4 ms·

A good, albeit somewhat impotent, move. The companies wont yank it from the app stores in the US for fear of reprisal, but that is the better next step.

deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
causi 4y ago
The companies wont yank it from the app stores in the US for fear of losing their cut of ad revenue but that is the better next step. Fixed that for you.
- jrexilius 4y ago
  The revenue from TikTok is minscule compared to losing access the Chinese market. That is the bigger risk they face.
  - tomComb 4y ago
    Google has zero revenue from China. They pulled out of China when told they would have to censor search results years ago. Android phones in China don’t use Google’s android.
    - throw48274853 4y ago
      In 2018, Google made $3 billion in China from Chinese companies buying ads.
      - tomComb 4y ago
        I guess then I should say they made nothing in China - those Chinese companies buying ads would have been for ads outside of China. Either way, it's about as big a contrast as is possible with Apple who are all in on China in every way.
snapcaster 4y ago
Why is this good? why are people suddenly down to ban software? I don't use tiktok and never will but seeing all this discussion about how it should be banned is depressing. If US companies want it to be less popular how about they compete and make a better product? Why are so many people carrying water for social media companies? To get ahead of the criticism I'll likely get for this comment: I don't think tiktok/china do anything that US companies and every other social media platform have already been doing for years. Why ban tiktok and not every other social media app?
- 1MachineElf 4y ago
  >why are people suddenly down to ban software? >Why ban tiktok and not every other social media app? If we banned all software that tracks users, capitalizes on their data, and doesn't respect privacy/GDPR/whatever - the world would be a better place.
  - rchaud 4y ago
    Seems to me that Google and Apple could simply not provide hardware API access that leaks privacy info. But that would hurt all the other 'legitimate' uses of that information (targeted advertising), and no one wants to be the first person to jump off that gravy train.
  - deely3 4y ago
    > better place ..definitely a lot more expensive, but better. Hm. Is it ok if we will actually block poor people from using internet?
- pessimizer 4y ago
  > If US companies want it to be less popular how about they compete and make a better product? They don't want it to be less popular; the US encourages media monopolies. The larger the better. US government belligerence towards TikTok served the same purpose as US government belligerence towards Twitter and Facebook: leverage in order to be able to censor it and emphasize US narratives. They won, TikTok is fully censoring based on US government "suggestions," and this state/local-level political grandstanding are people jumping into an operation that is already over.
rchaud 4y ago
On what grounds would Apple/Google remove it from their app stores? Did they remove Facebook after it was fined $5bn by the FTC for privacy breaches?
- dotnet00 4y ago
  As if they've ever needed valid grounds to remove other less influential apps
- hot_gril 4y ago
  TikTok's client had some pretty bad vulnerabilities like not using TLS in the past, but maybe those are patched by now.
foreverobama 4y ago
Nothing "good" about this move. It's a nothing burger. Everyone's phone literally tracks them with every other app, basically in the same way. Hell, the cell phone carriers are even tracking you, along with the U.S. government. So yeah, great job removing tiktok which ultimately does nothing for your opsec or privacy. It's completely and utterly political. Just like banning twitter would be, although that actually has more merit than the banning of tiktok. Sorry to burst your bubble.
- mikrotikker 4y ago
  Its GEO political and the smart move. It's bad enough having local actors surveil citizens, let alone foreign actors, let alone foreign malicious actors.

deleted 4y ago

[deleted]

causi 4y ago

The companies wont yank it from the app stores in the US for fear of losing their cut of ad revenue but that is the better next step. Fixed that for you.

jrexilius 4y ago
The revenue from TikTok is minscule compared to losing access the Chinese market. That is the bigger risk they face.
- tomComb 4y ago
  Google has zero revenue from China. They pulled out of China when told they would have to censor search results years ago. Android phones in China don’t use Google’s android.
  - throw48274853 4y ago
    In 2018, Google made $3 billion in China from Chinese companies buying ads.
    - tomComb 4y ago
      I guess then I should say they made nothing in China - those Chinese companies buying ads would have been for ads outside of China. Either way, it's about as big a contrast as is possible with Apple who are all in on China in every way.

snapcaster 4y ago

Why is this good? why are people suddenly down to ban software? I don't use tiktok and never will but seeing all this discussion about how it should be banned is depressing. If US companies want it to be less popular how about they compete and make a better product? Why are so many people carrying water for social media companies? To get ahead of the criticism I'll likely get for this comment: I don't think tiktok/china do anything that US companies and every other social media platform have already been doing for years. Why ban tiktok and not every other social media app?

1MachineElf 4y ago
>why are people suddenly down to ban software? >Why ban tiktok and not every other social media app? If we banned all software that tracks users, capitalizes on their data, and doesn't respect privacy/GDPR/whatever - the world would be a better place.
- rchaud 4y ago
  Seems to me that Google and Apple could simply not provide hardware API access that leaks privacy info. But that would hurt all the other 'legitimate' uses of that information (targeted advertising), and no one wants to be the first person to jump off that gravy train.
- deely3 4y ago
  > better place ..definitely a lot more expensive, but better. Hm. Is it ok if we will actually block poor people from using internet?
pessimizer 4y ago
> If US companies want it to be less popular how about they compete and make a better product? They don't want it to be less popular; the US encourages media monopolies. The larger the better. US government belligerence towards TikTok served the same purpose as US government belligerence towards Twitter and Facebook: leverage in order to be able to censor it and emphasize US narratives. They won, TikTok is fully censoring based on US government "suggestions," and this state/local-level political grandstanding are people jumping into an operation that is already over.

rchaud 4y ago

On what grounds would Apple/Google remove it from their app stores? Did they remove Facebook after it was fined $5bn by the FTC for privacy breaches?

dotnet00 4y ago
As if they've ever needed valid grounds to remove other less influential apps
hot_gril 4y ago
TikTok's client had some pretty bad vulnerabilities like not using TLS in the past, but maybe those are patched by now.

foreverobama 4y ago

Nothing "good" about this move. It's a nothing burger. Everyone's phone literally tracks them with every other app, basically in the same way. Hell, the cell phone carriers are even tracking you, along with the U.S. government. So yeah, great job removing tiktok which ultimately does nothing for your opsec or privacy. It's completely and utterly political. Just like banning twitter would be, although that actually has more merit than the banning of tiktok. Sorry to burst your bubble.

mikrotikker 4y ago
Its GEO political and the smart move. It's bad enough having local actors surveil citizens, let alone foreign actors, let alone foreign malicious actors.