About 59% of Americans say TikTok a threat to the national security of the United States, according to a new survey of U.S. adults.

    • Maggoty@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Facebook has been actually selling data to the Chinese government for a decade. Congress just keeps politely asking them to stop. But nobody wants to report on that.

    • jscummy@sh.itjust.works
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      1 year ago

      Pointing out Chinese company’s shady behavior isn’t bullshit or racism. I work in security and we’re currently having to take out most Chinese cameras since they’ve been found to regularly ping Chinese addresses and have backdoors built in. Chinese companies quickly become an extension of the CCP.

      • Maggoty@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Saying it’s only them is absolutely racist. Most social media corporations sell data. Including to the Chinese government. Go look at the “permissions” threads, Instagram, and the FB app require these days and tell me they aren’t ripping every bit of data they can.

        There’s a big difference between hardening your security hardware supply line and accusing only the Chinese social media platform of taking data.

  • fouloleron@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Eighty one percent of Americans think God will save them, so why would you care about any of their other opinions?

    • LifeInMultipleChoice@lemmy.ml
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      1 year ago

      I think 81% agree to say they aren’t non believers because many don’t want the questions of saying they might be an atheist/agnostic. ~30k different Christian sects in the U.S. and none of them can tell me why they are in their own group, so if you just say oh yeah I believe everyone shuts up. Being raised a catholic, I like to remind my mother that all 30k of them are anti catholic and they believe catholics are going to hell. They don’t know what for, but they damn sure know they aren’t catholic.

      In truth I think ~30% of Americans are religious. The rest just keep covering for themselves. If we really wanted the truth we could instate taxes like they have in some EU countries. Pay an extra 5% taxes to your church. *poof, 50% gone in a year and claiming they paid it, while the others wondering why they didn’t think to check a mon religious box.

      • RIPandTERROR@sh.itjust.works
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        1 year ago

        I live in a location where a Christian belief system is straight up expected at a near Texas level. It is to my absolute glee to answer people that I am unwilling to pray over your computer (💯 happened) as it is against my religion.

        Have people ask what church I go to roughly biweekly.

        Main reason I have satanic temple cards to distribute when asked.

      • SCB@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        If we legalize taxing churches it just means no non-christian religions are allowed in red states. They’ll just jack up taxes on churches they don’t agree with

        • LifeInMultipleChoice@lemmy.ml
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          1 year ago

          Freedom to religion would likely protect taxes being diffferent. It shouldn’t protect against the largest land owner in Florida being a tax free money maker

          • SCB@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            That’s a very charitable view of the current SCOTUS and I admire your optimism

            • Maggoty@lemmy.world
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              1 year ago

              Fun fact about SCOTUS. They don’t have any way of enforcing their rulings. And we can add judges all day long. That’s why they keep not going full conservative except on key cases. They know if the Democrats see them as a totally lost cause then they’ll pack the court. (Which could effectively kill it when the GOP gets power and does the same exact thing) So in preserving their own power they’re forced to maintain a status quo for now.

    • Maggoty@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Not sure they think God will save them. That’s quite the leap from “God exists” to “God will save me”.

  • kobra@lemm.ee
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    1 year ago

    Yeah I mean, I downloaded my reddit data and uh… wow. I was surprised to see how much you could learn about someone when it’s all bundled up like that 👀

    • Weirdfish@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      How did you do this? Log in through the website? I will have to do password recovery as I haven’t used the web interface in ages.

      Would be very curious what that data set looks like.

      • kobra@lemm.ee
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        1 year ago

        Yeah, has to be through a web browser. Here’s a link: https://www.reddit.com/settings/data-request

        FWIW, I never got notified that the download was ready, so make sure you check back for reddit mail every few days if you request yours. It took about a month for mine.

    • Muddybulldog@mylemmy.win
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      1 year ago

      Which is why I find the whole banning TikTok concept absurd.

