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> It's also worrying that some Americans complain about "big [US] government" to justify the very limited size and power of the FTC to regulate US big tech, whi

> It's also worrying that some Americans complain about "big [US] government" to justify the very limited size and power of the FTC to regulate US big tech, while somehow overlooking the threat from the big Chinese government, its awful human rights record, and its track record of working to gain access into US companies. How is a bigger/more powerful FTC an antidote to the bad behavior of the Chinese government, or a defense against them?

ethanbond 4y ago
Not that I necessarily believe in this, but you could imagine e.g. FTC or FCC requiring content-neutrality. In that world, China's asks for censorship go up against US's asks for no censorship. In this current world, China's asks for censorship go up against... employees' personal appetite for losing money (and potentially their jobs) in exchange for a non-China dominated information space?
codyb 4y ago
Maybe they could enforce rules notifying users where their ads were coming from?
an1sotropy 4y ago
I'm not sure. Threats from the Chinese govt include US national security, and the privacy and human rights of all Twitter users. FTC itself may not be the regulatory body to address those, but don't you think it is nonetheless a legitimate interest of the US govt to regulate, if Twitter is a US company? The hearing also shed light on how European regulation (France in particular, I think), was recognized within Twitter as something to take seriously, as opposed to how US regulation would result in, at worst, one-time fines. Another revelation https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32566507 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32566507 is that India had an agent working within Twitter. I don't know if that's a Dept of Labor regulation violation, but my general concern is that if you celebrate limits in US govt regulation, you may be celebrating having low vision of the harmful activities of foreign governments.
- yazzku 4y ago
  The US government is also harmful outside of the US. Your comments here and above seem to have a tone of "US good, China bad". To be clear, this and the general issue of regulating American online spaces isn't about good vs evil, but about furthering one government's agenda or another's.
- vinay_ys 4y ago
  > India had an agent working within Twitter Without proof, this is pure propaganda. India is a sovereign democracy with its own laws and regulations. India required all media platforms acting as intermediaries to have three permanent job roles with proper governance structure – a Chief Compliance Officer, a Resident Grievance Officer and a Nodal Contact Person – these job roles are expected to have specific responsibilities w.r.t dealing with consumer complaints. You can read the official government brief here – https://static.pib.gov.in/WriteReadData/specificdocs/documents/2021/jun/doc202162411.pdf https://static.pib.gov.in/WriteReadData/specificdocs/documen... Twitter would have interviewed and hired competent people of their choice into these roles. If any motivated government/corporate wants to infiltrate twitter, I doubt they would go about it by engaging in high-profile court battles and democratic parliamentary processes to do it.
kornhole 4y ago
He is trying to bring it home to them and getting them excited about hearing that China, Russia, and anybody else knows where they are at all times, what they follow and so on. If I had to choose a government to surveil and manipulate me, it would not be my own US government and corporations. Of course I don't let any of them do it.

ethanbond 4y ago

Not that I necessarily believe in this, but you could imagine e.g. FTC or FCC requiring content-neutrality. In that world, China's asks for censorship go up against US's asks for no censorship. In this current world, China's asks for censorship go up against... employees' personal appetite for losing money (and potentially their jobs) in exchange for a non-China dominated information space?

codyb 4y ago

Maybe they could enforce rules notifying users where their ads were coming from?

an1sotropy 4y ago

I'm not sure. Threats from the Chinese govt include US national security, and the privacy and human rights of all Twitter users. FTC itself may not be the regulatory body to address those, but don't you think it is nonetheless a legitimate interest of the US govt to regulate, if Twitter is a US company? The hearing also shed light on how European regulation (France in particular, I think), was recognized within Twitter as something to take seriously, as opposed to how US regulation would result in, at worst, one-time fines. Another revelation https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32566507 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32566507 is that India had an agent working within Twitter. I don't know if that's a Dept of Labor regulation violation, but my general concern is that if you celebrate limits in US govt regulation, you may be celebrating having low vision of the harmful activities of foreign governments.

yazzku 4y ago
The US government is also harmful outside of the US. Your comments here and above seem to have a tone of "US good, China bad". To be clear, this and the general issue of regulating American online spaces isn't about good vs evil, but about furthering one government's agenda or another's.
vinay_ys 4y ago
> India had an agent working within Twitter Without proof, this is pure propaganda. India is a sovereign democracy with its own laws and regulations. India required all media platforms acting as intermediaries to have three permanent job roles with proper governance structure – a Chief Compliance Officer, a Resident Grievance Officer and a Nodal Contact Person – these job roles are expected to have specific responsibilities w.r.t dealing with consumer complaints. You can read the official government brief here – https://static.pib.gov.in/WriteReadData/specificdocs/documents/2021/jun/doc202162411.pdf https://static.pib.gov.in/WriteReadData/specificdocs/documen... Twitter would have interviewed and hired competent people of their choice into these roles. If any motivated government/corporate wants to infiltrate twitter, I doubt they would go about it by engaging in high-profile court battles and democratic parliamentary processes to do it.

kornhole 4y ago

He is trying to bring it home to them and getting them excited about hearing that China, Russia, and anybody else knows where they are at all times, what they follow and so on. If I had to choose a government to surveil and manipulate me, it would not be my own US government and corporations. Of course I don't let any of them do it.