U.S. Congress Passes a TikTok Ban Bill

[LevelUP]

People are calling this bill a ban on Tiktok because many believe the CCP may block the sale of Tiktok
https://www.cnbc.com/2024/03/14/tiktok-b...o-app.html

As far as China looking at user's data on Tiktok, we don't know for sure. TikTok claims user's data is located in the U.S.
https://dgtlinfra.com/tiktok-data-center...locations/

TikTok Facts: How we secure personal information and store data
https://newsroom.tiktok.com/en-us/tiktok...store-data

[Ares]

Analysis: There is now some public evidence that China viewed TikTok data (CNN)

In what appears to be a first, a former employee of ByteDance, TikTok’s Beijing-based parent company, has outlined specific claims that the Chinese Communist Party accessed the data of TikTok users on a broad scale, and for political purposes.

In a court filing this week, the former employee of ByteDance, Yintao Yu, alleged that the CCP spied on pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong in 2018 by using “backdoor” access to TikTok to identify and monitor the activists’ locations and communications.

Exclusive: TikTok Confirms Some U.S. User Data Is Stored In China (Forbes)

Leaked Audio From 80 Internal TikTok Meetings Shows That US User Data Has Been Repeatedly Accessed From China (BuzzFeed)

“Everything is seen in China,” said a member of TikTok’s Trust and Safety department in a September 2021 meeting. In another September meeting, a director referred to one Beijing-based engineer as a “Master Admin” who “has access to everything.” (While many employees introduced themselves by name and title in the recordings, BuzzFeed News is not naming anyone to protect their privacy.)

Wait, is TikTok really Chinese? (CNN Business)

Is ByteDance Chinese?

Definitely.

ByteDance was founded in 2012 in Beijing by Zhang Yiming and Liang Rubo, who were college roommates at Tianjin’s Nankai University, according to company information and Zhang’s public speeches. It has been based in the Chinese capital since then. [...]

Does the Chinese government own or control ByteDance or TikTok?

...like most other Chinese companies, ByteDance is legally compelled to establish an in-house Communist Party committee composed of employees who are party members. [...]

Also, like its competitors, ByteDance has had to allow the Chinese government to take a so-called “golden share” in one of its key subsidiaries. That means the Chinese government now owns 1% of Beijing Douyin Information Service, which is the domestic Chinese unit of Bytedance. Wu Shugang, an official from the Cyberspace Administration of China, the country’s internet watchdog and censor, sits on its board. Analysts have said the “golden shares” provide a way for the Chinese government to get more directly involved with the day-to-day businesses of tech companies, including in the content they provide to the public. [...]

Can the Chinese Communist Party manipulate ByteDance or TikTok?

As a China-based company, ByteDance is subject to a myriad of national intelligence, data security and cybersecurity laws. In 2018, China amended its National Intelligence Law, which requires any organization or citizen to support, assist and cooperate with national intelligence work.

That means ByteDance is legally bound to help with gathering intelligence.

Good luck with your personal information.

[bluebooger]

That would be true if TikTok was a U.S. owned company. I find it hilarious people do not understand the ramifications of giving their personal information to the Chinese Communist Party. Anyone concerned about free speech or the U.S. Constitution would not be using TikTok in the first place.

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where the company is located has nothing to do with it                     

some university student in California: "I'm an American and I want to post my political opinion on TikTok"                    
the US government: "Uh, no. We're the government and we know better than you. We will not allow you to post on TikTok. Go post somewhere else"

to me that seems so obviously a violation of the first amendment 

> I find it hilarious people do not understand the ramifications of giving their personal information to the Chinese Communist Party

people give their freaking DNA to 23andMe                
your phone tracks your location constantly                   
every time I swipe a metrocard to get on the NYC subway I'm leaving a location trail                
car companies can monitor your driving habits and sell info that to insurance companies           

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H0jKKzzT_NU

is China evil ?                 
yes                
will they use the info to hack into anything they can ?               
of course                

that's not the point                   

its the equivalent of the US government saying Americans can't watch the BBC because "reasons"                   
or that youtube and twitch should block all videos that originate from Russian          

it really seems like a violation of US rights to tell us what we can and cannot watch or use to speak

[Ares]

where the company is located has nothing to do with it

It has everything to do with whether a foreign company is allowed to operate in the United States.

If a foreign company created an app that allowed you access to U.S. nuclear launch codes would it be your constitution right to have access to it?

people give their freaking DNA to 23andMe

There is nothing wrong with that, 23andMe is an American company and does not allow law enforcement use unlike FamilyTreeDNA. The real problem is the people giving their DNA sample to Chinese based companies like WeGene or the dozens of scam DNA companies that pop-up online every year. No one can get access to your banking information from 23andMe.
         

your phone tracks your location constantly

Wait you leave GPS on? Cell tower tracking is not precise and powering off your phone is easy.

every time I swipe a metrocard to get on the NYC subway I'm leaving a location trail

I don't use the NYC subway or any public transportation for that matter and avoid all location tracking devices including things like E-Zpass.
           

car companies can monitor your driving habits and sell info that to insurance companies

Only if you are dumb enough to allow it and buy a car that is able to do this.

is China evil ?                 
yes                
will they use the info to hack into anything they can ?               
of course                

that's not the point

That is the entire point.

Do you have a constitutional right to access a black market dark website in Eastern Europe that sells credit card numbers of U.S. Citizens?

[NotJoeBiden]

What parts of zoomers doing fortnite dances is a national security threat?

[Ares]

What parts of zoomers doing fortnite dances is a national security threat?

