In the past few months as a diversion the Biden people have been thumping their chest about TikTok….and it looks like the ban is a step closer….
The House passed legislation Saturday that would ban TikTok in the US if the popular social media platform’s China-based owner doesn’t sell its stake within a year. That doesn’t mean the app will go away anytime soon, the AP reports. The decision by House Republicans to include TikTok as part of a larger foreign aid package fast-tracked the ban after an earlier version had stalled in the Senate. A standalone bill with a six-month selling deadline passed the House in March as both Democrats and Republicans voiced national security concerns about the app’s owner, the Chinese technology firm ByteDance.
But the maneuver could speed up the TikTok crackdown’s route through Congress, per the Washington Post, while putting pressure on the Senate. Negotiations between the chambers had produced a compromise measure, and the Post finds support increasing in the Senate. TikTok is “a spy balloon in Americans’ phones” used to “surveil and exploit America’s personal information,” Republican Rep. Michael McCaul told the House in introducing the provision for debate on Saturday. The company could challenge the law in court, per the AP, possibly arguing that it deprives millions of TikTok users of their First Amendment rights. President Biden said last month that he would sign the TikTok bill if Congress passes it.
Is TikTok truly dangerous?
Researchers studied the app’s source code and reported it carries out “excessive data harvesting”. Analysts said TikTok collects details such as location, what specific device is being used and which other apps are on it.
However, a similar test carried out by Citizen Lab concluded “in comparison to other popular social media platforms, TikTok collects similar types of data to track user behaviour”.
Similarly, a report by the Georgia Institute of Technology last year stated: “The key fact here is that most other social media and mobile apps do the same things.”
If TikTok does nothing different than other social media sights why then is TikTok the only danger?
What do you think this proposed ban is all about?
Is this truly a freedom of speech thing?
How will the Supreme Court rule on this for we know it will make it there for their ruling?
Do we really want to start down this road of banning social media?
Is this a made up ‘crisis’ or is it an accusation with some teeth?
All good questions that deserve good answers….
Your thoughts included.
I Read, I Write, You Know
“lego ergo scribo”
As far as I can tell, it is no different to any other social media organisation in collecting personal data, preferences, and movements. But it is owned by a Chinese company, so has to be bad. Why don’t they stop Apple making i-phones and i-pads in China then? Is it only okay if the parent company is registered in America? Seems so.
Best wishes, Pete.
This is an election ploy I believe….China is a bad guy right now and this will just help fan the flames of war. chuq