TikTok is just a fad... in a year or two, there will be the next fad that will grab everyone's attention for the next 15 minutes. TikTok is not my thing... I don't get a lot of their humor. Tell me how out of touch (thankfully) I am will this time-wasting social-media apps.
I agree with you. But just as Facebook -- the brand -- is becoming passé, we're discovering their genius was to use their high stock price to buy what's next, i.e., Instagram and WhatsApp.
The IPO of TikTok would have allowed it to do the something similar. To me, more than this silly dance around selling off the US asset to Microsoft or Oracle or Walmart or whomever, the real deal is that they may not be allowed to IPO in the US. No one cares much about some company listed in Hong Kong (which may be TikTok's only option). People didn't give a hoot about stocks listed there when HK was vibrant and democratic, and they sure as hell won't bother that now that China has crushed HK.
It would be an interesting precident. If TikTok were to cease operating in the USA, perhaps the EU might like to [cough][cough] suggest that Facebook etc stop operating in Europe because of security concerns. After all we all know that these companies are only in business to spy on us which they use to sling [redacted] adverts at us.
The more accurate comparison would be if China shutdown Facebooks operations in China. But, of course, China never even let that happen to begin with.
The non-China parts of the world are just slowly waking up to what the fudge they've let China get away with; all based on some many decades old concept that China would open up and become more democratic if only the west did more business within China. But that didn't work, and now it's time to prevent the CCP from trying to control the whole damn world.
As far as Facebook and EU etc… that's already happening, but slowly. Once again it takes time for the world to wake up and realise what's going on; what they've let businesses get away with (as far as collecting information about people), and how security agencies etc are piggybacking on that.
I do see the humor in all this. If China wanted info on US citizens rather than collect info on the tweenies, and teens that use Tic Toc they could just go to Google, Facebook and purchase all the info they wanted.
TikTok’s not the only app to snoop on us users. Sometimes these attacks come from a much closer place. Did you know that the very AppleInsider app that many of us uses does clipboard snooping on us? Yes, it’s not only caught by Apple’s warning system, but AI refuses to do anything about it too — no update for 8 months(!!!). They blame some external party for grabbing this data, which to me makes the problem even worse. It sounds a lot like the TikTok problem we’re discussing in here. Except AI also censors posts like this one.
I agree, Trump got all bent out of shape when the Tic Toc Tweenies made all those reservations for the OK rally. After bragging about the "Great" attendance he was going to have, very few people actually showed up.
Yeh, Trump does not take humiliation lightly. There is a theory that he was prompted to run for president when Obama humiliated him at a Correspondents Dinner.
But, for TikTok, as you say, Trump had a grudge to settle. And, like with American social media, he has tried to pressure the platform into showing its loyalty to him But that didn't happen with TikTok as the BBC reported:
"TikTok says that it doesn't keep any data in China and would never give it to China.
But, in many ways it doesn't matter what they say, the fact that they are owned by a Chinese's company is guilt enough.
Not to be overlooked either is Trump's previous experience with TikTok.
Last month users claimed to have scuppered his Tulsa rally after signing up to tickets they had no intention of using.
And
although there are Republican and conservative voices on TikTok, the
profile of users in the US is generally young and liberal/left.
It would be an interesting precident. If TikTok were to cease operating in the USA, perhaps the EU might like to [cough][cough] suggest that Facebook etc stop operating in Europe because of security concerns. After all we all know that these companies are only in business to spy on us which they use to sling [redacted] adverts at us.
The more accurate comparison would be if China shutdown Facebooks operations in China. But, of course, China never even let that happen to begin with.
The non-China parts of the world are just slowly waking up to what the fudge they've let China get away with; all based on some many decades old concept that China would open up and become more democratic if only the west did more business within China. But that didn't work, and now it's time to prevent the CCP from trying to control the whole damn world.
As far as Facebook and EU etc… that's already happening, but slowly. Once again it takes time for the world to wake up and realise what's going on; what they've let businesses get away with (as far as collecting information about people), and how security agencies etc are piggybacking on that.
