TikTok Appears To Panic As President Biden Takes Aim At Contentious App Following Federal Device Ban
Falling in line with other countries such as Canada and India (and some specific states), the United States has officially enacted a ban on TikTok from being installed on government devices.
At the same time, a bill passed through Congress yesterday that's now heading to the House floor for a vote could also give President Biden the power to extend the ban further (and with more powerful results) in what would be a crushing blow to the Chinese social media company's usage.
This news was accompanied by the White House Secretary speaking to concerned members of the media about the ban, and what they believed was the motive behind it.
Pres. Biden has ordered the removal of TikTok from government devices. New proposed legislation would also allow Biden to ban its use across the U.S.Rep. Jake Auchincloss tells @edokeefe: "A tougher stance on TikTok is certainly needed," adding, "It needs to be on the table." pic.twitter.com/0uahmTdIfS
— CBS News (@CBSNews) February 27, 2023
TikTok just got banned on all government devices in Canada! The US federal gov't device ban wave rolls out in 30 days. I think this platform is going to be toast in a year or two. pic.twitter.com/EZhbMtAywF
— Drift0r (@Drift0r) February 28, 2023
As expected, there were plenty of dissidents to the proposed ban of the social media platform, with many citing the First Amendment as a reason for it to stay active and not be bannable. There was also a notable amount of skepticism from some over the company's ties to China, with others believing that it's not because China owns the parent company Bytedance, but that it's merely due to anyone that isn't the U.S. government being in control of the social media platform (ignoring the fact that other countries have banned it for similar concerns in recent years).
A ban on TikTok would violate the First Amendment rights of millions of Americans who use the app to express themselves daily. pic.twitter.com/rCvCTMOza7
— ACLU (@ACLU) February 27, 2023
Earlier today, TikTok itself responded to this potential ban with its own statement about helping spread "American culture" across the planet to billions of active users, once again citing freedom of speech as a key point.
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Nukegirl
Would the removal of a platform really count as an attack on freedom of speech? Nothing is preventing its users from migrating to another platform, although loss of access to its contents very well may be problematic – although I don't think anyone would mind if someone archived it all. I also doubt it would be considered a problem if someone made a proxy service that Tiktok could be accessed through without being subject to potential spying in the same way, allowing people to access post-ban content while solving the main issue (not that China would necessarily tolerate this, I reckon).
Although even with all the issues, I don't think I can bring myself to not support banning Tiktok. Even if it hadn't been a cesspool, it'd still present a security risk to the unsuspecting masses, and a slap on the wrist of the Chinese government like this is at least a step in the right direction.
Peanut970
Tiktok is basically all the worst things about social media, squeezed out and amplified by 10. I hate it when people say it would violate their freedom, because TikTok is essentially getting a needle of cheap dopamine while your dealer tells you about conspiracy theories and easy ways to commit suicide. On top of being literal spyware from a government currently running concentration camps. And that's mean to function like a slot machine on top of that.
baldarek
I sincerely hope they do it this time, and that other counties will follow. Chinese spyware or not, the world would objectively be a much better without this garbage.
polandgod75
If the USA goverment does ban tik tok, then good.
Tiktok might be one of the worst social media sites due to encouraging short attention spans, conspiracy theories, teen recording there cringe stuff that would bite them in the ass, battshit ideas of social stuff, bad memes, and the chinese government mostly likely spying and spreading chaos. Seriously I would like the data spy to at least be native to my home country
Also it been ammo for far right wingers to make themsleves look rational and good.
ConspiracyNut
There's been a lot of those lately.