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"Facebook continues to be the single greatest threat to Western society outside of Russia" This is ridiculous hyperbole. And TikTok, as a Chinese company wher
by jollybean 5y ago
"Facebook continues to be the single greatest threat to Western society outside of Russia"
This is ridiculous hyperbole.
And TikTok, as a Chinese company whereupon they can be compelled to do the bidding of the CCP at any time, in whatever terms, remains problematic.
It doesn't matter what the 'founder' thinks.
- Spivak 5y agoDo you apply this logic to all companies not in the US? Do you worry that the American Honda Motor Company is a sleeper cell for Japanese state interests?
- kmlx 5y agooh my. are we equating Japan with China?
- pessimizer 5y agoIs it bizarre to compare countries with other countries generally, or only when one is on the official enemies list?
- jollybean 5y agoThere's nothing wrong with comparing countries, but it's ridiculous to compare countries which have systems of de facto central control, vs systems that do not. Xi (and the CCP) don't interfere directly very often, but he can and will do so as he chooses. He's an Emperor. Nobody has that kind of power in Japan.
- des1nderlase 5y agoAny government can and will control any present company if "national" interests are in question.
- jollybean 5y agoAgain this is unhelpful rhetorical relativism, because the circumstances of 'national interest' are defined completely differently. Yes, if someone is pointing Nuclear Weapons at Japan, they will force Yahoo.jp to fork over data on the spot, but otherwise, no. In China, a random person making a comment about someone in government could be suppressed as a matter of 'national interest'. It's pointless to make rhetorical analogies. Even if one could argue they are 'different in extent and not in character' (though I would disagree), the 'extent of difference' is sufficient to make them different in character. A random person walking down the street has little to fear in either country, but that line can be crossed quickly and arbitrarily in authoritarian regimes.
- jollybean 5y agoThe CCP has very specific influence on companies in China, that has no parrallel elsewhere. Specifically they require companies to hire CCP members that have internal positions with oversight, the CCP will remove leaders as they see fit, require arbitrary censoring as they see fit. This is obviously much more of a concern for companies in the information domain such as social media or finance, than others such as manufacturing. Donald Trump for example, could not remove the Google founders by any means.