I know it's stupid to get upset over an app like TikTok, but the ban really did shock me a little, even more so because of how widely supported it was.
What party or politicians support individual freedom in this context? How could libertarians support banning an app?
I hate to get involved with this one because it's not my fight and I don't personally care. That said, I have no issue reconciling the concept of someone who supports individual freedom and banning TikTok. Banning TikTok, at least theoretically, is more to do with TikTok's right to do business here, not your right to use TikTok. I don't think it is illegal to use TikTok if you were to bypass the block. It's illegal for them to let you in.
Not even that, it's unlawful for another business (Apple or Google) to carry TikTok. TikTok can let you in just fine (what are we going to do, sue China?) and you can use it, the app store just can't carry it. It would also be illegal for Oracle to host it.
"it is unlawful for companies in the United States to provide services to distribute, maintain, or update the social media platform TikTok, unless U. S. operation of the platform is severed from Chinese control."
I’t’s very clear now that it was the Palestine support among tiktok users that was the main reason. I’m guessing Israel issues typically get that level of support in congress.
I actually think this is the most likely culprit. I think Tiktok deliberately showed Americans all sorts of videos of the horrors going on in Gaza (which certainly there are) but none of the videos from 10/7. They show us people talking about how evil Israel and us are, nothing about Hamas's actions, motivations, etc.
If they wanted to do the opposite, they could show us videos from 10/7 (there are a lot), talk to the survivors, show us historians talking about Hamas's particularly insidious brand of extremism, show videos of them hanging gay people from cranes, etc. Whatever agenda they want to push, it's clear how they could do it.
I think they probably do this with other things too, to make us hate our government. Our chaos benefits China. I think the intelligence agencies showed Congress data they collected on this.
I admit, this is a giant mound of speculation, but even if China didn't do that, it's quite obvious they could and seems likely they would. Whether or not they've exploited TikTok in that manner is certainly debatable but I don't wish to leave them the option in the future.
The other big social media apps were banning or suppressing pro-Palestine content during that time, so tiktok was the only place you could post that stuff. Whether they were deliberately pushing it is debatable I suppose. I am fairly certain it was organic since it was the only big place you could post it.
Is there really evidence that pro palestine content was intentionally promoted or demoted any any social network? Obviously the possibility is there. But US social media can do it too, which kind of just proves that it's worth having a foreign controlled app. If everything is being manipulated to push different agendas, at least have the option to be exposed to one not controlled by the US gov
The left doesn’t support individual freedoms because they believe that the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few. The right no longer supports individual freedoms because they believe that the privileges of the few outweigh the needs of the many.
