Will Tik-Tok Survive?
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Yeah the idea that this implicates the first amendment seems really really weak. Chinese psyops don’t really have free speech rights in the US.
When you shake someone's deep sense of self-worth, leaving a scar in their ego, they will persistently try to diminish you through petty arguments & obsessive captious criticism of your actions, just to soothe the wound.
- Nassim Nicholas Taleb
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@jon-nyc said in Will Tik-Tok Survive?:
Yeah the idea that this implicates the first amendment seems really really weak. Chinese psyops don’t really have free speech rights in the US.
They went round and round with hypotheticals, like "If Jeff Bezos were owned (or blackmailed) by the Chinese, it that an infringement of free speech?"
Bottom line - if you're not in the country, or a US citizen (the implication being that non-citizens have a right) the 1st Amendment is irrelevant.
The fact that TIkTok won't be divested from Bytedance tells you a lot.
They predict it'll go dark on the 19th.
ETA: There was some speculation since the law has already passed, that Trump could choose to not enforce the law.
POTUS not enforcing laws.
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I talked about that earlier. If you’re the general counsel of Apple or Google you’re not going to recommend that.
What if someday we get a president who is against CCP psyops targeting virtually every American under 30? Seems strange I know, but it could happen.
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It's all psyops and algorithms if you have a cellphone or go online.
You think Elon Musk makes money selling Tesla vehicles? Silly boy, that's not what Tesla is for...
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Personally I’d make a distinction between Elon trying to make money and the CCP trying to destabilize our country and collect material to blackmail future leaders.
But I’m funny that like.
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The future is going to be different. Unless something changes, in the next couple of decades we are going to have a group of leaders who cut their teeth on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram and Tik-Tok. I think by that time, we'll be thoroughly immunized to potential blackmail arising from videos...Even most porn videos.
Can the CCP destabilize the country though algorithms? Maybe. It's a good point.
Can the CCP sweep in a lot of everyday intelligence on the average American? Sure. We're a very open society. So far, I'm more worried about them stealing top secret files, stealing government funded research and industrial espionage.
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So maybe we should have let the Soviet Union set up a television network throughout the United States in the 50s. Walter Cronkite, Joe Stalin - they were both self interested. What’s the difference?
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People actually believed Uncle Walter.
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The CCP seems to have a lot of converts too. Even highly intelligent lawyers have been known to succumb to the algorithm.
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Tariffs. It's the only answer.
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Actually the law is a perfectly fine answer.
Bipartisan, as these obvious national security issues should be.
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Trump could still be a hero to the people addicted to TikTok. They don’t have to shut down on the 19th remember, their app just won’t be updatable or downloadable anymore.
That wouldn’t need to be noticeable at all to the current users. Trump would have months to negotiate a sale. And that’s where tariffs can help.
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China Discusses Sale of TikTok US to Musk
Chinese officials are evaluating a potential option that involves Elon Musk acquiring the US operations of TikTok if the company fails to fend off a controversial ban on the short-video app, according to people familiar with the matter.
Beijing officials strongly prefer that TikTok remains under the ownership of parent ByteDance Ltd., the people say, and the company is contesting the impending ban with an appeal to the US Supreme Court. But the justices signaled during arguments on Jan. 10 that they are likely to uphold the law. Senior Chinese officials had already begun to debate contingency plans for TikTok as part of an expansive discussion on how to work with Donald Trump’s administration, one of which involves Musk, said the people, asking not to be identified revealing confidential discussions.
A potential high-profile deal with one of Trump’s closest allies holds some appeal for the Chinese government, which is expected to have some say over whether TikTok is ultimately sold, said the people. Musk spent more than $250 million supporting Trump’s re-election, and has been tapped for a prominent role in improving government efficiency after the Republican takes office.
Under one scenario that’s been discussed by the Chinese government, Musk’s X — the former Twitter — would take control of TikTok US and run the businesses together, the people said. With more than 170 million users in the US, TikTok could bolster X’s efforts to attract advertisers. Musk also founded a separate artificial intelligence company, xAI, that could benefit from the huge amounts of data generated from TikTok.
Chinese officials have yet to reach any firm consensus about how to proceed and their deliberations are still preliminary, the people said. It’s not clear how much ByteDance knows about the Chinese government discussions or whether TikTok and Musk have been involved. It’s also unclear whether Musk, TikTok and ByteDance have held any talks about the terms of any possible deal.
Musk and his representatives did not respond to a request for comment. Musk posted in April that he thinks TikTok should remain available in the US. “In my opinion, TikTok should not be banned in the USA, even though such a ban may benefit the X platform,” he wrote on X. “Doing so would be contrary to freedom of speech and expression. It is not what America stands for.”
ByteDance and TikTok representatives didn’t respond to messages seeking comment. The Cyberspace Administration of China and China’s Ministry of Commerce, government agencies that could be involved in decisions about TikTok’s future, also didn’t respond to requests for comment.
"Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... " - Mik, 6/14/08
The saying, "Lite is just one damn thing after another," is a gross understatement. The damn things overlap.
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Which is reason in itself to follow through with the law. It’s clear this is first and foremost a PsyOp. Not a business.
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China: “This isn’t a business, it’s a Psy-op. It has no value to us if we can’t control what your young people think”
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Latest on Tik Tok...
A fair number of Tik Tok users (several hundred thousand to date) have established accounts on the Chinese version of Tik Tok - to say FU to the US.
Mark Cuban has offered to back a Tik Tok-ish app if it is based on BlueSky.
Senator Markey is supposedly introducing legislation to delay implementation of the ban - to provide additional time for negotiation.
