SCOTUS just UNANIMOUSLY upheld the TikTok ban.

[live love laugh]

[Autumn]

1. Nobody's going to fuck over the American people.

Except for politicians and their donors and the SC

[Fullduplexxx]

2. I don't understand the tick tock ban. Why does the US think it's necessary

[pimpbot]

3. China is in a cyber war with the US

They have hacked our telecom infrastructure, govt agencies and officials, and us corporations.

The govt is actually paying rural telecoms to rip out chinese hardware and replace it.

Tiktok is a service owned by a chinese company who has ties to their govt.

[live love laugh]

4. All American owned platforms have done is spy on users and disseminate propaganda.

Propaganda that’s ushered in a kakistocracy.

No threat there …. 🙄🙄

[pimpbot]

5. Social media sucks

Totally agree there. But those companies are at least based in the US, and last I checked meta hasnt hacked into critical us infrastructure.

Meta has been fined by both US and EU:
https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2019/07/ftc-imposes-5-billion-penalty-sweeping-new-privacy-restrictions-facebook

[Fullduplexxx]

11. Thanks i had no idea they had access to all that. It seems harmless

I'm not on it and don't use it but I've seen clips .

[Tickle]

21. It is a big threat for us, USA

Scott Pelley: What is the greatest threat facing the incoming Trump administration?

Christopher Wray: Well, the greatest long-term threat facing our country, in my view, is represented by the People's Republic of China, the Chinese government, which I consider to be the defining threat of our generation.

Scott Pelley: What has the FBI found about Chinese penetration of U.S. cyber and infrastructure?

Christopher Wray: China's cyber program is by far and away the world's largest-- bigger than that of every major nation combined and has stolen more of Americans' personal and corporate data than that of every nation, big or small, combined. But even beyond the cyber theft. There's another part of the Chinese cyber threat that I think has not gotten the attention publicly that it I think desperately deserves. And that is Chinese government's pre-positioning on American civilian critical infrastructure. To lie in wait on those networks to be in a position to wreak havoc and can inflict real-world harm at a time and place of their choosing.

[dickthegrouch]

22. I've been predicting for years a huge banking meltdown

Enabled by cybersecurity failures.
If a major bank suddenly found all its accounts emptied a la Mt Gox, it could precipitate a massive run on other banks and cause chaos everywhere.
IT departments regularly try restoring data from backups but most don’t understand how long it takes to recover everything.

[Cha]

31. TY.. And so is Mump a

Guaranteed Threat to the Planet.

[Greg_In_SF]

7. Check out their

Terms Of Service. Pretty disturbing.

[Calista241]

8. They have access to everything on your phone. Everything.

You bank on your phone? Yep, they can literally monitor you typing in your passwords and making transactions. You work for the US Navy and get your email on you phone? Yep, they can see all that shit you have access to.

People don't understand when someone says 'they have all your data' and how important that is. They could literally erase you if they wanted to.

If they ever invaded Taiwan, one of the things they'd probably do is create chaos in the US. Transferring people's money, erasing data they have access to, doing the same to government and corporate entities who employees use TikTok. It would be a catastrophe.

[Fullduplexxx]

10. Wow yea if that's true then wow... thanks for that

[Initech]

12. Because Trump had a temper tantrum about it 5 years ago.

And now they're trying to get a fascist to buy it so they can turn it into a Nazi / Putin platform much like Elon did with Twitter. Ugh do I fucking hate this timeline we are currently living in.

[Fullduplexxx]

13. See that's exactly what I thought was going on

Just like with NPR MSNBC Twitter anything the left uses for mass communication some rightwing loser buys it and then ruins it. So that's what I thought , they there were trying to do free up tik tok so some rich friend of some pol could buy it .

Which is what I think will become of Blue Sky if that takes off although I heard it won't be that easy

[Initech]

14. The right wing is the party of "give me that, it's mine".

It's truly disturbing how they take things from us the way a spoiled screaming toddler takes toys away. The right are a bunch of lying, screaming, psychotic babies. And saying that is an insult to actual babies.

But seriously, if we lose the free press, it's over. We are done as a country.

[live love laugh]

29. Their whole approach is childish of the worst type. No manners ... stealing .... fighting ....

copycats stealing others, ideas and words …

Actually the remedies psychologists use for fixing brats and bullies could probably fix the Republicans.

