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US lawmakers vote 50-0 to force sale of TikTok despite angry calls from users (arstechnica.com)
submitted 2 years ago by to c/technology@lemmy.world
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[–] 5 points 2 years ago (15 children)

"Mr. Legislator I am 84 and I need my Heroin but the federal government keeps cracking down on my supplier, please stop taking away all my Heroin Mr. Legislator. Also, force my bank to let me transfer 85,000 USD to India, it's really important that I do that before the 27th."

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  • [–] 0 points 2 years ago (14 children)

    Yes. This is called Nanny State.

    Rather than educate the populace, take away the tools. Of course, another tool will just rise to the surface but it will make a lot of people feel really good that they did something.

    I do appreciate all of the reactionary statements. I don't use TikTok but I do believe in freedom. Reducing freedoms, no matter how well intentioned does not solve societies problems.

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  • [–] -2 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (13 children)

    You can't educate dementia away. You can educate youth away, but that takes years, which would effectively be a ban for them. TikTok is not a tool for its users, it is a tool for a for profit corporation and by extension their associated foreign dictatorship.

    Absolute freedom should not extend to harming each other.

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  • [–] 4 points 2 years ago (11 children)

    TikTok is not a tool for its users, it is a tool for a for profit corporation

    That pretty much describes every corporation in existence.

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  • [–] 2 points 2 years ago (10 children)

    Some of them provide utility and some don't, which is why we don't allow children to drink, smoke, or gamble. If a company providing those goods and services targets those demographics it gets political action.

    Welcome to the nuance of society and the modern world.

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  • [–] 3 points 2 years ago (9 children)

    But they're not disallowing children smoking, drinking, or gambling here. It's more akin to disallowing children from drinking Smirnoff, smoking Marlboros, or playing blackjack and nothing else.

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  • [–] -1 points 2 years ago (8 children)

    Reigning any of them in is a step in the right direction.

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  • [–] 2 points 2 years ago (4 children)

    If this had anything to do with children, they'd be reigning them all in at once instead of wasting time singling one of many out.

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  • [–] 0 points 2 years ago* (3 children)

    Even equating the arm of a militaristic expansionist dictatorship to a tech giant is disingenuous to its core, Google collects a shit ton of data but even that pales in comparison to TikTok's absurd collection. But all of that aside, your argument is shit. Reign in every tech giant at once? Why? Why the hell is it all or none? I don't even think the US Federal Government in its current state has enough authority to try that, at this point.

    That's like choosing not to take a doctor's license away unless you can take away every bad doctor's license in the USA at one time.

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  • [–] 0 points 2 years ago (2 children)

    How do you suddenly go from comparing these platforms to alcohol and gambling, saying they have no actual utility, and saying 'every little bit helps' when it comes to regulation to asking why these companies actions should even be regulated and why the law should apply to them all equally, even going as far as comparing them to the role doctors play in society?

    That's honestly one of the most abrupt 180-degree spins I've ever seen.

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  • [–] 0 points 2 years ago (2 children)

    No it's not, you absolute buffoon. It's a step in the direction of narrative control.

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  • [–] 1 point 2 years ago*

    TikTok is one of hundreds of vectors to swindle the senile and I doubt it's even in the top 10.

    Grandpa needs to have someone else handling his finances. It's not the governments job and let's not pretend this bill is about keeping grandpas money safe.

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