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I think the real concern is not protectionism per se, but the ability of China to run influence operations through TikTok (as you hinted at), which to be fair i

I think the real concern is not protectionism per se, but the ability of China to run influence operations through TikTok (as you hinted at), which to be fair is a real concern. However, "banning" TikTok is pretty shortsighted and isn't even addressing the real problem. I would ask how we got to a place where so many Americans are susceptible to propaganda. This is coming at it from a different angle (kids' mental health), but it's still a move in the right direction: https://www.cnn.com/2024/06/17/media/surgeon-general-social-media-apps-warning-label/index.html https://www.cnn.com/2024/06/17/media/surgeon-general-social-... It doesn't restrict anybody's freedom, but people who didn't give it much thought before may start putting social media into the "questionable" bucket, and those who were already wary may start putting it into the "bad" bucket. At that point it will be much easier to have a real conversation about harms associated with social media. But if that effort goes anywhere, it will take a long time.

999900000999 2y ago
If you're going to ban TikTok for health reasons, you just need to ban social media. There's no way to argue that Facebook and Instagram are healthy. The notion that China is going to run pysops via TikTok also falls flat, Facebook has already been responsible for human right violations in multiple countries. Why don't we fix our own propaganda factories first . The only thing that I think would be okay would be a warning label on these apps, and this should go for all social media. "Please be advised the views expressed by users on these apps may not be authentic, and are subject to influence by various parties which may not have your best interest at heart." But at the end of the day, if you want to read or consume propaganda or misinformation you should have a right to. Otherwise we're going down a slippery slope, so first it's because TikTok is a Chinese owned company. What's next, are we going to shut down an app because C level employees have close relationships with officials in governments we don't like ? If you have a Russian uncle you can't be the CTO of Facebook?

999900000999 2y ago

If you're going to ban TikTok for health reasons, you just need to ban social media. There's no way to argue that Facebook and Instagram are healthy. The notion that China is going to run pysops via TikTok also falls flat, Facebook has already been responsible for human right violations in multiple countries. Why don't we fix our own propaganda factories first . The only thing that I think would be okay would be a warning label on these apps, and this should go for all social media. "Please be advised the views expressed by users on these apps may not be authentic, and are subject to influence by various parties which may not have your best interest at heart." But at the end of the day, if you want to read or consume propaganda or misinformation you should have a right to. Otherwise we're going down a slippery slope, so first it's because TikTok is a Chinese owned company. What's next, are we going to shut down an app because C level employees have close relationships with officials in governments we don't like ? If you have a Russian uncle you can't be the CTO of Facebook?