Lawmaker: TikTok must “sever relationship with the Chinese Communist Party.”

  • Cethin
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    8 months ago

    This has nothing to do with skin color. It has everything to do with controlling access to data gathering tools. I don’t think either nation has the best interests of the people in mind, but don’t strawman this. Is very easy to criticize the actual thing that’s happening.

    • radiofreeval [any]@hexbear.net
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      8 months ago

      This is in the process of trying to fire up another Yellow Peril. Access to data and profit might be the driving factors, but so is creating a new enemy class to scapegoat. Just look at how the media talks about China and how anti-Asian hate has been rising in recent years. Of course race is a factor because you need race to create a racial enemy.

      • Cethin
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        8 months ago

        It’s about power, not about race. International politics is always about power. I don’t get how some people don’t understand that. You’re right that many people are creating a scapegoat out of China, but (the intelligent and influential ones) aren’t doing it out of racism. It might be racist, but they don’t buy it, they’re only selling it. It’s about solidifying power and controlling means and methods. That’s always the case for governments, no matter when or where.

        • Amerikan Pharaoh@lemmygrad.ml
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          8 months ago

          Power and racism are inextricably bound together when it’s the Americans doing things. This isn’t even about maintaining hard power; this is just about keeping the inhabitants of the Western world from seeing how the elites make the sausage.

          • Cethin
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            8 months ago

            This isn’t even about maintaining hard power; this is just about keeping the inhabitants of the Western world from seeing how the elites make the sausage.

            It’s about soft power. I don’t think it has to do with people of the western world seeing what’s being done either (they don’t and won’t if TikTok is the thing they’re using). It’s just about gathering data and also having control over a service that could be used to influence people. It wouldn’t matter if it’s China or Russia (mostly white) in control of it.

            Power and racism are inextricably bound together when it’s the Americans doing things.

            Is it? Many people saw through the racism of slavery and yet still used it, because racism was an excuse, not a reason. Usually racism is an excuse. It’s something that’s easily sold to the masses, and for some reason people still buy it, and people like you buy that that’s still the reason and not seeing what’s really being played. Sure, there are a lot of racist people, but even that is only because some people use it to gain power. Racism has the same purpose as religion. It’s a method of control, by defining “the enemy”. Usually if anyone is defining an enemy it’s a form of control for that matter. There are plenty of bad people, but it’s hard to say any group is bad by default. There are bad systems though.

            • Amerikan Pharaoh@lemmygrad.ml
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              8 months ago

              I don’t think it has to do with people of the western world seeing what’s being done either (they don’t and won’t if TikTok is the thing they’re using).

              Tiktok is literally how my nieces, nephews, and their peer groups have been learning about American malfeasance, but sure, they’re TOTALLY not seeing anything.

              It’s just about gathering data and also having control over a service that could be used to influence people. It wouldn’t matter if it’s China or Russia (mostly white) in control of it.

              Bull, if it was ‘just about gathering data’ they’d go after Zuck and Musk too. (And no, the wrist-slappings they’ve ‘endured’ thus far don’t count, Meta and Twitter bans have NEVER been floated, OR sailed through Congress as easily as this proposed Tiktok ban has.) Further, if Russia were considered ‘mostly white’, NATO wouldn’t be trying to encircle and exterminate them. Try again.

              Is it? Many people saw through the racism of slavery and yet still used it, because racism was an excuse, not a reason.

              Further bull, America’s done everything in its power to keep forms of slavery in play; specifically pipelining the minorities they used to keep as chattel into prison slavery instead. It’s always maintenance of an Anglo status quo. Don’t try again here; I know you’re not going to go look up the Fourteenth Amendment to see how the Anglos have historically played with legalese to maintain unjust systems.

              There are plenty of bad people, but it’s hard to say any group is bad by default.

              Four hundred years of slavery, genocide, resource extraction, ignorance of sovereignty, rank and blatant funding of terrorism, and extrajudicial murder says what now? Tell your handler I said hi.

                • Amerikan Pharaoh@lemmygrad.ml
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                  8 months ago

                  America already controls Tiktok’s data via Oracle server farms in Virginia, so that automatically doesn’t track; make it make sense. Why is there a need to ban them that DOESN’T boil down to the usual anglo pearlclutching trying to start new Yellow Perils and Red Scares? And why haven’t Twitter, Meta, Instagram, or Trust Social been banned yet? Make. It. Make. Sense.

