December 16, 2022

"[S]everal key Senate Democrats... say they’re at least open to a blanket ban on TikTok in the U.S. which keeps lawmakers up at night worrying about..."

"... Chinese agents scraping data and their children up at night watching lava fail to melt ice.... [W]hile Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa. wanted more time to review the bill, he suggested lawmakers should be prepared to get out of their comfort zone with more aggressive legislation.... The idea of banning TikTok, which is owned by Chinese parent company ByteDance, was born during the Trump administration, when the former president tried to muzzle the social media app by executive order. A court halted it and Biden ultimately revoked the executive order when he took office, instead conducting talks with TikTok about a potential deal to address their concerns.... You can hold off on breaking the sad news to the Gen Zers in your life, a full TikTok ban is still unlikely, in part because it would spur substantial pushback from Americans among whom the app is very popular....."

Writes Liz Hoffman in "Democrats are dancing around a TikTok ban" (Semafor).

Not banning social media is considered a Democratic Party "comfort zone"? Well, at least there's that, but they're taunting each other into being "more aggressive."

28 comments:

Butkus51 said...

who was 2 years ahead of the curve on this?

and they laughed

Mike (MJB Wolf) said...

Joe is a partisan fool who reversed every Trump EO on his first day. Because Trump drives the crooks insane. Now two years later the commie spy app is Number One. Most popular app in the nation. Especially amongst the youths. Way to go Brandon! This chaos is 100% owned by Biden voters.

Koot Katmandu said...

I do not get the fear of TIK TOK. Are they really just afraid of a Social Media platform that is not influenced and mostly controlled by the US government? It is clear that our government was doing with Twitter what it claims China can do with Tik Tok?

Enigma said...

Asymmetrical information war: China bans or censors all social media and Internet companies. They infect all cellphones that enter the country with spyware. The infect all cell phone / network infrastructure (Huawei) and likely all consumer drones with spyware. Google, Apple, Amazon, the WHO, the CDC, the UN and most elected officials play along to appease their government, keep making profits, and likely collect kickbacks or inside trading information. On the other hand, the USA get anxious because banning TikTok will upset young (Democratic) voters and they'll have to find another social platform that rots their brains, robs of them of independent thought, and stunts their social-emotional development. Maybe the fired Twitter 1.0 employees can build TwitTok as a replacement?

Scotty, beam me up... said...

TikTok is programmed to stimulate the pleasure centers of the brain - an electronic drug per se such as narcotics or cocaine. The viewers of the app can then get addicted in the same way as illicit drugs cause a chemical addiction in the human brain. This is particularly aimed at younger people ON PURPOSE BY THE CHINESE! Hell, the Chinese government restricts use of TikTok AMONGST ITS OWN YOUNGER POPULATION because of this effect. I can only surmise that this was done with the intent to disrupt the populations in the West as part of China’s long term plan in controlling the world, which includes economic control and disruptions, flooding the world with illicit drugs like Fentanyl, biological attacks via engineered viruses, and computer hacking and malware. The Democrats are worried about messing with their younger voters and driving them away? There won’t be any younger voters or voters of any kind in the Chinese end game plan if they succeed. Tough love is needed in dealing with TikTok and the Chinese in general stat before the US loses control stat! (Although a case can be made we have already lost control with the southern border situation)

Critter said...

Is there a Democrat politician (more holdouts among the Republicans) that does not take money from the CCP, directly or indirectly? Biden set the standard in his deal with a CCP owned energy company.

I remember when the communists used to say capitalists will make and sell the rope by which they are hanged. Now Democrats will play games on Tik Tok while being corralled into CCP re-education camps.

pacwest said...

For a while I thought that it was too late to confront China. Then Trump and I thought well maybe. But now I again think it's too late. The tentacles are too deeply embedded.

When Trump was beginning trade negotiations with China estimates were that costs would rise 3% overall if we disentangled ourselves. Consensus was that the hit to the US economy was something we couldn't afford. 3% seems like chicken feed now.

hombre said...

What possible difference can it make? QuidProJoe will sell us out to the CCP. We are already financing their military. We are also an occupied nation and Democrats are dumbing down and mutilating our children.

