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Re:South Dakota first to ban TikTok on state-owned devices by DiogenesKynikos on Friday December 02, 2022 @05:28PM (#33837825)
This is a paranoid vision of how China works.

TikTok is a private company that wants to make money. If it could make more money by showing Chinese audiences more trashy content, it absolutely would. And in fact, it does show a great deal of mindless content in China.

However, as is well known, China has recently been trying to regulate children's use of the internet (e.g., time limits on internet gaming). If companies were already willingly doing what the Communist Party wants, the Chinese government wouldn't have to pass these new regulations in the first place. And guess what happens when the government passes these sorts of regulations? Companies immediately start looking for ways to skirt them.

> legally obligated to have dedicated Chinese Communist Party representatives overseeing

No, at least legally, these committees have no oversight role in private companies. Companies with over 50 employees are required to allow a Party committee to organize and meet, but it doesn't have a role in management.

There are far too many grand statements nowadays about how China works, coming from sources that don't actually seem to be very familiar with the country. There is a very strong tendency in the West now to view everything about China through a paranoid lens. The truth is usually much more boring.

In this case, the truth is that Douyin (TikTok in China) has plenty of trashy content, but that there's more government regulation than before.

Re:South Dakota first to ban TikTok on state-owned devices by gjsman-1000 on Friday December 02, 2022 @05:35PM (#33837904)
> This is a paranoid vision of how China works.

The more I read about China the more paranoid I get. I don't think they haven't earned it.

Re:South Dakota first to ban TikTok on state-owned devices by DiogenesKynikos on Friday December 02, 2022 @05:47PM (#33838028)
I recommend going to China and seeing for yourself.

What you read from afar and what you see on the ground are very different. Imagine if all you heard about the US were constant stories about gun violence, drone strikes and homelessness. You'd have a very distorted view of life in America. That's basically the situation with China, if your only point of reference is what you read in the English-language media.

Re:South Dakota first to ban TikTok on state-owned devices by nradov on Friday December 02, 2022 @06:00PM (#33838138)
Only an idiot would risk traveling to China at this point. You could be detained and held as a political bargaining chip.

https://www.politico.com/news/2022/06/19/families-biden-admi...

I should have visited China back when it was opening up and relations were relatively friendly. But now that we have entered a new Cold War it's too late, I missed my chance.

Re:South Dakota first to ban TikTok on state-owned devices by DiogenesKynikos on Friday December 02, 2022 @06:23PM (#33838344)
About 150 million tourists (or shall we call them "idiots"?) travel to China without incident every year.

I don't know what, specially, is happening in the 200 cases described by the Politico article you linked to. Politico mentions one accusation of drug trafficking and another of spying.

Re:South Dakota first to ban TikTok on state-owned devices by gjsman-1000 on Friday December 02, 2022 @05:54PM (#33838091)
So... do you deny that 1.8 million Muslims are held within "re-education" camps in Xinjang, and claim that I have no need to fear the government even if that be the case, and that the United Nations is pulling it out of their rear with their allegations of forced confessions and torture on a broad systemic scale?

And I'm the one to blame for being paranoid? If you were one of those Muslims, would your paranoia be unjustified?

EDIT: Looking at the few pages of your profile, every single message you have posted is defending China in some capacity, even bending over backwards for certain issues. YOU are making me paranoid and look exactly like the propaganda agents China has hired.

Re:South Dakota first to ban TikTok on state-owned devices by DiogenesKynikos on Friday December 02, 2022 @06:26PM (#33838373)
I don't know what the subject we were discussing (whether TikTok is part of a plot to dumb down Americans) has to do with Xinjiang.

> every single message you have posted is defending China

I just comment on what interests me at the moment, and because of the rising level of paranoia about China (paranoia which I think is dangerous), I've been commenting more on these sorts of issues - which I happen to know a bit about.

Shill accusations go against HN rules, by the way.