8 ms·
Calls for TikTok to be banned in Australia over Chinese spying fears
- catalogia 6y agoDoes the Herald Sun (which seems to be the source of this sparse article, but which I cannot read because their website is trash) give more details than this? > There are calls for popular video app TikTok to be banned in Australia. The passive voice here is obnoxious, who is calling for it?
- teruakohatu 6y agoThese days "There are calls" means the journalist read someone say it on Twitter.
- skissane 6y agoOr the journalist read themselves say it on Twitter
- vmception 6y agoA lot of Australian media is written in a passive voice. Everything is too touchy of a topic to ever confront. It is very frustrating if you're actually out of the loop and are trying to figure out what anyone is actually talking about. Who/What/Why/When/Where and How are frequently just missing from editorials, but there IS a controversy, related to something, like immigrants, or Tik Tok, immigrant apps.
- qtplatypus 6y agoIn part this is due to our very shit liable laws. Even if something is the truth you can still be sued.
- vmception 6y ago> Even if something is the truth you can still be sued. and lose?
- qtplatypus 6y agoYes https://www.shandtaylor.com.au/publications/is-truth-a-defence-to-defamation https://www.shandtaylor.com.au/publications/is-truth-a-defen... Not only does everything in your story has to be true but also you have to show every implication in your story is true as well.
- vmception 6y agoTragic This is the black mirror episode
- hnick 6y agoIt means you can't use weasel words to say one thing and imply another. I personally think 'truth' applies to more than just the letter of what is said and that's in keeping with the concept of 'the spirit of the law' so I don't see a real problem. The US seems stricter on these matters and takes things more literally, so the legislation reflects that.
- wp381640 6y agoThe source in the original article is a federal MP. News Corp are the government mouth piece, they're definitely briefing this as part of the increasing tensions with China.
- catalogia 6y agoI think I'm meant to assume Senator Jenny McAllister is calling for a ban, but the article doesn't actually say she's calling for a ban.
- monkeycantype 6y agoThe Herald Sun is one of Murdoch's mouthpieces. There may be a source, but with the Sun I believe the use of the passive voice allows the editor to hide that the source of the article is the article itself, and perhaps, the article should be written as: 'This article is calling for the ban of Tik Tok which is a competitor for your attention. It may be that a ban is in the national interest, but that's not of interest to us. Our editorial policy is to provoke strong emotional reactions that drive sales and our political agenda, not critical thinking. '
- enjeyw 6y agoThe Herald Sun is a Rupert Murdoch publication, which means that it has a comparable relationship to the conservative political party in Australia as Fox New has with the Republicans. I would recommend viewing all its content from this frame of reference.
- shakna 6y agoIt's also helpful to see who else is reporting this story, as they all seem to be of the same expected level of journalism: Herald Sun, Sunrise, UK's Daily Mail, The Daily Telegraph. Not a single slightly reputable Australian media company appears to have picked this one up, yet. --- To give the benefit of the doubt, the Herald Sun said an unnamed MP spoke to them directly, which is certainly within the realm of possibility. But the Herald Sun has been known to have to retract articles for quoting quotes that never happened.
- quicklime 6y agoThe Herald Sun is Melbourne’s leading trash tabloid newspaper. With headlines like “Chinese Virus Panda-monium”, they were stoking racist sentiment long before Trump did. Another example of how openly racist they are is when they published and defended this cartoon of Serena Williams: https://cdn.newsapi.com.au/image/v1/e062f6c7325e5b96b12c306e91e1e25e?width=1024 https://cdn.newsapi.com.au/image/v1/e062f6c7325e5b96b12c306e... And just today, the Daily Telegraph (the Sydney paper with the same owner) reported the closing of the Victorian border with the headline “Mexicans Shut Out” (Victoria sits on the southern border of New South Wales): https://twitter.com/echewy/status/1280285466521034752 https://twitter.com/echewy/status/1280285466521034752 Definitely view their content from this frame of reference.
- caf 6y agoElder's Law: when journalists lapse into the passive voice, they are up to no good.