LOL.... Nobody, NOBODY ever expected " that China would open up and become more democratic"
Instead, 50 years ago Nixon (hardly a liberal) went to China and initiated detente in order to extricate each country from the devastating effects of two nuclear powers in a cold war. Since then, we found that cooperation benefited BOTH countries and it flourished on many levels over multiple presidents, and shifts of power from Republican to Democrat and back again several times.
But now, Trump needs somebody to hate. A scapegoat to distract from Russia attacking our elections to help him retain power and to distract his rather foolish base from his own failures -- such as killing almost 200,000 Americans and the American public rioting against his racism and fascism.
But, that reality doesn't fit with the FauxNews / Trump narrative. So the cult rewrites history to fit the narrative. It's so sad....
Facebook, Google use personal data maninly for profitable marketing and advertising purposes. But TikTok is a Chinese Government Trojan horse app that uses personal data and access to seek out ways to breach companies, governments, and schools for the purpose of spying on specific individuals and for stealing intellectual property. There is no other way China could have advanced so quickly from having very little to now being on par with the same military, space and computing capacity and technologies as the US. We’ve spent many decades developing concepts, testing & refining them, so they can steal in minutes of downloading. They do not want another US company to see the code used in TikTok because it will prove the truth. I don’t like Trump, but actions against China are critical to the survival of the US. I hope Biden has enough! Intelligence, energy and strength to continue and even amplify these efforts.
You gave Facebook a pass on getting paid for using the data it has collected and categorized to target people who will most likely be persuaded by...
- Ads that contain lies promoted by US politicians.
- Hate groups that promote violence and division of US citizens.
- People who spread disinformation.
- People who say school children were not slaughtered by gunfire minutes after children were slaughtered by gunfire.
- US politicians who try to strip healthcare from US citizens while granting themselves guaranteed lifetime healthcare.
On top of that don’t forget that Facebook allowed entities to target people for manipulation during the 2016 election year.
Facebook has admitted to testing subliminal messages on people to manipulate them into feeling happy or sad.
Facebook has access unfettered access to data of approximately two billion people around the world and has shown multiple times it will allow suicide videos, rape videos, propaganda videos, murder videos and more videos to be shown for hours and days before taking them down.
China can be a threat. Facebook is a threat.
Instead of looking at China shutting down TikTok’s US operations as China hiding secrets, look at US companies being denied a golden opportunity of surveillance and manipulation of over 100 million US citizens.
For those people who think a US company can create a successful version of TikTok, look beyond the veil of US patriotism. Microsoft has been a failure at creating anything successful for the TikTok generation outside Xbox. Walmart and Oracle would not stand a snowflake’s chance in hell of maintaining TikTok’s users.
Last but not least, people who think China is a threat to the US while ignoring or denying the US is a threat to its Very own citizens need to wake up. Governments around the world can pay US citizens who will not hesitate to manipulate or harm their fellow US citizens.
Comments
The IPO of TikTok would have allowed it to do the something similar. To me, more than this silly dance around selling off the US asset to Microsoft or Oracle or Walmart or whomever, the real deal is that they may not be allowed to IPO in the US. No one cares much about some company listed in Hong Kong (which may be TikTok's only option). People didn't give a hoot about stocks listed there when HK was vibrant and democratic, and they sure as hell won't bother that now that China has crushed HK.
The non-China parts of the world are just slowly waking up to what the fudge they've let China get away with; all based on some many decades old concept that China would open up and become more democratic if only the west did more business within China. But that didn't work, and now it's time to prevent the CCP from trying to control the whole damn world.
As far as Facebook and EU etc… that's already happening, but slowly. Once again it takes time for the world to wake up and realise what's going on; what they've let businesses get away with (as far as collecting information about people), and how security agencies etc are piggybacking on that.
But, in many ways it doesn't matter what they say, the fact that they are owned by a Chinese's company is guilt enough.
Not to be overlooked either is Trump's previous experience with TikTok.
Last month users claimed to have scuppered his Tulsa rally after signing up to tickets they had no intention of using.
And although there are Republican and conservative voices on TikTok, the profile of users in the US is generally young and liberal/left.
It's hard to believe that's not a factor here."
- Ads that contain lies promoted by US politicians.
Facebook has admitted to testing subliminal messages on people to manipulate them into feeling happy or sad.