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I often wonder what high-level American executives that work at these Chinese companies feel like, specially when news like this comes to life. Do they feel lik

I often wonder what high-level American executives that work at these Chinese companies feel like, specially when news like this comes to life. Do they feel like they're just doing their job? Are they afraid of getting arrested? Do they think that the massive comp packages they get is worth the risk? Lots of cognitive dissonance going on, I would bet.

93po 4y ago
They're likely very much bought into the CCP and think that their work that furthers the interests of the CCP, including the tracking of potential dissidents to their political party, is fine. You don't see American tech workers batting an eye at tracking data being used to target who was at the Jan 6 protests, and frankly I don't think they'd care if it was also used against Alex Jones if he was there in a journalistic capacity.
- DiogenesKynikos 4y ago
  This story has nothing to do with the CCP. In the US now, every story that has anything to do with China is reduced to "the CCP." This is a story about a tech company abusing its access to user data to try to track down which of its employees were talking to journalists. This could be a story about a Chinese company, an American company, or a company from pretty much any country.
  - 93po 4y ago
    High level executives at ByteDance are members of the CCP and closely work with the CCP. Journalists are reporting on ByteDance because of allegations that are implied in this quote from the article: “TikTok has never been used to ‘target’ any members of the U.S. government, activists, public figures or journalists,” The ongoing controversy with TikTok has always been about the concern of the government of China using TikTok data and manipulation of its content in clandestine ways. It all goes back to CCP.
    - DiogenesKynikos 4y ago
      Here are the top executives of ByteDance: * Zhang Yiming, founder / CEO of ByteDance until 2021: not a member of the Communist Party. * Kevin A. Mayer, COO and CEO of TikTok during 2020: not a member of the Communist Party. * Rubo Liang, CEO since 2021: not a member of the Communist Party. * Lidong Zhang, Chairman of ByteDance China: I can't find any reference to him being a member of the Communist Party. * Alex Zhu, founder of Musical.ly, the predecessor of TikTok, and former CEO of TikTok: not a member of the Communist Party. I'm sure there are some executives that are members of the Communist Party, but looking at the top people, that just doesn't pop out. > The ongoing controversy with TikTok has always been about the concern of the government of China using TikTok data and manipulation of its content in clandestine ways. That's the way literally every issue even tangentially related to China is spun in the US nowadays. This is actually a story about a tech company trying to find leakers by looking at the user data of the journalists they met with. It gets turned into a story about how the Communist Party is going to infiltrate and undermine the United States, using an app that teenagers use to show off their dance moves. The paranoia about China has gone just a bit too far for my liking.
      - seanmcdirmid 4y ago
        Considering that a lot of kids join the communist party like it’s literally a school club, I don’t see how being a member or not is really very interesting. It’s like registering as a Democrat or Republican in states that require that, except there is a bit of gating in the youth organizations looking for good students, or legacy members, etc…
RobotToaster 4y ago
They're probably too busy being rich to care.
- danrocks 4y ago
  Well they probably are, but there is a non-zero chance they'll end up in jail for a very long time, in which case their riches won't matter much.
  - toomanydoubts 4y ago
    Doesn't most people who commit white-collar crimes do so because the riches acquired does matter in reducing time and getting out of jail quickly?
    - deleted 4y ago
      [deleted]
neilv 4y ago
Lots of possibilities: * Golden handcuffs, but intending to move away once they vest. * Actively trying to move away, but want to have a new role at that/better level lined up. * They might've been eased into it through deception (e.g., someone raises a concern internally, they're assured that's not happening or has stopped, and only later it's in the news that it's happening anyway). * Or, really, "tech" has pervasive ethical flexibility. Figuratively, the same kind of people who were looting pension funds in the 1980s are now selling out computer users, and they've normalized a lot of sociopathy, so the party is open to a lot more people. Normalized, it's easy to rationalize doing just a little more. Example: "Oh no, they're monitoring journalists." Which is something almost every startup Web site starts participating in, on their first day of business, when they add third-party trackers, and then often they add to that.
- pokepim 4y ago
  [dead]
jahewson 4y ago
[flagged]
- danrocks 4y ago
  Tiktok does: https://www.jobsage.com/companies/leadership/tiktok https://www.jobsage.com/companies/leadership/tiktok
- pertymcpert 4y ago
  Chinese Americans are also Americans.
tootie 4y ago
American execs aren't any more or less ethical than Chinese ones. The difference is what is and isn't legal or acceptable. They likely just thought they'd get away with it or they're not culpable if it wasn't their order. News Corp hacked phones to track people, they just got caught and punished. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/News_International_phone_hacking_scandal https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/News_International_phone_hac...
miketery 4y ago
“it is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on his not understanding it.” - Upton Sinclair
jesuspiece 4y ago
Money talks

93po 4y ago

They're likely very much bought into the CCP and think that their work that furthers the interests of the CCP, including the tracking of potential dissidents to their political party, is fine. You don't see American tech workers batting an eye at tracking data being used to target who was at the Jan 6 protests, and frankly I don't think they'd care if it was also used against Alex Jones if he was there in a journalistic capacity.