      It’s picking one easy scapegoat company to rally around, completely ignores the thousands upon thousands of other applications that collect data on us.

      It’s not security, it’s security theater. It’s lazy and designed to distract us. It’s to keep us from not asking questions about any company’s practices that might hurt someone politically or financially.

      We don’t need to ban TikTok. We need to ban Tik Tok and thousands of others like it. We need to have real conversations and put forth real solutions with regards to privacy, globally. It won’t happen though. Because it’s going to cost somebody money.

      • galloog1@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        You keep trying and failing to ban all social media while China continues to gain a foothold under the current unchanged rules. We’ll all be doing on the front lines of the next world war but at least in the end you can hold your head up high and say that it was worth it to take a stand.

        It’s like saying that you shouldn’t ban murder because all weapons should be banned. How they use it matters.

        • Maggoty@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          In that analogy Facebook has been murdering people for a decade but we refuse to do anything about it.

          • galloog1@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            In that analogy, Facebook is armed but not even brandishing. People aren’t doing anything because Facebook isn’t waving their weapon around and threatening their families but instead was using their knives to cut up more food to sell you. Sorry, I’ll use a more clear analogy next time.

            We are talking about the preparation of the battlefield for the next conflict. It is pretty well documented in cyber warfare circles. conflicts are won and lost before they are fought. conflicts are mitigated when the chances of success are lower.

            • Maggoty@lemmy.world
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              Facebook has been giving data to the CCP for over a decade. If that’s the big bad, then that’s it. It doesn’t matter who owns the company. If you want to talk about battlefield shaping I can speak to that. I was in the military. When comes down to it I don’t care how the minefield got breached. It’s breached and there’s a hole that can be exploited. I don’t care if company A did it or company B.

              • galloog1@lemmy.world
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                1 year ago

                There’s giving data through API, and then there’s complete access to everything your device sees. It’s the difference between taking a trench and allowing your enemy to build a complete logistical hub behind your lines. It’s an order of magnitude worse.

                • Maggoty@lemmy.world
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                  1 year ago

                  Have you looked at the permissions Meta requires to run an app on your phone these days?

                  There is no difference. They’re taking everything.

      • SCB@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Aggregated data is the reason for modern living in its entirety so no.

        You’re literally on a data aggregation site now.

  • Hyggyldy@lemmy.world
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    I’m not here to defend tiktok but I really don’t care what the average person thinks is a national security threat.

  • Naia@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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    1 year ago

    This is only because of republican propaganda, which they only did because young people did political coordination on ticktok.

    • btmoo@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      As a hard core liberal, I promptly uninstalled that shit as soon as I saw my first Chinese military propaganda.

    • Maggoty@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      If you’re not involved in anything sensitive then the CCP could give two shits about you. Also if you’ve ever used any META product they already have your info. Zuckerberg has been called out for selling data to the Chinese government multiple times over the last decade.

      • Espresso@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Yeah, I’m not involved in anything like that, but coming from a country heavily manipulated by the CCP, I simply choose not to install TikTok or anything directly related to them (on my own choice). I once tried to apply for a Hong Kong visa at a Chinese embassy in the US. Ever since then, I’ve been receiving hundreds of Chinese calls and random Chinese messages out of nowhere. It’s been 3 years -__-, I still can’t figure out ways to get my number off of their lists, freaking ridiculous.

  • Krzak@discuss.online
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    1 year ago

    Well of course they’re going to percieve a place where alternative ideas and organisation takes place as a threat

      • suspecm@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        I’m not american. My country had basically built out a strangle hold on traditional media, facebook and is building it on other sites like instagram and twitter. The only platform that not been affected at all is tiktok. Instagram and Twitter is tankfully heavily fighting back the government propaganda but on tiktok, there is just none. Not sure if it’s because of the algorithm it uses or simply they don’t consider it a threat but there is a ton of liberal counter-culture which I’m sure the government would not be happy about if they found them.

