Banning TikTok is a Power Grab for the Deep State | Opinion

[TBoneTX 45,250]

Comments on this?

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Banning TikTok is a Power Grab for the Deep State | Opinion

 

[...] The bill names TikTok as a "foreign adversary controlled application," with the "adversary" in question being China, but it also goes further and prohibits "applications" associated with the standard litany of official U.S. "adversaries"—Russia, North Korea, and Iran.  More additions to the list are always possible, perhaps in the event that Cuba or Venezuela develop a short-form dance video app that becomes suspiciously popular with American teens.

 

Another provision authorizes the President, who is currently Joe Biden and may soon be Donald Trump, to make unilateral determinations about whether certain applications "present a significant threat to the national security of the United States," and therefore must be banned like TikTok.  The criteria for making such a determination is left conspicuously vague.
 

So if you really want to give Biden or Trump more unilateral power to control the proliferation of content online, this appears to be just the bill for you.  [...]

 

https://www.newsweek.com/banning-tiktok-power-grab-deep-state-opinion-1878579

[TBoneTX 45,250]

Progressives Fear That Without TikTok, They Won't Be Able To Convince Kids To Join Their Weird Sex Cult

 

[...] Prominent personalities on the political left said their efforts to indoctrinate children into bizarre, hyper-sexualized alternative lifestyles will be far more challenging if lawmakers follow through on their attempts to outlaw the use of TikTok.

 

"How are we supposed to twist kids' minds now?" asked Rainbow Sparklefairy, a popular TikTok influencer who actively seeks out young followers.  [...]

 

https://babylonbee.com/news/progressives-fear-that-without-tiktok-they-wont-be-able-to-convince-kids-to-join-their-weird-sex-cult

[TBoneTX 45,250]

The author raises interesting points.  Comments about all this?

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Mnuchin:  I Want to Make TikTok American Again

 

[...] Mnuchin has no intention of taking TikTok private.  He wants to fold in existing US investors and make sure that the shares are widely distributed to force a collaborative management structure, the former Treasury Secretary told CNBC, with no entity controlling more than 10%.  Mnuchin wants the platform in American hands, especially with its influence on American youth:  [...]

 

https://hotair.com/ed-morrissey/2024/03/14/mnuchin-i-want-to-buy-tiktok-to-make-it-american-n3784674

[yuna628 9,671]

My assessment is similar to that of the Newsweek article. Some finer points:

 

1) if you want to use a VPN to get around content the government sees fit to ban - 20 years in jail or $1 million fine? I scratch my head at this because we got murderers and rapists around not getting those kind of penalties.

2) can apply to any content or website that the president sees fit at any time depending on what he feels like

3) There's lots of other provisions that are clear power grabs and it reminds me greatly of the early days of the patriot act.

 

That being said:

 

4) TikTok does have a problem in that part of it is owned by the Chinese government. My argument here is that many things are owned by the Chinese government. We do not have evidence that the data being collected is being used in an appropriate way at least not in any way the government is prepared to declassify. However, pretty much every social media site is collecting data, using it, selling it, and may or may not be holding it securely. We have reached the point where there are class action lawsuits from artists because sites are selling images, data, and their words to big AI without consent. The government knows this.

 

5)Facebook and Twitter have active lobbyists who would love to see a major competitor driven into the ground.

[Dashinka 24,479]

Great suggestion, just get off social media except of course for VJ.

[TBoneTX 45,250]

Thoughts about Matt Taibbi's words in this article?

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Why the TikTok Ban is So Dangerous

 

[...] passage of the TikTok ban represents a perfect storm of unpleasant political developments, putting congress back fully in line with the national security establishment on speech.  [...]

 

https://www.racket.news/p/why-the-tiktok-ban-is-so-dangerous

[TBoneTX 45,250]

Wow.  To read.  Wow.

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This Country Cannot Afford A Weak Supreme Court Decision On Internet Censorship

 

It is obviously un-American for the government to develop a 'hit list' of citizens to mute in the public square through secret pressure on communications monopolies.  [...]

 

https://thefederalist.com/2024/03/21/this-country-cannot-afford-a-weak-supreme-court-decision-on-internet-censorship/

[Ban Hammer 13,327]

12 hours ago, TBoneTX said:

Wow.  To read.  Wow.

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This Country Cannot Afford A Weak Supreme Court Decision On Internet Censorship

 

It is obviously un-American for the government to develop a 'hit list' of citizens to mute in the public square through secret pressure on communications monopolies.  [...]

 

https://thefederalist.com/2024/03/21/this-country-cannot-afford-a-weak-supreme-court-decision-on-internet-censorship/

a very good line from the above article
"Speech from a private citizen does not have the threat of violence behind it. Speech from a government official, on the other hand, absolutely does and always has."