this post was submitted on 13 Mar 2024
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If it's really about the military as you suggest then the extremely easy solution is to order service members not to use Tik Tok.
Passing a specific law to compell the sale of one specific company is arguably some sort of Bill of Attainder, which I'm sure ByteDance's lawyers will be argueing as soon as Biden's pen touches paper.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Restrictions_on_TikTok_in_the_United_States#:~:text=In%20January%202020%2C%20the%20United,platform%20to%20attract%20young%20people.
Well look at that. And no, that isn't enough from a military perspective. Look at the Russian propaganda war in e.g. Germany, that shit can have a negative effect on the defensive abilities of a nation.
Most of those bans are organizations saying that employees can't install TikTok on organization issued phones and computers, which is not at all comparable to an overall ban? My work doesn't allow me to play video games on work computers or drink on work property, but that's not at all the same as a law banning all video games and alcohol.
Yeah one problem with human and civil rights is that they tend to have negative effects on the defensive abilities of a nation. War would be so much easier if you could just arrest all the peace protestors, or hold suspected enemy agents without trial, or force people to work without pay in defence industries, or force women to give birth to more people so you can conscript more soldiers.
So let's just do away with free speech and habeus corpus, reinstitute slave labor and force women to pop out lots of kids. Then Germany can defend itself again, just like the last two times.
Aren't you misunderstanding my point a little bit? My point isn't that the e.g. us should ban TikTok or that national security is the most important thing ever. My first Point was that there is a national security incentive to ban TikTok in ways that e.g. Facebook doesn't have, but like you expressed obviously there are other consideration to be made. My first Point was just that TikTok is not like Facebook from an us national security pov. Then you spoke from a ban for service members, to which I simply pointed out that there is one to some degree, especially important as there is a ban on private devices in some environments. Deployment can be reason for the ban. In other words, your suggestion is already in place to some degree. My 2nd point about Russian propaganda is also strictly about the fact that "national security" doesn't end at the government employee line and suggesting that is ridiculous.
As you might have realized, I haven't expressed any desire to ban TikTok. That is because I am not in favor of a ban. I am just able to argue a perspective unlike mine own and think it is necessary when people treat Facebook and TikTok the same. Do you think china doesn't care about where their software is coming from? Do you think no one is avoiding e.g. check point firewall due to e.g. gil shwed and his story with unit 8200?