- RileyJames 6y ago> Committee chair Senator Jenny McAllister said she hopes TikTok will comply with the Australian government’s request for their cooperation in a probe into the platform. > “I think Australians will expect to hear from them,” she told the Herald Sun. > “Part of the job of this Committee is to get all of those stakeholders in the room and create a forum where we can have a really good discussion about what are the boundaries, about what is and isn’t acceptable on these types of matters.” That seems to be the substance / source of the article. Outside of those quotes, there's 4 paragraphs of background regarding India's decision to ban it, and Scott Morrison (Australian Prime Minister) recent announcement regarding a big cyber security funding announcement (part of wider national defense announcement).
- Leary 6y agoThe Herald Sun, I think the Herald Sun is calling for the ban.
- _-___________-_ 6y agoIt reads like a plant, to test public opinion for an action before taking it.
- bassman9000 6y agoResponse: https://www.news.com.au/technology/online/social/tiktok-australia-responds-to-not-credible-ban-reports/news-story/45e14af49e0abc29236e6d0a89f31ab4 https://www.news.com.au/technology/online/social/tiktok-aust... “We place the highest importance on user privacy and integrity.” Sensible chuckle. Mr Hunter said the concerns over user data getting into the hands of the CCP are overblown and the data isn’t stored on Chinese servers. “TikTok Australia user data is stored in Singapore,” he said. Is this credible?
- est 6y ago> Is this credible? Have you tried access Chinese servers in Australia? It's awfully slow.
- m00x 6y agoThis doesn't mean it's not duplicated on remote servers.
- est 6y agoIf a Chinese IP requests a public static video file on Singapore AWS S3 (Or whatever the CDN tiktok use) and stored it on a Chinese server, does this mean duplication?
- bassman9000 6y agoFor you, maybe. For a Chinese company with ways around the Great Firewall, don't think so.
- aeyes 6y agoAt least from here tiktok.com servers are in the US and their CDN is Akamai. And I'm far far away from the US. Also, take a look at their career page for engineering positions, most of them are in the US: https://careers.tiktok.com/position?category=6704215862603155720 https://careers.tiktok.com/position?category=670421586260315... bytedance.com loads from China.
- fabianhjr 6y ago
- esahione 6y agoTikTok steals kids attention and is completely useless for society. Sorry, but fuck it. We don't need more useless apps that steal peoples' attention span.
- xxpor 6y agoWhy do you believe you are in a position to decide what people are allowed to do with their free time? There's a lot of good arguments against tiktok but this ain't it.
- dabbernaught420 6y agoHe didn't say he should be the one to decide. Anyway, there are lots of things that people can get addicted to which aren't healthy. Banning things for that reason is an option.
- filleduchaos 6y agoPatiently awaiting the ban on alcoholic drinks.
- dabbernaught420 6y agoThere's already a ban on them for a large portion of the population.
- filleduchaos 6y agoI'm sure you're of the opinion that that ban should be taken all the way. After all, people could become addicted and that's terrible.
- dabbernaught420 6y agoThe only point I've made is that something being addictive and harmful is a reasonable quality to ban something for. This was in response to the user who said "there are plenty of reasons to ban tiktok, but this ain't it" (from memory, but close enough). This doesn't mean that I think all things which are addictive and harmful should be banned. A total ban on alcohol would probably not be effective, and would lead to more harm than good, so I wouldn't support it.
- Leary 6y agoWhat authority does the Australian government have to ban an app? And would this authority also apply to apps built by Australians or only foreign apps?
- illuminati1911 6y agoThey have also banned multiple video games in Australia so I don't think banning an app will be a problem legally speaking. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_banned_video_games_in_Australia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_banned_video_games_in_...
- balfirevic 6y agoWow, that's pretty despicable.
- philliphaydon 6y agoWhy?
- rbecker 6y agoA game is a no less legitimate form of expression than a book.
- shakna 6y agoAustralia has banned books too. [0] The most recent example I know of is "The Peaceful Pill Handbook", which was banned around '07 by giving it a "Restricted Classification", which makes distributing or owning a copy illegal in most state and territories. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Censorship_in_Australia#Books https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Censorship_in_Australia#Books
- stevens32 6y agoBanning books is certainly wrong, but to be fair to Australia - banning a book on assisted suicide is maybe not the worst thing
- est31 6y agoAustralia banning it might only be the start. It might extend to other FVEY countries. Think of the other intelligence related laws they passed over the years in a coordinated fashion. There are plenty of influential people in the US who are very critical of TikTok, e.g. Josh Hawley.
- caymanjim 6y agoThere's no legal mechanism in the US by which TikTok could be outright banned. Apple and Google could drop it from their app stores if pressured enough, but even that wouldn't be a government action.