And that's not the half of it. Toast. We're toast!

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

The Georgia Governor ordered the removal of tik tok from all state government phones and computers.

hombre said...

"Is there a Democrat politician (more holdouts among the Republicans) that does not take money from the CCP, directly or indirectly?"

Don't forget the cartels. The projection of 14,000 immigrants a day at our southern border is very big business for Democrats.

rcocean said...

The Democrats will do anything if you bribe them. The CHinese must not be paying them enough.

Readering said...

Which will happen first, US ban of tiktok or EU ban of twitter?71?

Bob Boyd said...

What will we do with the flood of refugees? Who will find a new home for Ricky Gourmet?

Brylinski said...

What will Althouse do if Tik Tok is banned?

Drago said...

Readering: "Which will happen first, US ban of tiktok or EU ban of twitter?71?"

Hmmmm, good question.

The EU commies tend to move more slowly in general but they are quite motivated in this case.

On the other hand, the ChiCom-commies have purchased many US politicians so even though the US tends to move more quickly than their EU commie counterparts the ChiCom-induced corruption of the lefties/GOPe-ers will slow down the banning of tiktok.

Thus, my guess is the EU commies will ban twitter first.

Iman said...

The Dems don’t wish to anger their CCP leadership.

Achilles said...

""[S]everal key Senate Democrats... say they’re at least open to a blanket ban on TikTok in the U.S. which keeps lawmakers up at night worrying about...""

These people are a bunch of flatworms.

The intelligence community is running this show.

They will ban Tik Tok because it is the Chinese Intel agency's tool.

They will ban Twitter next because Musk just rooted out all the Government thugs infesting Twitter.

This is just the US Government operating as a National Socialist entity.

stlcdr said...

Government wants to control social media because government controls social media.

Daniel12 said...

Was there something in this post? I got distracted watching that lava not melt that ice. That's crazy! I mean, it kind of makes sense in retrospect -- it takes lots of energy to warm water, and that lava loses heat and solidifies quickly. Super cool!

Temujin said...

You may have to find something else to entertain us on those later-in-the-day posts. I kinda like looking in later in the evening to go through the Althouse selections.

Though for some reason I have changed my opinion on the Chinese lockdowns and now think they were doing it to save their people.

John henry said...

I've got 2 questions for those wanting to ban TikTok:

1) Why wouldn't the 1st Amendment and freedom of speech apply? I don't have any idea how they plan to do this but it seems like there would be serious constitutional issues

Governments, state and federal, can certainly ban it on govt devices. I am wondering how the govt would be legally able to prevent me from viewing TikTok videos. What about Ann's 1A right to share TikToks with us daily?

2) How would it be technically feasible? Can internet service providers block certain websites? I did not know this was possible. I hope it is not. Not for TikTok. I generally agree that TikTok is basically spyware and undesirable. I would not want to see it or any other website blocked. If govt could block one ISP like TikTok, what would stop them from blocking another, like Twitter?

Scary stuff.

JOhn Henry

n.n said...

A mind is a useful objective to influence.

Eva Marie said...

I deleted TikTok because of all the China stuff. How the app interacts with our phones and personal information is one thing. But I don’t understand the hysteria about the content. I loved TikTok.

Freeman Hunt said...

They should put out detailed PSAs explaining why people shouldn't use the app. Most people have no idea.

solar emp said...

They are trying to ban tiktok because it's the only social media platform that wouldn't let the alphabet agencies dictate content and they are scared. If they can't control it, ban it.

pacwest said...

What will Althouse do if Tik Tok is banned?

Draw rats.

rwnutjob said...

My friend has been saying this since before Trump said it. Tik-Tok is A Chinese Swiss cheese app. This is someone who went back to school to get her masters in cyber security & used to dox terrorists for a living. She knows of which she speaks.

rwnutjob said...

My friend has been saying this since before Trump said it. Tik-Tok is A Chinese Swiss cheese app. This is someone who went back to school to get her masters in cyber security & used to dox terrorists for a living. She knows of which she speaks.