TikTok is Working Again in the U.S., But Still Removed From App Store

[whitby]

I am puzzled by the way the system in this country works. There are supposed to be the 3 legs of government that counterbalance each other and ensure that we do not have regulations that are not to the country's benefit or favor one group over another.

Here we have a situation where our elected representatives have decided that there is an existential threat to our country's security when a Chinese company that is affiliated with the Chinese government runs a social media app in this country. The Supreme Court agrees and affirms this, but apparently one man in the executive branch can over ride all this without any issue apparently. How is that reasonable?

I am also puzzled why people insist that this is a matter of free speech when, in fact, the main reason for the ban is the security threat from a Chinese government related company collecting personal data on 170 odd million Americans. The Chinese banned all Facebook, Instragram et al. for presumably similar reasons (and they do not want people getting together to protest the way the country is run).

Just so it is apparent, I am not supporting a like for like here, but let's let our government work and stop second guessing them when they have information I think nobody here has at their disposal. People can be upset that an existential security threat should not interfere with with their personal right to make money, but for me the security threat from a country that is certainly not working with us far outweighs the threat to so called 'free speech '.

 

[mansplains]

Hmm? Irrelevant? You post this on a thread about a "foreign" service operating in the US, and somehow foreigners are not permitted to speak about it? First, isn't free speech a central theme here, yet you want to filter out anyone that you may not agree with simply because they were not born in the US? Help me understand.

I'm Canadian and follow US politics closer than our own. Mainly for the entertainment, but one can't ignore how influential the US is over the global marketplace.

Guess I'm saying that you can't have it both ways.

I doubt you sincerely want to understand. Nice straw man about free speech, when I said nothing about restricting your “right” to post on a private forum, while you reside in a country lacking 1A. At least, until your country is annexed 😜

A foreigner’s opinions regarding how my country operates are irrelevant to me, much like a joke about annexation may be to you.

Freedom of speech doesn’t compel me to listen, and I’d prefer an option to ignore posts, rather than individual users whose posts on apolitical threads are worth engaging.

 

[mansplains]

Given the fealty of Republicans to Trump and that they control all three branches of government, the country has a new system called "checks and imbalances". It is when writing checks tips the scales of justice.

Similar ideology, general agreement = fealty.
The country has checkbook imbalance if anything, $30T+ and rising. Imagine those overdraft fees 💀

 

[VaruLV]

Given Musks love for oppressive communist regimes, Im quite sure its him who made Trump reverse this decidion.

 

[jlc1978]

When Ford pardoned Nixon everyone knew what the charges were going to be. These recent pardons are a joke considering there were no crimes committed. Heck, there aren't even any investigations. Why would anyone need to pardon their own family going back 11 years? 🤔

When the incoming President threatens them with investigations, when as you put it, there were no crimes committed, preemptive pardons are not that unreasonable.

On a different note, $5 says there are no magical algorithms at TikTok. It's one huge data center staffed by thousands of Chinese workers categorizing tens of millions of stupid videos. Similar to the scam Amazon Fresh had with their stores and the Indians monitoring the store cameras.

Either way, TikTok is likely not to be a very valuable property since a US buyer would lose access to the catorgization process.

Freedom of speech doesn’t compel me to listen, and I’d prefer an option to ignore posts, rather than individual users whose posts on apolitical threads are worth engaging.

There you go. Someone will accuse you of censorship because you want to ignore them.

You actually can at least ignore certain users, which makes MR more readable.

Not because what people said on it. Where does the free speech come in?

Some people have no idea what the 1st Amendment actually means; many think it actually applies to non-governmental actions.

 

[alexgowers]

Brain rot for kids direct from the CCP. This rubbish is banned in China but fine to lower the IQ of western kids. Should have been banned years ago, sad to see the orange one Kowtowing to Xi, is he anything but subservient to dictators and authoritarian regimes, least american, american alive?

 

[TroyBoy30]

It wasn't just during Trump's presidency when it started. It was Trump himself who was the first person to actually start this idea.

it's called negotiation. it's not about banning the app it's about having it owned by the US. He's playing chess and you guys are playing checkers.

 

[TroyBoy30]

When the incoming President threatens them with investigations, when as you put it, there were no crimes committed, preemptive pardons are not that unreasonable.


that tends to happen when they are criminals.

