
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                8 months ago

                Facebook “accidently” created a polarizing bubble for neo fascist. Because they only cared about user engagement, regardless of what kind of engagement they get.

                Now imagine an adversary was more intentional with this. Imagine the power they would wield.

            • bumphot
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              8 months ago

              Meta has absolutely best interest in removing any democracy in US since it profits from abusing rights of the citizens that would very much like to regulate it. So it is in their interest, like of any company, to strip away it’s workers and customers of any rights it possibly can.

              Don’t fall for tricks of politicians when they pretend that they are any better from politicians from another country, they are not, they just have more influence in the media to elevate problems in other countries and minimize the problems in their own.

              • jaschen@lemm.ee
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                8 months ago

                Abusing rights can still be done without removing democracy. Shit, they are doing that now and making a shit ton of money. Billionaires actually might lose it all under communism. Did know why the CCP came into power, right? The working class got sick of the rich and started a revolution. They drove the KMT into what is now modern Taiwan.

                Did you know what happened to Jack Ma? The old CEO/Founder of Alibaba. Dude was the richest person in China. Under China, dude just slightly mentioned something negativity about the CCP and he hasn’t been able to go back to China.

                You think Zuck wants to risk communism so he “might” make a few more bucks at the sake of losing all his wealth? Bro. Our adversaries are the only people that wants to end of democracy.

                • bumphot
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                  8 months ago

                  They constantly make such risks when they make anti-consumer policies and somehow it doesn’t seem to hurt them, because they have the power to force the people in a system they don’t want. They can’t abuse rights without removing democracy, US has no democracy since the people don’t support the policies of their governments. They are forced to vote between two worst possible choices and they are brainwashed to think that is somehow a democracy.

        • LucidNightmare@lemmy.world
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          8 months ago

          TikTok has no competition? Reels for Instagram, Shorts for Youtube.

          They copied TikToks format, because it does that format very well.

          • jaschen@lemm.ee
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            8 months ago

            TikTok is not competing for your wallet. They are competing for your influence and from the sound of it, it’s working.

            • LucidNightmare@lemmy.world
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              8 months ago

              You’re just wrong. It’s an app, dude. The most influence it has had on my life is show me things I’m interested in. Get a grip.

              • jaschen@lemm.ee
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                8 months ago

                I don’t use the app, do you get to pick each video like you do on YouTube or does it automatically find videos for you?

                • LucidNightmare@lemmy.world
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                  8 months ago

                  You can do both. I usually just let it show me videos, because they’re usually really interesting. There will always be videos that get through that are like little tests to see if you’ll like the content or not.

                  For example, I’m more interested in world affairs and technology. I get plenty of videos about those subjects. Then, once in awhile, they’ll throw a car mechanics type of content at me because I thought one video was interesting and liked it (stuff to make sure you keep your car in the best shape it can be, etc.) so it throws those videos at me and sometimes it is hit or miss.

                  You can always tell when someone has not used the app, because their opinion is always that it must be harvesting SO MUCH DATA! When (on iPhone at least) it asked me for my camera and location once and has not ever asked me since. I denied it of course because fuck that, and I also used Apple’s hide my email feature to create a dummy email for the app because I too used to shit on the TikTok because I too thought it was just a bunch of people doing stupid shit and dancing or whatever. Turns out I was wrong! It’s almost like if you used it, you could form a better opinion than TikTok = China = Bad

    • angrymouse@lemmy.world
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      8 months ago

      This is how elites can keep bamboozling us. How the fuck our life would improve without tiktok? At least If you ban every personalized social network or add strong regulation to them, but no, just ban tiktok and pretend you are doing something. CCP can eat shit, I’m worried about what is happening around me and not in a country in the other side of the planet.

        • mlg@lemmy.world
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          8 months ago

          An adverserial nation in control of an algorithm that influences and effects behaviors here in the united states effects you.

          Have you not once considered the NSA or silicon giants a potential adversary?

          At least with NSA you could say for the purpose of national security, but Google would happily kill people for money if they figured out a way to not get caught.

          • jaschen@lemm.ee
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            8 months ago

            No because if these silicon giants want to continue to do business in the USA, they would not try and influence the American people for a foreign adversary.

            Tiktok’s intent is not to make money. It’s to influence us and use our data to spy on us. Did we all forget about the Forbes journalist that was tracked on Tiktok?

          • jaschen@lemm.ee
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            8 months ago

            Simple. When the bill was first introduced, TikTok blasted a notification telling people to call their congressman to stop them. We then had literal lemmings doing that exact thing without understanding the entire scope of the bill and why it’s being done. Good fucking thing it was mostly younger kids.

            Now imagine the same scenario where we have 18 year old voting adults. It can and would be able to sway an election or worse.

              • jaschen@lemm.ee
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                8 months ago

                I completely understand why these companies are assholes, but we ALL understand why they are being assholes. Money. Greed. You gotta keep sqeezing the bottom half of Americans to get that fucking G6.

