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A comment on US to ban transactions with ByteDance and WeChat in 45 days. Parent comment

Re:US to ban transactions with ByteDance and WeChat in 45 days by dodobirdlord on Friday August 07, 2020 @03:52AM (#24079441)
> What are the national security concerns for these apps that are not present in the multitude of other apps such as WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Skype, Zoom, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, Google, Gmail, iMessage, Facetime, Vine, Snapchat, YouTube, etc?

These are all American companies. Wechat and TikTok are controlled by Chinese companies.

> What about the suspicions that Trump is upset that TikTok users helped sabotage one of his big rallies and this is retaliation and thus an overextension of his powers and an exercise in authoritarianism (something he's already done many times anyway)?

I suspect that was actually his motive, and the national security reasoning is just a pretext. That said, a stopped clock is right twice a day.

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Re:US to ban transactions with ByteDance and WeChat in 45 days by xvector on Friday August 07, 2020 @08:54AM (#24081284)
It is pathetic to see my fellow Americans giving up freedom for “national security” - as the adage goes, they deserve neither.
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Re:US to ban transactions with ByteDance and WeChat in 45 days by TearsInTheRain on Friday August 07, 2020 @10:53AM (#24082495)
This is hardly giving up freedom. It is literally the job of the government to be an interface between America and the rest of the world and it is within their purview to deem chinese companies that can collect data on americans a security risk.
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