TikTok is taking the US government to court.

  • istanbullu@lemmy.ml
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    2 months ago

    Every negative thing about Tiktok is also true about Instagram and Twitter.

    • TheEighthDoctor@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      Except the part about the authoritarian regime, the US has many problems but it’s still a democracy.

      • demonsword@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        the US has many problems but it’s still a democracy

        Given the choice between hot shit and cold shit still ends with you being covered in shit. Heads or tails between two very similar parties hardly counts as a true democracy.

        • Seasoned_Greetings@lemm.ee
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          2 months ago

          This is incredibly disingenuous. The US might not be a true democracy, but it’s not an authoritarian regime. Xi and putin disappear people who have an opinion on whether they should be forever-rulers.

          The fact that independent parties exist and hold seats at all three levels of government mean you are fundamentally wrong in saying there are only two choices.

          The US is a flawed democracy. That’s still better than an authoritarian regime.

            • TrickDacy@lemmy.world
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              2 months ago

              If this were true, it wouldn’t matter that the US set up the social security number system, because Experian leaked millions of Americans’ SSNs.

              It obviously matters who owns a service that millions of citizens use from a country that is a political rival. You’re just hoping to shut down any conversation against TikTok with a whataboutism

              • DrDeadCrash@programming.dev
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                2 months ago

                We’re talking about individuals’ personal data stored by social media companies being accessible to others (governments, in this case). This has nothing to do with social security.

                The problem is that the data is accessable, but that’s not being addressed. This is an improper fix to an actual problem, just facts.

                • tborders@lemmy.ca
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                  2 months ago

                  When signing up for a tik-tok account, I put in a birth date, a username, an email address for verifcation and that was it. I didn’t need to provide a drivers license, verify that the name I put in was my actual name, that the birth date was my actual birth date. Location isn’t allowed nor was it requested and neither was Nearby devices. It’s actually been a much better behaved application than any American social media app.

            • TrickDacy@lemmy.world
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              2 months ago

              “if one authoritarian government does surveillance even across borders, why can’t all? Anything less than ‘i agree’ here is hypocrisy!”

              • PumpkinSkink@lemmy.world
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                2 months ago

                Noone is saying that. The argument is pretty much that people want more scrutiny applied to other companies beyond tiktok, and ideally not be under constant surveillance by any of them, not that people want to be monitored by all police states equally.

                • TrickDacy@lemmy.world
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                  2 months ago

                  It’s a whataboutist cop out. People who like tiktok just wanna point out how supposedly since tiktok was targeted, then it’s all in bad faith and therefore there could never possibly be a legit concern with tiktok in particular. Any argument to be addressed with “ChInA bAd”

          • dependencyinjection@discuss.tchncs.de
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            2 months ago

            It doesn’t matter who owns it. It’s the data that the US government is accessing.

            I couldn’t give a shit about TikTok, I’ve never used it in my life. I just think the US should be open and say we are banning this as we don’t have control over it. Sure China is only doing what we are doing but fuck em. I’d respect that.

            Also, it’s got to be about silencing pro-Palestinian rhetoric too.

            If they ban TikTok they should ban FaceBook and Instagram too.

            • TrickDacy@lemmy.world
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              2 months ago

              Also, it’s got to be about silencing pro-Palestinian rhetoric too.

              Yeah trump was talking about banning it in 2020 because he used his time machine to find out what it would be used for in the future. After his harrowing story from the future, I agreed with the effort to ban it because I lOvE gEnOcIdE

              …of fucking course it matters who owns it

                • TrickDacy@lemmy.world
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                  2 months ago

                  Whataboutism isn’t the elevated level of discourse you’re pretending it to be

                • TrickDacy@lemmy.world
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                  2 months ago

                  You’re actually just mad you don’t have an actual response to the fact that you making the about Israel/Palestine makes zero sense

      • trolololol@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        Can I ban NSA from spying on me? I’m not even on fReEeDoOoOoM land, I should be entitled to some amount of privacy

      • TimeSquirrel@kbin.social
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        2 months ago

        And if someone chooses to watch that, that’s their business. Not nanny government’s. Not saying I do. But none of us have any business telling someone else what they can and cannot watch. That’s part of living in a supposedly “free” country. We aren’t China. You want a “great firewall”, then move there.

        In our zeal to shun everything China-related, we must not become them.

        • TrickDacy@lemmy.world
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          2 months ago

          Yes I need my government to tell me obvious facts like foreign surveillance is bad. I’m just that stupid /s

      • Possibly linux@lemmy.zip
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        2 months ago

        Which is any different than YouTube, Lemmy or anything else?

        I think people should have a right to shoot themselves in the foot if they choose.

        • ben@lemmy.zip
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          2 months ago

          The difference from the perspective of the US is that it’s spyware from a potentially malicious foreign state. China bans US tech companies as well, TikTok took advantage of the US having a much more open market and the state decided that they were acting in bad faith.

        • TrickDacy@lemmy.world
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          2 months ago

          I no longer opt into conversations with people who believe “China bad” is an argument winner

  • atx_aquarian@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    What would give them standing? They’d have to be an entity protected by the constitution to claim that protection was harmed. Is it this (Wikipedia)?

    TikTok Ltd was incorporated in the Cayman Islands and is based in both Singapore and Los Angeles. source

    I guess I’ve never thought about what makes an entity have rights here. Buckingham Palace couldn’t just open shop here and start suing our government, right?

    • Simon Müller@sopuli.xyz
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      2 months ago

      The case is essentially “hey you kinda passed a bill that’s against your own constitution? You’re kinda supposed to follow that…”

      • TheGrandNagus@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        Does the US constitution apply for rights of businesses, or is it just people?

        Not being snarky I actually don’t know

        • unphazed@lemmy.world
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          2 months ago

          Corporations are people. Thanks to Citizens United. Though I’d gladly give up TikTok for the court to reverse this decision.

        • FrostKing@lemmy.world
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          2 months ago

          Important rights of businesses in the US constitution include

          Important note regarding a business’s right to regulate free speech: The rules of the Constitution are meant to regulate Congress, not businesses or citizens. Therefore, the right to free speech means Congress cannot restrict someone from speaking his or her mind, but a business may be able to.

          For example, a radio show has the right to not allow a certain person to speak on its program or to say certain things. Ultimately, such issues are decided by the Supreme Court, and there may be some exceptions, depending on the circumstances.

    • riplin@lemm.ee
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      2 months ago

      The constitution applies to the government, not the American (or other) people. “Government shall pass no law…”

  • umbrella@lemmy.ml
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    2 months ago

    as expected, they literally said they would pusue legal options before pulling out of the us.

  • p3n@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    The ironic thing is that if the US government wanted people to stop using it because of the PRC, they should have just leaked some fake Snowden style documents saying that the NSA was using it. Everyone would drop it like a hot potato then.

  • NoLifeGaming@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    Not a fan of tiktok content but I do see that it was banned obviously for censorship. A good move.