 

[bLackjackj]

Omg who cares

Free speech and 170 million Americans and 7 million small American businesses win 💪💪💪💪💪💪

You cannot run a business reliant on one social media platform. You do realise that they could go down in an instant or disappear all together one day. Look at MySpace, which had so many relying on revenue. It's a stupid opinion that applauds business owners reliant on a single piece of code - Chinese or not.

 

[iBreatheApple]

Oh, the dramatics! This was a bipartisan movement. The derangement… I can’t.

 

[danny842003]

Omg who cares

You cannot run a business reliant on one social media platform. You do realise that they could go down in an instant or disappear all together one day. Look at MySpace, which had so many relying on revenue. It's a stupid opinion that applauds business owners reliant on a single piece of code - Chinese or not.

Except you can and people have been.

 

[Treq]

The Dems continue to make flop decisions and keep on handing everything to the Reps.

edit: just to be clear, I do not support the Reps at all (in fact, I am not even in the US). I am just saying the Dems are acting dumb

That may be true, but only as it refers to messaging. The Democratic Party has widely supported positions on everything from the economy, to social issues, to international policy... at least a lot better than the Republican Party which is just fascism now. You see this was a republican effort to block Tiktok. Trump himself started it. But since we are in a dystopia now trump is going to take credit for fixing his own mess and the Democratic Party is not going to get the message out to people. Not that it would matter because his followers ignore the evidence of their eyes and ears in favor of dear leader. Truly we live in interesting times.

 

[Treq]

lol, now Trump will take full credit for rescuing the hostages and now TikTok.

Yup, taking credit for fixing their own mess is the GOP's bread and butter... that and blaming the Democratic Party for the mess the republicans made. To be fair, the Democratic Party needs to be better on messaging so the people know the real culprits and not fall in to these kinds of traps, but that is not the timeline we are in. It oligarchy now. The top has been messing up the government for decades so they can point to it and say: "See, government doesn't work!, we should privatize that!" even though it could have worked and been accountable to the people instead of some share holders... They convinced their followers that government was the problem when the truth is, the government is what you make it. Of, by, and for the people. Government is, or was, the only thing protecting us from the rich and powerful walking all over the people. That is the whole point of democracy. Well, that may just be over now.

 

[Madhatter32]

Yup, taking credit for fixing their own mess is the GOP's bread and butter... that and blaming the Democratic Party for the mess the republicans made. To be fair, the Democratic Party needs to be better on messaging so the people know the real culprits and not fall in to these kinds of traps, but that is not the timeline we are in. It oligarchy now. The top has been messing up the government for decades so they can point to it and say: "See, government doesn't work!, we should privatize that!" even though it could have worked and been accountable to the people instead of some share holders... They convinced their followers that government was the problem when the truth is, the government is what you make it. Of, by, and for the people. Government is, or was, the only thing protecting us from the rich and powerful walking all over the people. That is the whole point of democracy. Well, that may just be over now.

LOL -- the Democratic Party literally has driven the country to oligarchy. Trump promised to do more than Harris to stop it but you should listen more to J.D. Vance if you are concerned about that particular issue.

 

[AeroEd]

The Dems continue to make flop decisions and keep on handing everything to the Reps.

edit: just to be clear, I do not support the Reps at all (in fact, I am not even in the US). I am just saying the Dems are acting dumb

There is only one team/party, and it is called the wall street party. Reps & Dems collude to divide the populace

 

[vantelimus]

If the theater is on fire then you most absolutely can yell fire. In fact if you have any humanity in you, you should yell fire.

Causing a panic and stampede that results in death is not humane. There should be a fire alarm and an orderly evacuation. Intentionally causing panic so that injury and death are the inevitable results is illegal. Of course, you knew that. You are just being argumentative and trying to distract from the factual assertion that "Freedom of speech" in the US only concerns the government taking a hands-off policy towards political speech. It has never meant that people cannot prohibit speech of any kind on their private property. It has never meant that people can advocate murder, violence, or insurrection. It has never meant that libel and slander are protected. Etc. etc.

 

[vantelimus]

Similar ideology, general agreement = fealty.

Maybe in time it will be general agreement. At present it is fear of being primaried and/or fear of being kicked off the gravy train.

