News for hackers. Stuff that matters.
Re:Bipartisan Legislation to Ban TikTok by dtjb on Tuesday December 13, 2022 @01:06PM (#33973050)
> Why would the US not do the same with TikTok?

Millions (?) of Americans have freely chosen to receive and interact with the app, wouldn't their freedom of speech allow them to enjoy the content they choose?

Re:Bipartisan Legislation to Ban TikTok by blsapologist42 on Tuesday December 13, 2022 @06:38PM (#33977901)
Freedom of speech doesn't mean consuming content. Indeed there appears to be no such right in the constitution. The only protections would be for the publisher of the content, so I suppose Bytedance could challenge this law on free speech grounds.
Re:Bipartisan Legislation to Ban TikTok by varispeed on Wednesday December 14, 2022 @04:22AM (#33981534)
Millions (?) of Americans have freely chosen to use cocaine, wouldn't their freedom of doing what they want with their bodies allow them to enjoy the drug they choose?
Re:Bipartisan Legislation to Ban TikTok by dtjb on Wednesday December 14, 2022 @01:22PM (#33987519)
Yes but unironically.
Re:Bipartisan Legislation to Ban TikTok by goosesanta on Tuesday December 13, 2022 @03:59PM (#33975691)
But they're not choosing the content. Algorithm -> Tiktok -> China -> Communist party is.
Re:Bipartisan Legislation to Ban TikTok by dtjb on Tuesday December 13, 2022 @05:04PM (#33976645)
Who specifically is in charge of the algorithm at Twitter? Keep in mind the recent foreign interest financing and editorial changes. How are we certain they have our best American Interests™ at heart?

I'm not trying to play the whatabout card, I'm trying to understand how we would legally articulate what TikTok has done to justify banning by congressional decree. The senate bill [1] doesn't appear to have any measurements or values or clarifications, it's just a few paltry pages that never specify what line TikTok crossed. The only argument I'm hearing is China=Bad.

And who knows, maybe China is nefariously manipulating the TikTok algorithm, but for the US government to step in and say "these ideas are too dangerous, you can not access them," seems like the cure is as bad as the disease. It's using blatant authoritarianism to try to stop the spread of potential authoritarianism.

[1] https://www.rubio.senate.gov/public/_cache/files/1ebac814-15...