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I kind of low key look forward to this. It's hard for me to imagine TikTok retaining even 20% of the US market share after an app store ban. But that 20% would
by jauntywundrkind 3y ago
I kind of low key look forward to this.
It's hard for me to imagine TikTok retaining even 20% of the US market share after an app store ban. But that 20% would still be a huge cultural victory for ByteDance, would be an impressive resistance.
The US would really have to turn into a monster, would have to deputize a huge amount of internet services into becoming policemen to go further, and that's a horrible thing that I don't want to see. But also, I struggle to see that deputization down without a huge stink that makes congress look like foolish jerks.
And it'll never work. No matter how many ISP types we conscript, there's just way too many VPNs and other capabilities out there to workaround a technical ban. Squeezing hard will sort of illuminate the futility of the act.
And sort of that's my hope, that the ban becomes a lesson in futility, that sort of shows ByteDance's posture here is right (albeit at a considerable loss in market position). I want the internet to have a win here, I want democratized individual choices to triumph over tight centralized control, I want nations to not have the means. Other nations attempt elaborate control and I don't want the example of control to be proven viable here in the US. There's dark dark roads Congress & the government could go down to try to enforce this ban, but I'm kind of hoping they fail fast and fail hard.
(Also reserving the right to change my mind later. I struggle to see right now how picking on one (and only one) big foreign service is justified.)
- Jezebelley 3y agoIf it's banned it'll all but die out of American popular culture. People will shift to things like YouTube Shorts instead. You can't even get the average person to understand mastodon let alone buy into a VPN subscription to circumvent regional bans.
- slowmovintarget 3y agoMeanwhile, China orders Apple to yank WhatsApp and Facebook apps from its app store in China, because, ya know... they can.
- codehalo 3y agoWho gives a shit? What's the benefit of converting the United States into China Lite?
- TMWNN 3y ago>China orders Apple to yank WhatsApp Welcome to 2017. >and Facebook Welcome to 2009. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_websites_blocked_in_mainland_China https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_websites_blocked_in_ma...>
- slowmovintarget 3y agoThat's kind of my point. Why is it they view social media as a weapon aimed at their citizenry and we don't?
- TMWNN 3y ago>Why is it they view social media as a weapon aimed at their citizenry and we don't? China views free speech as a weapon aimed at their citizenry and we don't.