- coliveira 6y agoThink again. The only thing they need to do is to plant some stories in major newspapers about "Chinese influence".
- FillardMillmore 6y agoCertainly the US government could make a logical case for that, couldn't they? If China controls the algorithms of TikTok, they can manipulate what messages or content gets amplified or suppressed, right? And that would present a risk for meddling or tampering in domestic politics by a foreign government, right? I have no idea what legal mechanisms the US govt has to pursue something like this, nor am I a user of TikTok, so I may be speaking from a point of ignorance here.
- coliveira 6y agoThere is a similar argument for FB and Twitter on other countries. If this happens the side-effect might be every country creating their own local social apps and banning US-based social networks.
- thoughtstheseus 6y agoThe simple argument would be that TikTok is essentially part of the State at this point. Treat it as such.
- vmception 6y agoI wonder if Gen-Z understands why yet, and that its not just adults trying to mess up their fun.
- Polylactic_acid 6y agoI'm right on the older limit of zoomer. I understand perfectly and think it would be a good idea to ban it. But I also think every privacy destroying social media app should be shut down.
- FillardMillmore 6y agoWould you be more in favor of the government shutting down privacy-averse social media companies or simply regulating them? In either case, why?
- Polylactic_acid 6y agoI think the Australian government should bring in a GDPR set of laws. To me it seems that the GDPR has improved the internet globally. So many sites added in automated data export tools and ways to opt out of tracking. Companies not following these laws should be fined or if the fine is unenforceable they should be banned from doing business in the country.
- draw_down 6y agoCome on.
- rangibaby 6y agoIt's time to do what China has been doing to "us" for years and make western knock off versions of Tik Tok and Zoom
- theseadroid 6y agosure, lets race to the bottom with the bad guys.
- rangibaby 6y agoI meant more in the sense of their domestic clones of Google, Youtube, and Twitter than the "spyware app" part
- chacha2 6y agoBy making a spyware app, isn't China doing to us what we've been doing to them for years?
- badwolf 6y agoSo... Vine?
- rangibaby 6y agoRIP
- sadhen 6y agoActually, Zoom is not available in China for personal use. The CEO of Zoom is from China and is an America citizen.
- unicornporn 6y agoSemantics. TikTok is available in China, but with a different name (Douyin 抖音).
- cthalupa 6y ago
- bJGVygG7MQVF8c 6y agoPossibly the US too: > POMPEO LOOKING AT TIKTOK BAN IN U.S - FOX NEWS INTERVIEW https://twitter.com/Fxhedgers/status/1280329630918930432 https://twitter.com/Fxhedgers/status/1280329630918930432
- sebazzz 6y agoIf we need to be worried about TikTok, what about cheap Chinese phones like Xaomi and OnePlus?
- nix23 6y agoOr expensive phones like iPhones?
- suizi 6y agoI'm more concerned about the U.S. spying on me. I don't like China spying on me either but people take that one seriously.
- rdsubhas 6y agoOn the US, you have data to make money for business. In China, you have the same to regulate thought crime, reduce financial scores and make people disappear. While you are right about "data is data" and nobody can predict the future, there is no question right now about which one you should be more concerned about.
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- bromuro 6y agoI don’t think “making money for business” is such an innocent activity. Actually “making money” it is the reason and justification behind most the US abuses around the world. Also, we may not see it, but marketing, commerce, and media are also brainwashing people with the consequences we see today.
- amriksohata 6y agoIndia made up 40%+ of their user base, when they banned it, China are taking it to court in India. The monetary impact must be big for their advertising revenue.
- mytailorisrich 6y agoThe issue is that India banned ~60 apps by Chinese companies with one fell swoop. This makes the argument that these were banned for being by Chinese companies simpler, and that is banned under WTO rules.
- wilt 6y agoI would be all for a ban. The app is a ccp spyware trashfire.
- ryuukk_ 6y agonice, they should ban google too hypocrisy of this unviverse, when will we finally be nuked, we deserve it asap, and twice
- peacefulhat 6y agoSucks to see so many engineers on board with locking down the internet. “Made in China” should not be a magical phrase that subverts your normal instincts.
- bobbydreamer 6y agoIs there anything like virtual machine for mobile apps like you can install apps in that. To bored without tiktok.