The TikTok Ban Is Truly An Issue Of National Security (Forbes)

"The first is that TikTok is 100% owned by the Chinese Communist Party, which is the strategic adversary of the United States, and is deemed by most security scholars as the most likely threat for a great power war with the U.S. by 2050," said Albert.

This could be seen as concerning for security reasons involving the remaining three reasons for banning TikTok—including that TikTok collects all user data possible from the app.

"This includes not just what users do within the app, but all other apps connected through the user's phone," Albert continued. "Thus, TikTok, and hence the CCP, has access to all personal information for all users. This includes keystrokes—which can help them determine passwords and other sensitive information users type-in—websites visited, location of user, contact's information, everything possible from all apps."

That can allow China to create a full user portfolio for all of its users.

"Essentially, they know everything about its users, from what your children look like, to what time they are dropped off at school, to what you like to eat, where you like to eat, clothes you buy, activities you enjoy, and, your emotional-psychological state of being," Albert noted. "Now imagine the US gets into a conflict with China, and they have this data on 180 million Americans. The comparative advantage this would provide the CCP to use against American citizens is unmatchable."

Anyone that understands cybersecurity would never use a CCP controlled app.

[LevelUP]

What parts of zoomers doing fortnite dances is a national security threat?

The TikTok Ban Is Truly An Issue Of National Security (Forbes)

"The first is that TikTok is 100% owned by the Chinese Communist Party, which is the strategic adversary of the United States, and is deemed by most security scholars as the most likely threat for a great power war with the U.S. by 2050," said Albert.

This could be seen as concerning for security reasons involving the remaining three reasons for banning TikTok—including that TikTok collects all user data possible from the app.

"This includes not just what users do within the app, but all other apps connected through the user's phone," Albert continued. "Thus, TikTok, and hence the CCP, has access to all personal information for all users. This includes keystrokes—which can help them determine passwords and other sensitive information users type-in—websites visited, location of user, contact's information, everything possible from all apps."

That can allow China to create a full user portfolio for all of its users.

"Essentially, they know everything about its users, from what your children look like, to what time they are dropped off at school, to what you like to eat, where you like to eat, clothes you buy, activities you enjoy, and, your emotional-psychological state of being," Albert noted. "Now imagine the US gets into a conflict with China, and they have this data on 180 million Americans. The comparative advantage this would provide the CCP to use against American citizens is unmatchable."

Anyone that understands cybersecurity would never use a CCP controlled app.

You might have mixed up your links. 

You linked to this article:
TIKTOK THREAT IS PURELY HYPOTHETICAL, U.S. INTELLIGENCE ADMITS (theintercept)
https://theintercept.com/2024/03/16/tikt...ty-threat/

Instead of this one:
The TikTok Ban Is Truly An Issue Of National Security (Forbes)
https://www.forbes.com/sites/petersuciu/...648efa7ca0

What data does Tiktok have that is at risk? My email, my GPS location, and my browsing history of Tiktok, that's what Google, Facebook, and others have, too. I have noticed Tiktok keeps asking me to share my contacts. 

I only have TikTok installed on my tablet. Temu has a lawsuit that accused Temu of being particularly dangerous because it “‘bypasses phone security systems to read a user’s private messages, make changes to the phone’s settings and track notifications.’”
https://www.boston25news.com/news/local/...IRMCS3PI4/

[Ares]

Thanks I corrected the link.

What data does Tiktok have that is at risk? My email, my GPS location, and my browsing history of Tiktok, that's what Google, Facebook, and others have, too. I have noticed Tiktok keeps asking me to share my contacts.

Here's the data that TikTok collects on its users (Fox Business)

- your name, age, username, email, password, phone number, location
- the content of messages, when they're sent, received and read, and by whom
- text, images and videos on your clipboard
- purchase information, including payment card numbers, billing and shipping addresses
- a user's activities on other websites and apps or in stores, including the products or services purchased, online or in person
- file names and types
- keystroke patterns and rhythms
- your IP address, mobile carrier, time zone settings, model of your device and operating system
- information about videos, images and audio
- objects and scenery that appear in your videos, including tourist attractions, shops or other points of interest
- biometric identifiers such as faceprints and voiceprints (this info allows TikTok to target videos, ads and political messages based on your habits and interests)
- cookies that collect, measure and analyze which web pages users view most often and how they interact with content

The company also acknowledged it's used very small images or pieces of data embedded in images and ads that can recognize the time and date a page is viewed and a description of that page.

[Charles Fout]

A study shows that 64% of youth and 59% of young adults would give up their right to vote than lose the right to post on social media

https://nypost.com/2023/05/14/the-young-...t-to-post/

At least that explains what is wrong with society.

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seems unconstitutional            

That would be true if TikTok was a U.S. owned company. I find it hilarious people do not understand the ramifications of giving their personal information to the Chinese Communist Party. Anyone concerned about free speech or the U.S. Constitution would not be using TikTok in the first place.

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From the NY Post article - 

"[color=var(--wp--preset--color--gray-g)]But top among them is that recent studies have found as much as 20% of the platform’s videos contain misinformation..."[/color]

My  primary concern is - Who gets to the arbiter of what is,  and what is not, misinformation?

I wonder - Can citizen journalism survive?

Apparently TikTok users do not care about this since they are willing to trust the Chinese Communist Party with being that arbiter.
 
The same government that welded people inside their apartment buildings during COVID.

I accept your premise. the CHICOMs are awful, but should we restrict the rights of Americans over  a totalitarian regime's atrocities?

[LevelUP]

TikTok CEO Shou Chew: "This bill will lead to the banning of the app in the country."

https://www.tiktok.com/@cybrdyne/video/7...3218144545


Civil War is coming if this bill makes it through the Senate

https://www.tiktok.com/@degreefree/video...9123049771