[MichMan]

24. It passed the House 360-58 and the Senate 79-18 before President Biden signed it into law

Were the Dems who voted for the ban in on this conspiracy?

[Fullduplexxx]

37. And the decision was defended 9-0

[Amishman]

15. Think of Tiktok as Chinese spyware that's been designed to make people want to use it

There are a lot of concerns over both what is reported back to their servers from users devices and also if the Chinese government has a back door into those servers and full access to the data.

This was unanimous because these concerns are extremely real and extremely serious. China is absolutely not our friend.

[thebigidea]

16. do a search and read some of the extensive coverage of the issue for yourself

don't take the insipid arguments of TikTok defenders at face value, dig deeper

[Fullduplexxx]

23. I havent see any defense of tiktok in the replies to my question

I think I have the answer to what I asked

[Skittles]

38. national security threat implications

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/01/17/tiktok-potential-national-security-threat/

[Nixie]

6. I'm going to miss my Chinese spy. He/she knew everything that

made me laugh, lots of great recipes, lots of clever and beautiful home projects and decor, tours of tourist spots, product suggestions and reviews. Oh well.

[thebigidea]

17. that just sounds so oily, like bad advertising

I mean, you can't get great recipes from any source not controlled by China?

[Nixie]

26. By these standards, the internet should be banned for everyone.

You can get news, recipes, porn, product info other than the internet. Every website gathers personal info.

[Skittles]

30. China doesn't own the entire internet

they do own TIKTOK

[Nixie]

32. Now the Chinese app RedNote is trending as the number one

app — because it looks like the TikTok experience which is globally popular. Whether we like it it not, the argument from TikTok users is that free speech is being shut down. We can scream China all we want. That’s not the issue with the users.

[Skittles]

33. I cannot help it if the users are fucking idiots

no indeed

[Nixie]

34. All kinds of fucking idiots are still voters. Those tens of millions

of fucking idiots like their corner of the internet and they blame politicians for taking it away. I’m referring to those so worried about political messaging being spread on the platform — banning it also looks political, and it’s a big message to those blaming politicians.

[Skittles]

35. yeah keep making excuses

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

[Nixie]

36. Zzzzzzzzzz yourself. And they are observations, not excuses.

I’m observing statements from young voters and TikTok users. They grew up in a tech world using social media. Most have great content. They are far from the fucking idiots you are calling them.

[MichMan]

9. TikTok is banned in China

What does that tell you?

[thebigidea]

18. nobody ever answers that

All they do is switch to "we should ban Meta and Twitter too, they collect data" when everyone full well knows the main issue is a foreign power with a history of launching hundreds of cyber attacks against us controlling a powerful propaganda network with zero transparency.

The TikTok defenders don't feel comfortable discussing the real issues security experts and pols have with the service, so they pivot to whataboutism or easier to defend aspects. Plus TikTok itself has been serving up tons of disinformation on this subject that these defenders have spent the last two years gobbling up, regurgitating it verbatim as if it's their own argument.

Which kind of underlines the main propaganda network point.

[EdmondDantes_]

19. Google and the BBC are banned in China

Tiktok is banned in China because they greatly censor what's on it.

There are reasons to prevent foreign companies from having social media, but most of those reasons apply to our social media. China can buy most of the same data from Meta or Twitter, etc.

[thebigidea]

20. again, the argument is not about data

it is about a foreign power who continuously launches cyber attacks on our country controlling a vast propaganda network without transparency.

Yes, Zuck and Musk are detestable shitheads and there are tons of issues with their platforms that need regulation. Which I fully support and have spent years arguing for. ON OTHER THREADS.

But Meta or Twitter do not launch cyberattacks against our government or our power supply. Please get educated on this issue and dig deeper. It. Is. Not. Merely. About. Data.

[pimpbot]

28. There are a few very vocal posters on here

Who seem to think the world is ending because TikTok might go away. They keep making more and more threads about it.

I think we are pretty screwed when dependence on a social media platform is used as an excuse to ignore security threats to our country. When the power goes out or their Internet is down because China decided to screw with us, I wonder where they will post their feelings?

[beaglelover]

25. GREAT news!

[themaguffin]

27. Good