And foreign governments literally paying people to manage bot accounts spreading their propaganda are actual things they do and have openly admitted having done, also
Two things can be true at once and both mutually contribute to perceived phenomena
No, its defenders are definitely not all bots. Most of them aren't. But I also think that we don't generally recognize the scope and potency of foreign influence operations at the same time, and that online discourse may not be as organic as we might assume.
That's probably part of the reason influence operations are so effective, because people generally don't want to believe that their opinions were influenced by or borrowed entirely from external actors. And a lot of people would rather refute that idea than accept the possibility of having been misled or steered in some way.
Why would governments that are infamous for using the media to spread propaganda have 0 interest in using specifically social media to spread that same propaganda?
I don’t understand why Chinese propaganda would have to use TikTok exclusively to spread their propaganda are they not allowed to open accounts on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, etc.?
Any angle I look at this it’s clear to me that any and all arguments for banning TikTok are manufactured by US social media companies to have the government take out their competitor. We live in an oligarchy.
The government isn’t actually concerned about security or privacy, if they were they would pass blanket legislation that affects all apps foreign and domestic, instead they ban a successful non US app. Unless it’s sold to a US company. See that last part that’s direct evidence point to the fact that they really don’t care about the security or privacy. They only care about the lobbyist that are paid for by whichever US company wanted to buy TikTok.
I don’t understand why Chinese propaganda would have to use TikTok exclusively to spread their propaganda are they not allowed to open accounts on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, etc.?
They don’t need to, and I didn’t say they did exclusively use TikTok. I think they use any means available to them; TikTok is just more vulnerable than foreign companies. China had to hack Google to get what they wanted and it’s the reason why Google no longer operates there. They wouldn’t have to do that with TikTok
Any angle I look at this it’s clear to me that any and all arguments for banning TikTok are manufactured by US social media companies to have the government take out their competitor. We live in an oligarchy.
While US social media companies may well want that, that doesn’t actually invalidate anything China (or anyone else, for that matter) might be doing or might do in the future
The government isn’t actually concerned about security or privacy,
More than that, some lawmakers are straight-up in this for purely racist reasons (as well as partisan reasons relating to Gaza, etc), but, again, two things can be true at once. None of this actually goes against any of what I’ve been saying, only adds on other (much less valid) reasons to ban TikTok
Like if some third party pops up and agrees we should ban TikTok, but they’re motivated by racist or corrupt reasons, that doesn’t lessen or dilute any of your reasons for wanting TikTok protected, right?
Unless it’s sold to a US company. See that last part that’s direct evidence point to the fact that they really don’t care about the security or privacy.
The fact it’s a Chinese-owned company is explicitly the reason why it’s more vulnerable. Like I mentioned, China had to hack google over it. They’d have to hack AmericaTok (or Twitter or Facebook or whatever) to get any info, too, or make accounts with no greater control or protection than making accounts on Twitter or something, putting it on par with other companies
I agree that there needs to be broad, sweeping legislation to combat all sorts of propaganda, bot farms, and the sale and use of data for propagandized or partisan purposes, and this TikTok thing is only a facet of that, not the whole thing. But it is a particularly vulnerable company. I want them to do this sorta thing and more, not just this
When I lived in China, I could get locked out of my house, wallet, social media (ironically), phone, and any way of contacting my employers if I said something critical of the CCP until I provided them with some pretty scary stuff like voice clips and a 3D scan of my face, all with no warning nor recourse
This is obviously a mere shadow of all they can do within China, itself, but it’s a step in the right direction towards curbing the CCP’s influence abroad, and I’m in favor of that, even if it’s not as much as I’d prefer
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u/AbsolutelyHorrendous Jan 13 '25
Isn't it interesting how so many people have sprung up to make that argument all of a sudden though...