@PussyFootingAround @Beanc It's a strong punitive measure for a hypothetical. And yes, whatever they're accusing TikTok of is being done by all the other giant corporate social media platforms too, with all the same (potential) abuses. It's stark hypocrisy.

I don't know how the US govt can get away with meddling with a foreign company providing a product that is so popular with its own population.

And on a social level, all of this has given license for a lot of anti-China propaganda/paranoia.

@sumpnlikefaith @PussyFootingAround
It is hypocritical, yes. I won’t argue that.

But there is a difference between data owned by a private actor and a state entity.

And regardless of their claims, almost all Chinese entities are influenced by their government.

And lump me in with the paranoid (😁) but….. China does not have a great history on this front.

@Beanc @sumpnlikefaith

I could not agree with @sumpnlikefaith more.

That is like saying Bill Gates has to sell Microsoft because he might, indeed, chip all of us in the future.

TikTok is a platform for that daunted free speech that they keep erroneously defining. The 1st amendment explicitly states the government can't control free speech. So they are forcing a company in another country to be sold with loose evidence of ANY implied wrongdoing. It won't stand, but with SCOTUS, who knows?

@Beanc @PussyFootingAround Fixating on the outside influence is a very strange play for the country which is collecting this same data from, and exerting the same influence(s) in countless other nations.

Almost all US entities are influenced by their govt too. If (for example) agitprop is a problem, then it is a problem no matter who's doing it.

I have zero skin in the TikTok game. But using govt overreach to "fend off govt overreach" is something we should all be concerned about.

@sumpnlikefaith @Beanc

🤣 Facts