DiogenesKynikos 4y ago
This story has nothing to do with the CCP. In the US now, every story that has anything to do with China is reduced to "the CCP." This is a story about a tech company abusing its access to user data to try to track down which of its employees were talking to journalists. This could be a story about a Chinese company, an American company, or a company from pretty much any country.
- 93po 4y ago
  High level executives at ByteDance are members of the CCP and closely work with the CCP. Journalists are reporting on ByteDance because of allegations that are implied in this quote from the article: “TikTok has never been used to ‘target’ any members of the U.S. government, activists, public figures or journalists,” The ongoing controversy with TikTok has always been about the concern of the government of China using TikTok data and manipulation of its content in clandestine ways. It all goes back to CCP.
  - DiogenesKynikos 4y ago
    Here are the top executives of ByteDance: * Zhang Yiming, founder / CEO of ByteDance until 2021: not a member of the Communist Party. * Kevin A. Mayer, COO and CEO of TikTok during 2020: not a member of the Communist Party. * Rubo Liang, CEO since 2021: not a member of the Communist Party. * Lidong Zhang, Chairman of ByteDance China: I can't find any reference to him being a member of the Communist Party. * Alex Zhu, founder of Musical.ly, the predecessor of TikTok, and former CEO of TikTok: not a member of the Communist Party. I'm sure there are some executives that are members of the Communist Party, but looking at the top people, that just doesn't pop out. > The ongoing controversy with TikTok has always been about the concern of the government of China using TikTok data and manipulation of its content in clandestine ways. That's the way literally every issue even tangentially related to China is spun in the US nowadays. This is actually a story about a tech company trying to find leakers by looking at the user data of the journalists they met with. It gets turned into a story about how the Communist Party is going to infiltrate and undermine the United States, using an app that teenagers use to show off their dance moves. The paranoia about China has gone just a bit too far for my liking.
    - seanmcdirmid 4y ago
      Considering that a lot of kids join the communist party like it’s literally a school club, I don’t see how being a member or not is really very interesting. It’s like registering as a Democrat or Republican in states that require that, except there is a bit of gating in the youth organizations looking for good students, or legacy members, etc…

RobotToaster 4y ago

They're probably too busy being rich to care.

danrocks 4y ago
Well they probably are, but there is a non-zero chance they'll end up in jail for a very long time, in which case their riches won't matter much.
- toomanydoubts 4y ago
  Doesn't most people who commit white-collar crimes do so because the riches acquired does matter in reducing time and getting out of jail quickly?
  - deleted 4y ago
    [deleted]

neilv 4y ago

Lots of possibilities: * Golden handcuffs, but intending to move away once they vest. * Actively trying to move away, but want to have a new role at that/better level lined up. * They might've been eased into it through deception (e.g., someone raises a concern internally, they're assured that's not happening or has stopped, and only later it's in the news that it's happening anyway). * Or, really, "tech" has pervasive ethical flexibility. Figuratively, the same kind of people who were looting pension funds in the 1980s are now selling out computer users, and they've normalized a lot of sociopathy, so the party is open to a lot more people. Normalized, it's easy to rationalize doing just a little more. Example: "Oh no, they're monitoring journalists." Which is something almost every startup Web site starts participating in, on their first day of business, when they add third-party trackers, and then often they add to that.

pokepim 4y ago
[dead]

jahewson 4y ago

[flagged]

danrocks 4y ago
Tiktok does: https://www.jobsage.com/companies/leadership/tiktok https://www.jobsage.com/companies/leadership/tiktok
pertymcpert 4y ago
Chinese Americans are also Americans.

tootie 4y ago

American execs aren't any more or less ethical than Chinese ones. The difference is what is and isn't legal or acceptable. They likely just thought they'd get away with it or they're not culpable if it wasn't their order. News Corp hacked phones to track people, they just got caught and punished. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/News_International_phone_hacking_scandal https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/News_International_phone_hac...

miketery 4y ago

“it is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on his not understanding it.” - Upton Sinclair

jesuspiece 4y ago

Money talks