this post was submitted on 25 Apr 2024
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[–] [email protected] 28 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (7 children)

Somebody's gonna make a federated TikTok, aren't they? We're gonna have TikTokers flooding the Fediverse. We're so fucked.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 7 months ago

That should happen regardless. The main issue with tiktok is not the concept, it's the recommendation algorithm and the agenda behind it.

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

I don't actually have any qualms with that. Power to the people!

In reality though there a planned executive order to forcing Know Your Customer rules on all US web hosts and Internet architecture, so if you're planning on hosting a fediverse server in the US, the US government will need to know your identity.

https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2024/01/29/2024-01580/taking-additional-steps-to-address-the-national-emergency-with-respect-to-significant-malicious

[–] [email protected] 24 points 7 months ago

land of the free btw

[–] [email protected] 11 points 7 months ago

@crispyflagstones @yogthos Someone is named @dansup who also created @pixelfed, the app is called Loops, you can follow his progress here: @loops

[–] [email protected] 6 points 7 months ago

Video support could be a "killer app" on threads to embrace and extinguish the fediverse.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (1 children)

Well there’s PeerTube and PixelFed. Perhaps a few will try it, but mostly I think they”ll go to other corporate American platforms like Instagram.

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

I figured most would just go to YouTube shorts

[–] [email protected] 4 points 7 months ago

If that becomes the case and you don't want to see it, block it. Easy enough.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 7 months ago (2 children)

I’m still confused on how they enforce this

[–] [email protected] 11 points 7 months ago (2 children)

I'd assume they'll tell ISPs to block TikTok's domains/IPs. It won't stop determined people but it's realistically the best they can do.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (1 children)

@LostXOR @yogthos @NoIWontPickAName @technology There's a few other steps they could potentially take.

The first would be to block any financial institution in the US, or that deals with the US, from sending any payments to or from ByteDance's accounts.

They could also freeze any assets currently held by US financial institutions.

Second, if they can get Apple, Microsoft, and Google on board to help do their bidding, they could pull the ByteDance app from the Apple and Google Play app stores.

That includes removing it from any apps where it's already installed. Globally.

They could also request that TikTok is removed from Google and Bing search results.

On top of this, they could do what you suggested, and ask ISPs and mobile carriers to block domains and IP addresses used by ByteDance.

And the US could apply diplomatic pressure on other countries to implement similar financial and ISP-level blocks and bans.

So, potentially, it's also blocked in the UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, and elsewhere.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

No need to guess, it's all outlined in the bill:

  1. ByteDance has 270 days (+90 days at president discretion) to divest of TikTok and sell to an entity not affiliated with an "adversary country" (China, Iran, Russia, N. Korea).
  2. If they don't sell, hosting providers of TikTok application (servers, storage, app store, etc) will be fined up to $500 times the number of users in the US if they continue to host the application
  3. ISPs are explicitly excluded from the bill, and not considered data brokers, which is what the restrictions apply to.

So basically, the law will not require ISPs to block access to TikTok domains and IP addresses. Google search results are also explicitly excluded from the term data broker, and exempt from the restrictions. The only requirement is for app stores to stop hosting the application, so existing installations of the app (after January 2025 assuming ByteDance doesn't sell) will presumably persist and can be used, even if TikTok is banned.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 7 months ago

Making any major social media service mildly inconvenient will kill it.

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

They have the app stores ban it from being downloaded if you are in the USA. This is already done, and app stores aren't affected by on device VPNs, so it wouldn't be that easy to get around.

For example, you can't download this app since (I'm guessing) you live in the USA, similar enough. It's geolocked. Same will happen with Tiktok.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Please, PLEASE, let this be the case.

[–] [email protected] 33 points 7 months ago (1 children)

I think there's a zero chance China would allow the sale. Imagine the precedent giving into such mob tactics would set. US could just go after any successful Chinese company doing business in US and demand that it's sold off to American oligarchs.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 7 months ago (3 children)

Exactly, this asset is worth nothing to the CPP if sold.

If it was a fully private company which is supposed to make money, they would sell it and move on to invest their money somewhere else.

Regulating the market is important and is not done enough in the US, last time was decades ago with AT&T and Standard Oil. Today they should have broken up Apple, Google, Amazon, etc. To prevent monopolies but they don't.

But yeah, politically it's much easier to go after a Chinese company.

[–] [email protected] 19 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (33 children)

Exactly, this asset is worth nothing to the CPP if sold.

TikTok is worth approximately nothing to the CPC either way. It’s not like the Chinese state is hurting for money. They have a surplus of US dollars that they’re busy unloading, and they have fiat monetary sovereignty of their own currency. The app is banned in China, so nobody there is going to miss it. Who is invested in ByteDance that might care? American private equity: ByteDance’s US investors weigh options as bill to ban TikTok advances

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

They are not giving up the algorithm, simple as that.

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