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A comment on US lawmakers tell Apple, Google to be ready to remove TikTok from stores Jan. 19. Parent comment

Re:US lawmakers tell Apple, Google to be ready to remove Tik... by Cookingboy on Monday December 16, 2024 @08:26AM (#42430744)
>No speech or information is being suppressed;

Except the whole reason for the TikTok bill is that information/speech will be under Chinese government control on TikTok and that can be weaponized.

So make up your mind, if you say TikTok is being banned for the possibility of "weaponized propaganda", then it is information being suppressed.

If you say it's not about information suppression, then you can't use the "Chinese propaganda" argument, which is used by pretty much all ban supporters.

>This isn't like China where the government bans any services they can't control, and directs the services that they can control to suppress any information they don't want people talking about.

That's exactly what it is.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:US lawmakers tell Apple, Google to be ready to remove Tik... by dgfitz on Monday December 16, 2024 @08:44AM (#42430867)
> … if you say TikTok is being banned for the possibility of "weaponized propaganda", then it is information being suppressed

Eliminating weaponized propaganda is not even a little bit close to suppressing freedom of speech. Your argument falls apart there, like completely.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:US lawmakers tell Apple, Google to be ready to remove Tik... by Cookingboy on Monday December 16, 2024 @09:02AM (#42431023)
Except it is. The Supreme Court has actually ruled that the First Amendment rights for Americans to receive foreign propaganda, even during the Cold War:

https://firstamendment.mtsu.edu/article/lamont-v-postmaster-...

I don't think you know what the First Amendment is. Not only does it guarantee freedom of expression, but also freedom to receive other's expression and speech.

The U.S. government is not allowed to ban any foreign books, movies, or even propaganda.

I really wish people like you do a little bit research before making such a confident statement like that.

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Re:US lawmakers tell Apple, Google to be ready to remove Tik... by Cthulhu_ on Monday December 16, 2024 @09:44AM (#42431402)
They may not legally be allowed to ban it, but that doesn't mean it has to be easy to access it. This is probably also why banning Tiktok was / is such a challenge and couldn't just be done with Trump's exective order after Zucc whispered it in his ear in 2019, and why they can't just block it, but have to subpoena the app stores to delist it.
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