this post was submitted on 20 Apr 2024
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[–] [email protected] 100 points 7 months ago (17 children)

Crazy that the proposed solution to propaganda is banning media instead of investing in education that promotes critical thinking. Or maybe the idea here is "no propaganda except mine".

[–] [email protected] 47 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Investing in education is counter to the clear goals of the USA. Smart people would revolt, protest,and you know, hold companies and billionaires accountable. Uneducated people are often poor, can’t afford to fight back and are scared they will lose what little they have.

At some point we need all to fight back, but it might be too late. And worse, too few will join in out of fear of death.

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[–] [email protected] 27 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Looking at things pragmatically widespread education of the population takes time and simply won't take for some people. There are folks today complaining that "they don't teach taxes in school". These people have a problem filling out a 1040EZ. Not exactly encouraging.

At the same time Tic Tok represents a single vector for current or potential foreign propaganda and intelligence gathering targeting the American public. Opportunities to nip a single bud (so to speak) are few and far between and probably won't be possible in the near future.

TL;DR - The "sell or ban" is a short term measure that won't take a lot of time, education is a long term measure that takes years.

[–] [email protected] 18 points 7 months ago

If people can pick apart China's propaganda it means they can pick apart US propaganda, too.

Can't have that.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 7 months ago (2 children)

I have to tell you, I know many intelligent people that have succumbed to propaganda, and outrage porn addiction. I see it continue to happen on all sides of the political isle. (This isn't a both sides kind of statement, simply acknowledgement that the same tactics work on our brain, indifferent of political ideology.)

Whether they are hooked on the dopamine rush of rage baiting up votes, likes or comments; or only seeing everything in the world through a myopic lens of negativity, it has captured many of my friends and family, including myself for a time.

For some their drug is Fox News, others it's Reddit, Facebook or TikTok, the results are often the same.

I have yet to figure out a manner in which to communicate with individuals who spend considerable amounts of time in echo chambers, constantly having their personal beliefs reinforced. Evasion of cognitive dissonance and social conflict are very powerful psychological motivations. I wish I knew the solution.

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[–] [email protected] 8 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Well, of course. They aren't banning Facebook, Instagram or YouTube. That's exactly how they want it.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 7 months ago (1 children)

they aren't even banning tiktok, at least they're trying not to. What they're trying to do is force a sale specifically to US government insiders. They're seizing it. They want that sweet, sweet propaganda and data mining for themselves.

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 7 months ago

What do you think billionaires are bribing congress for? Regulatory capture keeps all the competitors out. Whereas actually fixing the problem of social media brainwashing would cost them money.

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[–] [email protected] 39 points 7 months ago (2 children)

Minimum wage has been $7.25/hr for 15 years and this is what they're getting done on Capitol Hill 🤪

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[–] [email protected] 36 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (1 children)

How about a digital bill of rights that applies to every corporation you fucking cowards!

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[–] [email protected] 20 points 7 months ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 17 points 7 months ago (1 children)

mimes eating popcorn, while pointing to overlayed captions, with a Taylor Swift song playing in the background

[–] [email protected] 5 points 7 months ago (1 children)
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[–] [email protected] 13 points 7 months ago (13 children)

I see no issue with banning tik tok.

[–] [email protected] 24 points 7 months ago (17 children)

It's not even "banning tik-tok". It's "separate your interests, or we block your product".

Which isn't exactly something that we haven't seen before in the U.S. and it for sure isn't anything new in China where plenty of services, games....etc are blocked with "Chinese only" versions of those services.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 7 months ago (4 children)

We forced the sale of Grindr and nobody even brought it up.

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[–] [email protected] 15 points 7 months ago (1 children)

I don't like TikTok, but I do take issue with the government deciding what is and isn't available to me.

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[–] [email protected] 14 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Except they would be ignoring all the other shitty social networks but it's a start.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (2 children)

It's not a start tho, it's killing competition of Facebook and Google. It's consolidating power if anything. I believe this bill has nothing to do with security issues and everything to do with campaign contributions to make sure America never has to compete with another country in this space.

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[–] [email protected] 9 points 7 months ago (6 children)

what did tiktok do to deserve being banned, and why is it okay for other companies to do that?

[–] [email protected] 8 points 7 months ago (5 children)

Feeding data to the CCP, helping them identify people who can be easily swayed into espionage. Say someone gets into a position of power. "Hey, remember when you were 12 and said this on tik Tok? Now we need you to be out bitch or we're leaking this."

Look at the things that have gone viral on Tik Tok, it's like their algorithm prioritizes things that are toxic to make American youth shittier. Kia boys comes to mind.

There is also the fact that China bans all American social media out of fear that we'd use it to manipulate their people. If they aren't allowing our businesses to compete fairly, why should we allow theirs? Also, they probably are projecting that fear because they are doing exactly that with TikTok.

The app has more permissions than most apps and is highly invasive. They sent a push notification to all their users based on Geo location saying who their rep was and giving their phone number saying to call them to stop this bill. That alone seems like a major abuse of power. They are using the data they have to try to sway the American politicians already.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 7 months ago (2 children)

you've failed to answer my second question, which I believe was the important one: why should this behavior be perfectly legal for everyone other than tiktok?

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[–] [email protected] 13 points 7 months ago (62 children)

Well the Senate killed the earlier bill. There's a decent chance they pass the Ukraine/Israel aid bill without this amendment. It would then be stricken in reconciliation. Unfortunately there's also a decent chance the Senate passes it because this version probably fixes things the Senators had problems with.

If it does get passed there's a very good chance there's a court order to prevent anything until the courts rule on the constitutionality of the law. If Bytedance loses that there's zero chance they sell though. The US market is not big enough for them to jettison an international company.

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[–] [email protected] 10 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (5 children)

Oh, no! What will I do without my level 5 gyatt rizz livvy fanum tax dunne rizzing up baby gronk ice spice wat da dawg doin skibidi toilet in real life only in ohio we go jim zyzz creatine alpha sigma cuh dey board?

This bill would also outlaw using VPNs to view such restricted platforms, and has a general policy that would allow lawmakers to ban any platform they claim is a national security risk. No overreach here!

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 7 months ago

Can we just put the american and chinese government in a room and let them fight it out untill they are done?

Just let me watch my funny cat videos and cooking videos in peace thankyou very much.

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