The country has checkbook imbalance if anything, $30T+ and rising. Imagine those overdraft fees 💀

And you think Trump will help that situation? The national debt increased almost 40% under his first term.

 

[steve333]

He’s not saving it. He’s just giving them more time to sell. Up to this point they refused to sell. In order to get the 90-day extension the law says that they must make an intent to sell. This situation ends with it being banned or sold to an American entity regardless of what Trump does. He cannot override federal law and he can’t just pick and choose which laws to enforce.

He also said he wants 50% ownership, it should be 100%, better yet he should have let it die

 

[mansplains]

And you think Trump will help that situation? The national debt increased almost 40% under his first term.

I was only continuing your inversion as a pun. No one will do anything about the debt, they don’t have to. Who’s gonna stop the federal reserve’s reckless printing? You mention this as if the national debt has been reduced under the tenure of other recent administrations.

 

[Reason077]

The sorry trend just continues the Biden policy of making a mockery out of law. The most recent example, of course, is his use of a pardon as a prophylactic against future prosecution, which is novel. Biden has demonstrated no regard for legal constraint or the constitution whatsoever.

True: this was not a gracious exit.

But really, the whole concept of a presidential pardon is an anachronism that is increasingly being abused and should be abolished. It's making the USA look more like a medieval feudal state than a modern democracy. Leave it up to the courts.

 

[FlyingDutch]

TikTok is already banned in Pakistan, Afghanistan and India – a huge market. It has no presence in China due to its sister app Douyin (ByteDance).
"TikTok, known in mainland China and Hong Kong as Douyin, is a Chinese short-form video-hosting service owned by Chinese internet company ByteDance" (Wikipedia). Means: TikTok is chinese DNA.

So it’s not really “banned”: they are just using a different version (maybe with more controlled contents). It is quite different.

 

[FlyingDutch]

Yes, but an identical service owned by the same company is allowed. They just don’t want our western values corrupting Chinese citizens.

“Western values” ? On TiKTok ? Did they ever watched it ?

 

[iPhoneFan5349]

Yea, as with many things his position is , well fluid and subject to change, depending on the audience; so his real position is often never known, although I think sometimes even he doesn't know it until he actually does something.



Hardly, Ford did it for Nixon.



However, up until right before Biden did, he was advocating a ban.

However, the real issue with a sale is who will get the algorithms TiKTok uses to display content? Without those, having the user base is pretty worthless, and if ByteDance gives up those TiKTok loses any advantage they have. I doubt they will give them up, hence the lack of interest in buying TikTok by the major social media companies; who probably feel the are better of spending the money it would take to buy TikTok with rolling their own.

There’s nothing special to TikTok algorithm, their success it’s because they put in front of you what you like, instead of trying to censor everything and give you only approved messages

 

[Michael Scrip]

There’s nothing special to TikTok algorithm, their success it’s because they put in front of you what you like, instead of trying to censor everything and give you only approved messages

Wait... I was told that because TikTok is from China... it's full of propaganda and it's trying to radicalize people.

🤣

 

[Nuno Lopes]

Im not from USA, but wasn’t during Trumps presidency when this TikTok thing started?

Even though I believe the Democrats have made significant mistakes, I think this guy is blatantly cheating the American public in plain sight. He’s an obvious pathological manipulator, yet people seem to view him as some kind of American messiah sent by God.

His first act was to get his familia running the country, like his own business. Actually the very first act was create a digital coin in its name earning his familia even more money. Which kind of regimes one sees this happening?

Don’t know guys. I truly hope things improve, and that American lives actually get better, but I’m not optimistic. When the consequences of his policies start to hit—rising prices, hardships for ordinary people and farmers, and widespread discontent—he’ll likely deflect blame onto the rest of the world. At that point, he could turn Americans against everyone else, and we might find ourselves heading toward the last of wars.

A democracy requires a true separation of powers, but I see none of that in the way this President operates. On the contrary, he seems to completely disregard the justice system. Meanwhile, the media (or what I call News 3.0) appears to be in lockstep with him.

And what’s with Musk’s Nazi-like salute?

I wish I am totally measuring this situation wrongly and unfairly. And genuinely humanity elevating values are behind all this, and the hopes and aspirations of voters are restored. Will see. God help us all.

P.S. At least digital coins are on the rise. TikTok is gone, it will be bought.