The clock is ticking for Tik Tok

[AR2266]

Did anyone follow the grilling of TikTok CEO by Congress?

I'm thinking that the focus and priorities may be misplaced in this current social environment. But that is just my naive view.

[Black Dog]

Maybe they will go after all the Addictive and Intrusive practices of social media platforms. Tik Tok is likely not the largest offender.

[rwsaunders]

It's easy for politicians to essentially sound off about another nation collecting information while we use their devices and software, while domestic providers have been doing it for who knows how long. The Senate and Congress bring Zuckerberg to DC every now and then to bash FB and IG and the results?

[Tony T]

Well, our relationship with China has soured, so this is not unexpected. Also not unexpected is the new report from the USDE with low confidence that COVID accidentally escaped from the WIV.

[nickl]

Keep in mind almost all major U.S. based social media sites are banned in the PRC, and many if not most news, search engine, email and streaming sites that are not based in mainland China are either blocked or highly restricted. Perhaps turnabout is fair play.

https://www.travelchinacheaper.com/i...sites-in-china

[mcteague]

Originally Posted by nickl

Keep in mind almost all major U.S. based social media sites are banned in the PRC, and many if not most news, search engine, email and streaming sites that are not based in mainland China are either blocked or highly restricted. Perhaps turnabout is fair play.

https://www.travelchinacheaper.com/i...sites-in-china

In the WaPo today.

[jimoots]

Delete

[AngryScientist]

I admit, I dont use many forms of social media, but I get the basic concepts - I literally have zero idea of what TikTok is though.

[buddybikes]

There have been number of trade restrictions for China in last 6 mos including:
- sale of high performance GPU's (and similar)
- any sale to certain semi-conductor mfg
- expanding scope of "foreign direct product rule"
- export of semi conductor manufacturing equipment

Rumor next month will be more stuff coming

[makoti]

Originally Posted by Tony T

Well, our relationship with China has soured, so this is not unexpected. Also not unexpected is the new report from the USDE with low confidence that COVID accidentally escaped from the WIV.

Isn't this a long winded way to say "We don't think so"

[benb]

Lots of good takes here. It's so easy to forget just about all US apps/sites are banned in China.

I see this somewhat as something that the US press sees as a big deal and makes it look like the administration is doing something important to "resist china" but it's really much ado about nothing.

It wins the US government points with some part of the populace and is fairly bipartisan so not really very controversial.

But it's not going to escalate things with China a whole lot and doesn't have as much risk as other steps they could take like putting missiles in Taiwan or deploying an additional carrier group to the pacific.

- sale of high performance GPU's (and similar)
- any sale to certain semi-conductor mfg
- expanding scope of "foreign direct product rule"
- export of semi conductor manufacturing equipment

All of these things are way bigger deals than TikTok.

And the stakes are huge around Taiwan.. if China manages to take Taiwan over without having to destroy all of Taiwan they are going to get a lot of the keys to castle and it will have massive ramifications for everything to do with semi-conductors and computers.

China wants to get rid of the "other" china and unify everything as Communist... but getting TSMC is probably also a huge secondary motivator. They will have the whole world over a barrel overnight, it will change everything. If they did it tomorrow they could probably unilaterally tell the US and EU to abandon Ukraine and they might succeed.

[Mr. Pink]

We have some very pig headed and just plain dumb people in charge right now, but that's nothing new. Just go back and read Mark Twain. But, trying to pick fights with China right now is so stupid. Taiwan makes something like 95% of the world's chips. You think inflation is bad now? Wait until shipments of said chips and thousands of other items from Chinese factories, i.e., the world's factories, are shut down if the conflict starts. We had a taste of that with Covid disruptions. Bunch of idiots in a circular shooting squad.

[mstateglfr]

Originally Posted by AngryScientist

I admit, I dont use many forms of social media, but I get the basic concepts - I literally have zero idea of what TikTok is though.

This isnt criticism, just reality- you have to actively work to avoid any news- social, political, or business for the last 5 years to not know what TikTok is.
It takes effort to not manage to even know what it is at this point.

I wont break the streak and tell you.

Again, not criticism. I genuinely bet you are better off not knowing.

[XXtwindad]

Originally Posted by mstateglfr

This isnt criticism, just reality- you have to actively work to avoid any news- social, political, or business for the last 5 years to not know what TikTok is.
It takes effort to not manage to even know what it is at this point.

I wont break the streak and tell you.

Again, not criticism. I genuinely bet you are better off not knowing.

Not “knowing” is kind of a protean term. It encompasses a lot of territory. I don’t really know what it is either. And frankly couldn’t give a ****. Seems like a giant time suck. Like most social media. Except for Paceline, of course.

[Louis]

What's this "Tik Tok" thing you guys are talking about?