• bolexforsoup
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    49
    ·
    6 months ago

    I’m as critical of the US as anyone but if I have to pick one to spy on me, I’ll pick the US.

    Yes both are bad. Don’t start going “but America” on me please lol. This is not me saying the US isn’t violating our civil liberties regularly. But we do have more here than Chinese citizens do. Also, China has an adversarial stance to the US so there’s another layer to it. Same reason I object to Russia interfering with elections and also don’t like what our own domestic media operations do. Both are bad, but Russia is objectively worse.

    But for real folks don’t download TikTok regardless of who holds the reins.

    • Keith@lemmy.zip
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      13
      ·
      6 months ago

      I’d disagree because as an American the US government has a lot more impact on me than the Chinese

    • KrapKake@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      11
      ·
      edit-2
      6 months ago

      But what are the Chinese going to be able to do you? If you are an American living under the American government theres much more they could do to you, such as locking you up.

      • Tartas1995@discuss.tchncs.de
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        6 months ago

        That is a strange question. If you use any service to consume media, the service has a huge influence on what information you receive. It is a common complaint over media. Using a service which is under control of someone who doesn’t have your best interest in mind, is giving power over your media consumption to that actor. Which is bad. That is why you should care about who e.h. owns and controls the Washington Post.

        Now, about TikTok… Well think about it.

      • ben@lemmy.zip
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        12
        ·
        6 months ago

        Because we live in reality and there’s no such thing as a perfect state

        • CaptainSpaceman@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          7
          ·
          6 months ago

          Thats a weird angle.

          My thing is, advocating for JUST tiktok to be banned when the American companies are doing the same thing makes zero sense.

          So again, why pick? Choose freedom.

      • bolexforsoup
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        2
        ·
        edit-2
        6 months ago

        Because that’s the way it is. My dislike of it is immaterial. It’s the current state of affairs today, June 4th, 2024.

        It’s also why I said “if I have to pick.” Whenever these discussions come up people act like that’s an endorsement. No amount of qualifiers prevents this interpretation.

    • AItoothbrush@lemmy.zip
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      6 months ago

      Also to add, the tiktok ban didnt ban the content itself, it banned the platform. China bans both. And if you need proof that tiktok is malicious then a great example is that china itself banned it and instead have a chinese version(which is meant to spread propaganda btw). TLDR: in the us you can still access the content just on youtube, facebook, etc while in china if you view/make anti-china content youll get arrested

  • makeasnek@lemmy.mlOP
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    15
    ·
    6 months ago

    It’s always the same bullshit when they want to take away your rights:

    • “Protect the children”
    • “Foreign influence” or “spies”
    • “Misinformation”
    • “Stop Terrorism”
    • Chuymatt@beehaw.org
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      3
      ·
      6 months ago

      I mean, we’ve been hearing about security concerns for the application itself since it first came out.