this post was submitted on 08 May 2024
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TikTok is taking the US government to court.

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[–] [email protected] 86 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (4 children)

Every negative thing about Tiktok is also true about Instagram and Twitter.

[–] [email protected] 26 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (9 children)

Except the part about the authoritarian regime, the US has many problems but it's still a democracy.

Edit: I'm glad you downvote me because you never had to learn what living in a dictatorship is like, I didn't, but my parents generation still did and I can tell you it looks nothing like the US of today. Women were only allowed to be housewives, groups of more than 2 people couldn't talk openly in the street because that can lead to dangerous ideas spreading out, you would have to be careful what you said even at home because your neighbour could be listening to sell you out, all pieces of art and media would go through an government office to get censored, and so on, so yes, I stand with what I said, the US is a free democratic country even if you have been spoiled enough to think it is not.

[–] [email protected] 24 points 1 year ago (2 children)

the US has many problems but it’s still a democracy

Given the choice between hot shit and cold shit still ends with you being covered in shit. Heads or tails between two very similar parties hardly counts as a true democracy.

[–] [email protected] 30 points 1 year ago (1 children)

This is incredibly disingenuous. The US might not be a true democracy, but it's not an authoritarian regime. Xi and putin disappear people who have an opinion on whether they should be forever-rulers.

The fact that independent parties exist and hold seats at all three levels of government mean you are fundamentally wrong in saying there are only two choices.

The US is a flawed democracy. That's still better than an authoritarian regime.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago

Power in the US is held within an oligarchy and when they are threatened people get disappeared. There's examples of that but one that's being made an example of in broad daylight is Julian Assange

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (2 children)

While the US might be hot shit, it's still our OWN shit. Keep your cold shit on your side of the pond.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I'm not an American. By your logic, let's ban all American social media.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

let’s ban all American social media.

That would be great. Where can I sign?

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Just wondering why would you want to ban anything? Does banning something solve any problem that a normal person has? I mean if the ban wave is on it would be fair to ban anything that's not open source but I do think censorship is cancer.

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[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (2 children)

TikTok is a psyops software disguised as a social media application. Facebook is bad for other reasons. But psysops are not one of them.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

Facebook complies with the Cloud Act.

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[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

lol I'm not british

[–] [email protected] 21 points 1 year ago (1 children)

the US has many problems but it's still a democracy.

LMAO

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I feel like you only think a country is a democracy if it says it's a people's republic while it commits genocide.

[–] [email protected] 18 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Y'know Orwell wrote about how warping definitions was a tool of authoritarianism. Typical ML behavior, tbh.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago

The United States is a democracy only if oligarchies are democracies

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 year ago

Not everything that's not a dictatorship is a democracy. You're using a strawman to argue your point.

A democracy stops when there is a severe imbalance in influence on legislation between voters and lobbyists / corporations / or voters depending on income / colour of skin.

There's also a quasi oligarchy with freedom of speech, that's about where western Europe is at. In the US, by now, a large part of the population has been deprived of basic human rights, as shown in unpunished police brutality and murders, and vigilante killings of people for their beliefs, opinions or identity.

Neither still qualifies for democracy. We would have to unite about two thirds of the voters behind a new party to even hope to change anything that matters (hello climate change), and that's assuming that a hypothetical party that would actually act in the interest of restoring democratic mechanisms would be persecuted or otherwise hindered by authorities.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago (21 children)

And What does that have to do with anything? We aren't dealing with China, we're dealing with a corporation.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)

The fact that the company that manages TikTok is insisting on maintaining the power structure that allows for influence by the CCP makes that claim incredibly suspicious.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Oh no, should we ban Facebook because the US government can subpoena them for information!?!

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

First, that's materially different. Second, yes; I think Facebook giving the government our information without a fight is bad. What, did you think I would suddenly think the dissolution of our privacy was good because it was an American company?

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Oh that's different than when the Chinese government serves a subpoena?

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

So we're talking about some other official demand for documents? Like an NSA warrant?

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[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Hey I was born in a country with a military dictatorship and my parents grew up under it.

That's exactly why I believe in freedom and liberty. Freedom of expression, freedom of religion, freedom of association. We need to uphold these principles so that the US doesn't slowly slip into authoritarianism like most democracies tend to do over the long term.

That's exactly why I oppose this TikTok ban with every fiber of my being. If a citizen wants to communicate on a Chinese platform, he has every right to do so under our laws. He can make the executive decision for himself about the potential risks or benefits.

That's what it means to live in a free society. You are advocating for authoritarianism while you rail against authoritarianism. Reminds me of 1984. War is peace, right?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

He can make the executive decision for himself about the potential risks or benefits

But should he? Is any one by themselves really capable? Note that I don’t really know what to think myself, purely asking.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

You got downvoted so much that I had to check if we were on ml or hexbear. Those CCP shills really operating in broad daylight on this post, they must have gotten board of the echo rooms filled with bots on their home instance.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (3 children)

I just have to stop by and voice that I do not appreciate your attitude. This is exactly the kind of toxicity I escaped reddit from.

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Doesn't really matter unless you live under it. Instagram and Twitter or more dangerous to U.S. citizens.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)
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[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

They're saying that the US is a democracy and the other country is an authoritarian regime. Can you guess which other country is involved with TikTok other than the USA? I'll give you a hint: Hundred Acre Woods.

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[–] [email protected] 24 points 1 year ago (1 children)

TikTok is solely responsible for that AI voice. Instagram and Twitter have never done anything that compares to the pain and suffering that has caused to humanity.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

M A R C U S P U M P K I N

[–] [email protected] 14 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Except the most relevant part: it is owned by a hostile foreign government.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 year ago (1 children)

To be fair, so is League of Legends and every product made by Tencent and their subsidiaries. If they're going to go ahead with a ban, they should at least keep it consistent.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)

The real question you are asking is whether inaction is worse than inconsistency. Should we not put out a fire unless we can put out all fires? What you are suggesting is to let something burn for the sake of consistency.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

I want to avoid "everyone has free speech, but some have more free speech than others" from becoming precedent.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

I'm basically indifferent to Instagram (IDK what it's about) and I've hated Twitter since I first learned about its high concept. Twitter makes people stupid.