                But Tiktok’s intent is not money. Its power and intel. Power and influence on our American citizens. They don’t care about your money. They want your data and so they can better influence you into thinking how they want you to think.

                And what they want you to think directly benefits China. A weaker America is a stronger China. Fuck the CCP.

                • hark@lemmy.world
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                  8 months ago

                  Uber and Lyft were telling voters to vote against their own interests and it worked. If you think that US companies aren’t using your data to influence how you think then you’re a prime example of their success. It’s not just “innocent” money-making schemes, it includes manufacturing consent for wars.

            • Pan_Ziemniak@midwest.social
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              8 months ago

              Not to mention common lemmy shills post this garbage up constantly to keep the youngins riled up. All ploys. All benefiting not us.

              I would prefer legislation towards protecting our data rights too, but that ship sailed after we pissed net neutrality away, and that talking point is merely used as wedge between us. All to keep us mad at each other, ineffectual, and unlikely to vote.

          • FiniteBanjo@lemmy.today
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            8 months ago

            For starters, TikTok algorithms are made to downweight any topics relating to subjects censored in China. HERE is a link to a study on the subject from Rutger’s University and nonprofit NCRI. Since NCRI also directly advises Congress, it’s a big part of the information available to legislators making this decision to force TikTok’s sale.

              • FiniteBanjo@lemmy.today
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                8 months ago

                I’m not going to click that, but idk probably. That’s the point, downweighing can’t be easily observed without a large dataset.

                • hark@lemmy.world
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                  8 months ago

                  It’s a video covering all sorts of forbidden topics in China and tagged with hashtags like #uyghur and #tiananmensquare but the video showed up on people’s “for you” page and engagement/views was in line with most of his other videos. On the other hand, his videos where he brings up other topics like the CIA get outright censored. He uploaded a video about Palestine and tagged one with tags like #freepalestine and then uploaded the same video again without those hashtags and the one with the hashtags has <70k views versus the >930k views of the video without the hashtags.

    • Eyck_of_denesle@lemmy.zip
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      8 months ago

      Reading your other comments, it reminds me of boomers on facebook. Have you ever used instagram? Try reading the comment section of a black guy or a woman or a muslim or worse all combined.

    • Cryophilia@lemmy.world
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      8 months ago

      This is the part where everyone ignores the fact that, once again, Biden has already done the good thing.

    • supersquirrel@sopuli.xyz
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      8 months ago

      disenfranchise

      I’m no authority on words, I am an anarchist when it comes to words and so are all my favorite authors but I feel like this word is very commonly used in exactly the way you are using it.

      I reckon 99% of people reading your post understood what you meant.

      It’s a word, and it is the correct way to use it. If you disagree, fight me, I will open an alot-sized can of Ouchies on you.

      • starman2112@sh.itjust.works
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        8 months ago

        Holy shit you’re right I’m too tired for this shit

        I’m looking for dis-something. Dissuade? Disillusion? Disinclined? Man fuck English the Democrats are gonna piss off young people is what I mean

        This could be a slam dunk year for either party and they’re both insistent on keeping voter turnout as low as possible. Democrats are saying “yeah, let’s complain about illegals killing Americans and give some more weapons to Israel” and the Republicans are doing so dogshit that Haley lost to None Of These Candidates in her own state primary, and she was still the person with the most votes

        Democrats are like “youngins like TikTok? Let’s ban it, that’ll get em to vote for us” and the republicans respond with “oh yeah? Well we’re gonna ban porn!” And the average American has less reason to vote in November than the average Russian did this month

        • Cryophilia@lemmy.world
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          8 months ago

          Discourage? I dunno.

          I guess I could say that young people are such flaky voters, it’s not worth caring about what pisses them off too much. Breathing the wrong way, a made up deepfake, mercury being in retrograde, all of these are unforgivable offenses to young voters. Young voters are like that crazy girlfriend who has a dream you cheated on her so she’s pissed at you for weeks.

  • qdJzXuisAndVQb2@lemm.ee
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    8 months ago

    Oh fuck off with all these tiktok apologetics posts. It’s a shitty app comtrolled by a shitty government. Move on.

    • distantsounds@lemmy.world
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      8 months ago

      In what way is this a TikTok apologetics post? It’s calling out the governments inability to close tax loopholes for billionaires. No one gives a fuck about TikTok. Or are we just moving on about the billionaires tax evasion?

    • mozz@mbin.grits.dev
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      8 months ago

      Two things can be true

      It can be nakedly hypocritical, this Kabuki theater of oh woe is me it’s so difficult to do anything of substance to reign in these companies, it’s just politically very tricky what with the free market and all-- oh it’s Chinese and they don’t give me money? Fuck 'em get 'em out of here, 50-0, fuckin ban it.

      And at the same time Tiktok can also be legitimately a much more dangerous company than Facebook or Lehman Brothers or whatever, even as regular-criminal dangerous as those two and the rest of the bunch are.