The narrative that Chinese companies are a privacy/security concern is a way to divert attention from US based companies doing the same and worse. The implicit claim there is that TikTok is somehow an outlier as opposed to being the norm.
While obviously I’d prefer not to be spied on by anybody, it’s clearly worse to be spied on by a government that has agency over you as opposed to one that doesn’t. If I was a dissident in US today I’d feel far safer with a Huawei phone than one from a US affiliated company.
If I was a dissident in US today I’d feel far safer with a Huawei phone than one from a US affiliated company.
Literally me, but a Xiaomi phone with google apps disabled.
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Right, obviously the fact that TikTok is quietly monitoring the users without them being aware of it is a problem since you have no idea where that data ends up eventually or what it’s being used for. It’s just funny that it’s being singled out for doing that while US/EU pretend that Western apps are somehow different in that regard.
They will have to start doing this sooner or later I suppose, trying to maintain their influence and profits. As china’s economy grows to two-three times that of the usa in the next 30 years, they (china) will become influencing the anglosaxon cyberspace more and more, forcing usa and other capitalist-imperialists to implement more visible censorship and protectionist propaganda. It’s quite ironic really.
If the US government thinks that a foreign social media company is a security threat, what should the rest of the world think of american companies? I think european governments should start thinking hard if having all of their citizens data (including medical data, thanks to apple health and google fit) accessible by a foreign entity is such a good idea or not.
whatever your personal beliefs are about china, this would be huge. TikTok is one of the biggest social media apps right now and snapping it away from people would certainly lead to backlash. It might also lead to people looking for an alternative.
Gen Z will wage war against the boomers if they ban tiktok.
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I find it insane for any Nation to not have its own sovereign technology. I’m certainly not defending what the US is doing domestically or around the world but how is this any different from having a potential enemy manufacturing your missile defence system or critical infrastructure? Propaganda and influence is a huge concern going forward. I think China should ban US tech companies infiltrating their country, and that India should be concerned with Chinese apps, we should all be concerned (of US apps as well). We need homegrown (and non-commercial) solutions and more of them.
Yeah it’s foolish to invest in proprietary options when national security is on the line.
On one hand I feel like this is warranted and the Chinese Gov should unban the world’s apps if they want access to the world’s users. But on the other hand I’m worried this would be the first step into the American Gov banning apps they don’t like\want and would lead to apps like Signal being banned.