                  • flying_sheep@lemmy.ml
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                    8 months ago

                    I’m from the EU, where there’s laws in place for some industries to put EU user data exclusively on servers that are in the EU. I’m assuming that the US doesn’t have that kind of law applying to TikTok, and that the US servers are an infrastructure decision by Tiktok’s owner company. If I’m right, then that’s your answer. If I’m wrong then they really don’t need to ban them.

                    For the record, please keep in mind that I’m not defending any party here. I’m very aware of post cold war yellow/red scare stories, I just don’t see how this inevitably has to be the consequence of one.

              • Cethin
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                8 months ago

                Bull, if it was ‘just about gathering data’ they’d go after Zuck and Musk too.

                They’re amaerican. They already have them.

                Further, if Russia were considered ‘mostly white’, NATO wouldn’t be trying to encircle and exterminate them. Try again.

                Dude, if NATO wanted them destroyed they wouldn’t be as passive as they have been. It has nothing to do with race. There are plenty of Russian/Caucasian people in the west.

                Further bull, America’s done everything in its power to keep forms of slavery in play; specifically pipelining the minorities they used to keep as chattel into prison slavery instead.

                I agree this is happening, but is it because of race or because it’s an easy excuse. You can’t tell the difference.

                Four hundred years of slavery, genocide, resource extraction, ignorance of sovereignty, and extrajudicial murder says what now? Tell your handler I said hi.

                Show me a nation that doesn’t have exploitation and/or genocide in their past. There isn’t one. All nations exploit. Governments are corrupt. I’m not arguing the US is good, I’m arguing all nations are bad. You are just willfully ignorant. Whatever government you support (Russia presumably, by your instance?) it has exploited people at some point in time at least. It almost certainly is even now, or someone else would be in power.

                  • axont [she/her, comrade/them]@hexbear.net
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                    8 months ago

                    i hate when liberals do this, the “i hate all countries” thing. America invades another country every 3 years on average and this is just as bad as China, a country that hasn’t invaded anyone since 1979? What is this reasoning. This is like those Protestants who say lying about your homework is an equal sin as murdering someone

                  • Cethin
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                    8 months ago

                    I guess this was shared on hexbear or lemygrad. I’ll see it soon enough from there I guess.

                    Why does China not allow all western companies into their ecosystem? Is it because of race? Obviously not. It’s about power and control, and I’m not dense enough to think otherwise.

                  • Cethin
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                    8 months ago

                    Alright. Explain how China having their own ecosystem is better. I know what they’re all doing. You’re the one saying any one is doing it because of a race thing.

                • sooper_dooper_roofer [none/use name]@hexbear.net
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                  8 months ago

                  I agree this is happening, but is it because of race or because it’s an easy excuse. You can’t tell the difference.

                  things have multiple reasons.

                  Like when a forest fire happens, it doesn’t happen ONLY because the weather was dry and ONLY because the weather was hot. It was a combination of both of them.

                  Likewise, when anglo-crackers pull this shit, it’s not ONLY because they’re racist, or ONLY because they want to personally control it. It’s because they’re racist AND want control, mostly so they can use it to propagandize people into being more racist.

                  Generally, when a certain event happens, it has multiple causes! Single cause phenomena are very rare in organic systems!

                  • Cethin
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                    8 months ago

                    Sure, it has multiple causes. Anyone intillegent is just using race as an excuse. China has an ecosystem almost exclusive to China. Is it because they’re racist or because they want control, or both?

                • GarbageShoot [he/him]@hexbear.net
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                  8 months ago

                  Dude, if NATO wanted them destroyed they wouldn’t be as passive as they have been. It has nothing to do with race. There are plenty of Russian/Caucasian people in the west.

                  This is a bit silly. With how NATO works, they’d be inviting WWIII and do serious damage to ties with China that they are critically dependent on, and there’s a good chance the alliance would implode if they were that much more aggressive since many of the countries in it don’t want war, they just want to cower behind whoever has the biggest gun, to say nothing of the fact that the US government is already unpopular and would probably be forced to start conscripting soldiers, which would produce massive backlash. There are a lot of reasons for the US to stick to proxy wars for as long as it can manage.

