This is just sad. It’s like a victim of dv who quickly corrects themselves when they say something their abuser doesn’t like.

Lina Khan is fantastic

“Whatabout US companies”

US companies have seen similar criticism, antitrust suits, and billions in fines.

It is true that US tech companies have horrendous practices when it comes to data privacy and security, and that the US needs better federal regulation similar to GDPR to protect the consumer. This must be corrected.

It’s also true that the location of the parent company of a social media platform does not protect that platform from bad actors and adversarial abuse. See: Facebook in 2016

However, there is a big difference between selling bits of redacted data to ad companies, and providing raw database access to a foreign adversary with malicious intent.

Add to that the fact that kids/teens use tiktok more than any other platform, and their habits are exposed without their knowledge or consent.

The possibilities are endless, but to name a few concerns:

• The CCP is using this app as a social engineering experiment to attempt to influence public opinion in the next generation of Americans.
• Imagine how much easier it will be to influence the next generation of US politicians who have no privacy whatsoever, and whose thought patterns are well documented.

The EU has already fined them for their negligent privacy practices: https://www.cnn.com/2023/09/15/tech/tiktok-fine-europe-children/index.html

It’s not enough. I don’t think a ban is the right solution, but the problem is clear.

Is it really such a stretch to say a Chinese owned company managing the feeds of the most active social platform would use that platform to sow division and hatred in the US?

It’s ironic that a FOSS self-hosted app would use a platform where you must forfeit your privacy to register and ask a question.