• @[email protected]
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    211 hours ago

    They track the location of people in the US and gather large amounts of data. They didn’t get banned for refusing to spread US propaganda.

    • @[email protected]
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      2 hours ago

      These are very loose terms. Pretty much every major website saves IP addresses when you create an account (to prevent abuse/spam detection). And you can get location info from the IP address. Hence the first condition would be true for all of those websites.

      Next, any website/app that builds a recommendation system will save user interactions to build the “algorithm”. So every social media with an algorithm will fall into this category.

      With enough bending of terminology, we might be able to prove that the lemmy also collects user data (although it will be really hard cuz the algo here is based on upvotes and time posted iirc). And “large amount” part is just legal filler words.

    • @[email protected]
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      23 hours ago

      As does all the American owned networks. That’s not the reason. Not pushing American propaganda is the reason.

    • @[email protected]
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      87 hours ago

      False dichotomy. They could’ve been banned on legitimate pretenses AND other reasons threatening power.

      If they were legitimately only banned for “tracking the location in the US and gathering large amounts of data”, then just about every single social media service would be under investigation for the same reason. But do we currently see that happening?

      • Schadrach
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        05 hours ago

        Of all the social media popular in the US, only one of them is doing that tracking and is under the thumb of a foreign adversary. That is specifically the line drawn in the law. I’m actually curious if WeChat shouldn’t fall under it too?

      • @[email protected]
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        4 hours ago

        If they were legitimately only banned for “tracking the location in the US and gathering large amounts of data”, then just about every single social media service would be under investigation for the same reason.

        We aren’t talking about TikTok simply gathering the information though, are we?

        But yes, absolutely. Let’s do it. And we know that: just because the other companies aren’t being investigated/regulated in the same way, does not mean that it shouldn’t happen at all. That’s not how it works.

        Also, you are making a fallacious argument yourself… If we were talking about banning US social media sites in China, then the comparison holds (and even then, it’s not 1:1 given the political structure of the CCP vs. that of the US). Otherwise, TikTok is clearly unique among them in that the Chinese Government ostensibly has access to any and all information that is being collected.

        There is a reason China made their own version Facebook. Because they don’t want us to have all that information on their citizens.

    • Anas
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      289 hours ago

      Not to defend tiktok (to this day I have not ever used it), but if the issue is the tracking and data collection, you could ban/regulate that specifically instead of singling out the app.

      • @[email protected]
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        4 hours ago

        It is obvious that they want the other (US-based) companies to be able to continue collecting that data so they can gain access to it if they want/need it. It’s bullshit, but it’s clearly what they want.

        But that being bullshit does not mean that they are wrong in not wanting the one that is under the control of a foreign adversary having access to that data. Two separate things.

    • @[email protected]
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      89 hours ago

      So does facebook, twitter, google, microsoft, and pretty much every mobile app development shop.

        • @[email protected]
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          9 hours ago

          Facebook does the same tracking and data harvesting. Is Facebook up to be banned? It isn’t the tracking and data harvesting.

          Person 1: I think it’s because the tracking and data harvesting

          Person 2: that’s an obvious lie (see above)

          You: I think aliens did it