        • SSJ2Marx@hexbear.net
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          8 months ago

          If TikTok was owned by a German or English corporation, would it be facing this kind of scrutiny? Of fucking course not, don’t be dense.

          • Cethin
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            8 months ago

            No, because they’d share the information with the US. Just like China doesn’t allow US corporations into China. Don’t be dense.

            • SSJ2Marx@hexbear.net
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              8 months ago

              And I suppose the reason all of the euro countries share information with each other and don’t let China into their special club is just a natural phenomenon? Completely arbitrary and random?

              • Amerikan Pharaoh@lemmygrad.ml
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                8 months ago

                Definitely can’t be because they’re the original settlers with historical prejudices against ANYONE they perceive as Asian; that totally doesn’t exist according to that utter sinkhole

              • Cethin
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                8 months ago

                Not random for sure. They are a seperate power structure. The US does share some data with China, and also western countries don’t share a lot of data with each other as well. All nations are constantly spying on each other. It isn’t infrequent you hear about some NATO country spy being caught spying on some NATO nation. Governments are about control, and they’ll try to increase that control with any method possible.

              • Cethin
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                8 months ago

                Sure, you have to store data with some locality so round trip times aren’t horrible. It doesn’t mean anyone has access to it or control over it.

                • radiofreeval [any]@hexbear.net
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                  8 months ago

                  Oracle is an American company so they can get searched by the government at will. The government has access to TikTok data around as easily as the PRC does, it’s just a matter of corporations being able to grab a profitable asset & create Anti-China sentiment.

                  • Cethin
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                    8 months ago

                    There’s no way in hell that data isn’t encrypted. That’d be very poor handling of data, and probably illegal in most places, at least the EU. Just because data is on a server doesn’t mean you access it with access to the server. Sure, the videos and stuff are probably raw, but any PII is almost certainly encrypted, or it should be if it isn’t.

        • sooper_dooper_roofer [none/use name]@hexbear.net
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          8 months ago

          non-hexbear/non-lemmygrad user handle
          ridiculous kindergarten-tier reasoning

          like pottery

          “waaahhh they’re only DISPASSIONATELY SELLING the racism, they don’t actually feel it in their hearts!”

          First of all that’s irrelevant
          Second of all your work almost always becomes your personality to some extent so you’re almost certainly wrong

          • Cethin
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            8 months ago

            And you’re better, right? No. You aren’t. I’m on hexbear fairly frequently. I don’t have any issue with hexbear or lemmygrad. I’m just not ignoring the fact all these nations do this. China has an almost exclusive ecosystem, yet somehow when the US does it it’s racism? No. It isn’t about race. It’s about control. This apiea to China, Russia, and the US, and any other power in the future or past. Anyone who has the capability to gain control also has disposition to exploit their control. You don’t gain control without that.

        • Adlach@lemmygrad.ml
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          8 months ago

          Racism is an action word. Not “believing” in it is (quite literally) immaterial. If you do a racist action, you’re a racist.

          • Cethin
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            8 months ago

            Sure, but they’d do it with Russia too, and they’re “the same race”. It has nothing to do with race. Race is just a convenient way to criticize the US here without examining the actual issue. China has their own ecosystem for fucks sake. If any nation is being racist it’s them, but it’s not because of race that they have that.

            • Amerikan Pharaoh@lemmygrad.ml
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              8 months ago

              China has their own ecosystem for fucks sake. If any nation is being racist it’s them

              “WAH THEY WON’T LET US PILLAGE THEIR ECONOMY THE WAY WE PILLAGED AFRICA” do you fucking hear yourself lmfao. You fixate on this “they’re not in our ecosystem” horseshit and it’s really just starting to sound like you’re mad you don’t get to consoom their produce too, mad that your straw just can’t reach far enough into their milkshake for you to Daniel Day-Lewis it.

              And before you try to get cute about me “debating”, nope, now I’m just dragging you for filth due to your absolute blatancy. Your words are hot air and confident ignorance; there’s nothing worth debating in you.

              • Cethin
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                8 months ago

                I’m not complaining about them having their ecosystem. I’m pointing out that they do, and they enforce it. Any complaint about the US doing the same should be met with equal criticism of China doing the same thing except even harsher. I don’t really care that they have that, but I also don’t care that the US is forcing this. You people who came here are the ones saying it’s wrong, but it’s wrong because it’s the US and China is fine.