If the govt cared about your data privacy, they would create data collection regulations that they could then use to ban tiktok if/when they violate them.
They did. They banned sending US Citizen data to adversarial nations including China, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Russia, and/or Venezuela. It was all packaged into one vote and now that’s the law, for everyone.
Lawmakers and the White House have justified the crackdown on TikTok by claiming the app’s link to Beijing makes it a national security threat. But supporters of a ban have not offered direct evidence of the Chinese government ever attempting to obtain data from the company, nor any proof that authorities there have ever influenced content on the platform used by 170 million Americans.
I’m pretty sure that the Chinese government has direct unfiltered access to byte dance Chinese servers, there’s no need to “attempt” to obtain data, they don’t need a judge or an injunction, they can just do it. It’s a different system from the American or European ones.
The big issue is the US trying to ban Tiktok explicity for “national security” without showing the public a shred of evidence. What do you call it when China blocks access to an American app because of “national security”?
ByteDance publicly admitted they stored the user data in Beijing in 2023.
The userdata includes location service, facial analysis, usage data, contacts, photo library, messages, and sound recordings in addition to the things people actually uploaded.
This article from 2024 gives a pretty good rundown as to why using this reasoning to ban Tiktok will set a very bad precedent:
https://www.npr.org/2024/05/14/1251086753/tiktok-ban-first-amendment-lawsuit-free-speech-project-texas
If the govt cared about your data privacy, they would create data collection regulations that they could then use to ban tiktok if/when they violate them.
They did. They banned sending US Citizen data to adversarial nations including China, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Russia, and/or Venezuela. It was all packaged into one vote and now that’s the law, for everyone.
Americans simply cannot grasp the difference between Not Collecting Data To Begin With and China Bad
You say that as if China doesn’t use it’s own citizens data extensively for nefarious purposes.
I’m pretty sure that the Chinese government has direct unfiltered access to byte dance Chinese servers, there’s no need to “attempt” to obtain data, they don’t need a judge or an injunction, they can just do it. It’s a different system from the American or European ones.
The big issue is the US trying to ban Tiktok explicity for “national security” without showing the public a shred of evidence. What do you call it when China blocks access to an American app because of “national security”?
Lmao
ByteDance publicly admitted they stored the user data in Beijing in 2023.
The userdata includes location service, facial analysis, usage data, contacts, photo library, messages, and sound recordings in addition to the things people actually uploaded.
Please read the article.