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> You think that a social media app is trade? When it crosses international borders? I'm sorry, but duh? Do you think websites and apps somehow aren't trade?
by TulliusCicero 2y ago
> You think that a social media app is trade?
When it crosses international borders? I'm sorry, but duh?
Do you think websites and apps somehow aren't trade? I'd love to hear your reasons for internationally used online services not counting as trade somehow, that's gonna be fascinating.
- sodality2 2y agoI think that considering TikTok's shop feature, it would be, but to me the dictionary definition of "the business of buying and selling commodities, products, or services; commerce" wouldn't apply to a free social media app otherwise. It lacks the critical transactional nature.
- TulliusCicero 2y ago> It lacks the critical transactional nature. I'm sorry, what? You realize they're still making money off you, right? I don't think "if the product is free, then you are the product" is 100% right, but it's not entirely wrong either. A business' offerings being ad-supported doesn't somehow stop them from being commercial in nature. Hence: trade.
- sodality2 2y agoI guess it would be a form of countertrade of attention for content. Nonetheless I don't think a "trade" of social media content and ads should be something that is within the government's scope to ban. If TikTok was made ad-free, would that change your argument?
- TulliusCicero 2y agoThat you don't consider it trade is irrelevant. It is trade, and trade has always been within the scope of the government -- every government, really -- to regulate. > If TikTok was made ad-free, would that change your argument? I think as long as TikTok is generating revenue -- or even plans to in the future, as sometimes happens for startups -- it'd count as trade yeah.