      • Ok_Foundation@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        As an avid user of both TT and Reddit (now lemmy obv), I can say the content and perspectives between the two have some parallels (both lean left) but also some very stark differences (TT leans younger and has a more early internet style chaotic energy).

        I’m not saying the security concerns aren’t warranted. But the idea that so many people on here are so onboard with sacrificing a platform because they don’t get it is kinda disheartening. Especially given how concentrated social media is getting under the Meta umbrella.

        I feel like many people on here still view the platform as the app where people dance to music, which isn’t representative of what the app is at the moment.

      • Krzak@discuss.online
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        1 year ago

        I get a lot of content about socialism, communism, guerilla gardening, permaculture. Not very mainstream imo

        • Maggoty@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          The algorithm is very good at sending you more of what you’ve liked or searched for. If you’re not mainstream then neither will your content be.

  • QubaXR@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Majority of Americans don’t understand national security, cyber security, or privacy.

  • Candelestine@lemmy.world
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    Good. It pretty clearly is. It’s not the only one by any stretch, but “a threat” is a low bar. Would a single one of you stand confidently by it being “no threat”?

    Hell, facebook is a threat to national security, and it’s an American company.

    • Red Wizard 🪄@lemmygrad.ml
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      Facebook isn’t a threat to national security according to the federal government, which is where the “American people” get this notion from in regards to TikTok.

      How could Facebook, a site that regularly colaborates with the feds voluntarily, be a threat to the nation exactly?

  • Rasta_Imposta@lemmy.world
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    For once a majority agree and are correct.

    So are the rest of the “social media” companies too though.

  • noah@lemm.ee
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    1 year ago

    So people are complaining if the CCP censors western social media like Facebook etc. but then discuss to censor chinese social media. Isn’t there freedom of speech in America? I mean nobody is forced to use TikTok.

    • zaph@lemmy.world
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      This is why I can’t wrap my head around any of the tiktok hate. I don’t trust tiktok with my data so guess what? I don’t use it. I don’t see how my coworker using it is going to be the downfall of America. We’ve already banned it from government networks, that’s plenty.

      • Maggoty@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        And to be honest there shouldn’t be any social media on government networks. Unless it’s “Civil Service R US” or something run by the government. But yeah no reason to have social media on 99% of official devices. (The 1% are the PR people putting stuff out and IT can wall them off)

    • SgtAStrawberry@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      If someone else wants to censor America social media it is extremely wrong, bad and against freedom of speech.

      If America wants to censor someone else’s social media it is the correct and good thing to do, because it protects people.

      Had tiktok been American it would have been wrong to try to censor it, but no it is not so then it is good to censor it.

  • AllonzeeLV@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    The US exports social media platforms all over the world.

    Beyond that, many mostly older folks don’t understand TikTok, even more than most social media, and because they don’t understand the culture of it, they have decreed it a bad influence out of ignorant fear.

    Yes, I’m sure China does mine the data, as do we. If my government wanted its citizens to “rah rah murica” in the global powers dick measuring contest, it shouldn’t have legislated civic buy in away for the last 50 years to make the owner class richer at everyone else’s expense.

    https://www.cnbc.com/2021/10/18/the-wealthiest-10percent-of-americans-own-a-record-89percent-of-all-us-stocks.html

    Patriotism is for societies.

  • Wrench Wizard@lemmy.world
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    Threat to national security? Who could know besides the higher ups.

    Threat to society? Again I don’t know but god, most of TikTok is extremely cringe and has people wasting so, so much of their time either viewing stupid videos or filming them.

    Idk, I just think turning society into a popularity contest/mediocre talent show is… weird. Collectively, how many billions of hours have been wasted by people staging, viewing and filming simplistic dances due to apps like this?

    When we could be doing… anything of significance.

    Sure, there’s some informational stuff on there no need to remind me but let’s be honest how much of it is basically “Look what I can do!”