Posted on 01/14/2025 8:40:50 AM PST by delta7
The TikTok ban is a complete disregard for the rights and freedoms of the American people. The ban is NOT about national security, but rather, the final attempt to prevent the people from connecting on an uncensored platform without backdoor government censorship. The law in question goes beyond TikTok as the government will only permit social platforms based in the US, therefore controlling the narrative and information the people can receive.
It is not about privacy from the Chinese government. TikTok is not even available in mainland China as their version is heavily censored. TikTok is a subsidiary of ByteDance, a private company that is not owned by the Chinese government. About 60% of the company is owned by institutional investors, 20% is owned by the founder, and the other 20% is owned by employees. ByteDance has five board members and three of them are American. Their headquarters are in Singapore and Los Angeles, and they have 7,000 employees in the US.
Congress has been unable to comprehend that TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew is Singaporean and not a member of the Chinese Communist Party or even Chinese. Unbelievable.
Over 170 million Americans currently use TikTok. TikTok contributed $24.3 billion to the US economy in 2023, with 2024 estimates coming in higher. The majority of that money comes from 6 MILLION SMALL BUSINESSES that rely on TikTok to generate sales. Those 7 million businesses compose 20% of ALL BUSINESSES IN THE US.
Media outlets claim the Supreme Court is strongly siding with Congress, but that is simply not the case. The Supreme Court questioned whether this new law would infringe on the First Amendment. Government claims it is about national security and data. Yet, Chinese-owned online stores are allowed to operate in the US, for example, and they compile user data. Certain stores like SHEIN collect user’s social media data as well. Lawyers for TikTok believe they are being singled out because the people are posting content on the app, therefore, exercising their 1A rights.
RFK discussed the potential ban back in 2023. EVERY LIBERTY WE SURRENDER IS IN THE NAME OF NATIONAL SECURITY)
Government claims that the Chinese could influence the content to influence the American people. In that case, the concern is truly the content creation and not the data collection.
It is OK when the US government collects your data without warning. Mark Zuckerberg has been lobbying to ban TikTok for years. He permitted the establishment to use META/Facebook as a massive propaganda tool to influence politics and the overall narrative. The government was permitted to use his app to silence the people instantaneously.
It is of no coincidence that the ban will take place one day before Donald Trump takes office. Trump had asked the Supreme Court to hold off on the ruling until he had time to sort things out. Simply put, you cannot take away the circus before the people can afford bread. People cannot afford basic living essentials, and the government is prioritizing taking away one of the last forms of free entertainment and education that the people have left. Countless readers of this blog have sent me videos over the years of on-the-ground footage of events that the media fails to cover. People may speak freely on TikTok and that threatens the establishment.
We are not so different from North Korea. Our government is taking extreme measures to censor our ability to connect with others and share information.
The government tells us what is real and false. “Misinformation” is the information that goes against the current narrative. We are not to question our leaders.
The US market is only a fraction of TikTok’s international audience and it may not be in their best interest to sell. It also seems as if the current CEO would rather have his platform go dark for US users than allow Washington to use his platform as yet another propaganda tool.
Because we should allow a communist country to spy on us and influence our youth. With the ultimate goal of taking over our country. I think not.
Are you that stupid?
They have heavy ties to the Chinese through ByteDance.
Armstrong’s an idiot. He either does not know or does not care that the PRC is harvesting your personal info and using AI (LLMs) to collate and prepate a profile on every person to use in asymmetric warfare. They skim the net collecting everything public facing and tie it to individuals, so they can access your accounts.
Imagine if you are a soldier getting reafy to defend Taiwan and your wife texts you saying “someone stole all the money from our bank accounts” or “someine canceled all our insurance”. Now imagine that happening simultaneously to everyone in your BCT right as you deploy.
That is why the PRC is harvesting Tik Tok data, and TEMU data, and any order you make from a Chinese firm.
I’ve been briefed on it, the problem is very real.
LOL apologies for spelling in previous post. Tiny phone, large hands.
Sorry but that’s nonsense.
If you see no danger in a foreign, adversarial government, gathering personal and private information about nearly every single child in the United States, for virtually their entire lives, there is no help for you.
They are owned by ByteDance, headquartered in Beijing, China.
I was checking that pesky constitution thingie and there it was in black and white, that pesky first amendment thingie...
I didn’t say anything about where they are headquartered. As Martin Armstrong stated in the article, “TikTok is not even available in mainland China as their version is heavily censored. TikTok is a subsidiary of ByteDance, a private company that is not owned by the Chinese government. About 60% of the company is owned by institutional investors, 20% is owned by the founder, and the other 20% is owned by employees. ByteDance has five board members and three of them are American. Their headquarters are in Singapore and Los Angeles, and they have 7,000 employees in the US.”
I didn’t say anything about where they are headquartered. As Martin Armstrong stated in the article, “TikTok is not even available in mainland China as their version is heavily censored. TikTok is a subsidiary of ByteDance, a private company that is not owned by the Chinese government. About 60% of the company is owned by institutional investors, 20% is owned by the founder, and the other 20% is owned by employees. ByteDance has five board members and three of them are American. Their headquarters are in Singapore and Los Angeles, and they have 7,000 employees in the US.”
The US government does warrantless searches on US citizens routinely, and coerces US companies to censor US citizens in ways that heavily influence the outcome of Presidential elections, as was admitted by Mark Zuckerberg. TikTok allows US citizens to speak freely without censorship. I’ll take TiKTok.
You mean “am I stupid enough to understand your comment?”
All Chinese companies are de facto controlled by the Chinese government, who owns it on paper is meaningless.
We can prevent the abuses of the power by the US government and institutions without surrendering ourselves to CCP controlled institutions that will without doubt use the power against us when the opportunity presents itself.
We should strive to be free of both.
The company is owned by the shareholders as listed in the article. The company doesn’t even operate in China. State specifically what harm TikTok has done to the US.
The truth is that whether you have an android or apple-based phone... they are all designed to track and spy on you and share your information with the government and corporations based all over the world. This starts from the moment you take it home with you and turn it on. If you think that you are safe from this type of surveillance because you are avoiding the apps from “(Temu, Tictok, Wish, etc) you are the one who is foolish.
Personal privacy is a thing of the past if you are using a cell phone, computer, or any other connected device. I don't know how a person exits from this type of surveillance state nonsense. Even if you were to get rid of every electronic communications device you own and move completely off the grid... somehow the eyes will still be on you. The primary question is whether you accept this aspect of modern living or if you let it drive you crazy.
Here is an interesting video from Liron Segev aka TheTechieGuy. He tracks the information coming out of a new Android phone from before he even registers it on a network and adds any apps... And the situation is not much if any different on an Apple phone...
Title: Why is your phone SECRETLY connecting to these sites to TRACK you?
https://youtu.be/sWY2pqUXdts?list=LL
In the video he added and activated various apps such as “(Temu, Tictok, Wish, etc)” along with all the other usual suspects.
Spoiler Alert
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The worst offenders were of course Google who owns the operating system and then Amazon. I use services from both of these companies daily. I have never used apps from Temu, Tiktok, Wish, or been on their websites but who knows if your examples are much if any worse of a threat to your privacy and security than the companies and apps you are already using. I have been a tech nerd since before personal computers and personal cell phones even existed. I started out with Alfred Morgan's Boy Electrician, and other how to books and moved on to HeathKits, etc... I don't feel confident any more to advise people on which of the mainstream apps are safe. I don't think any of them really are. This is what our society has morphed into and allowed.
You obviously have no clue how things work in China.
The CCP controls all capital resources in China, and all the “private” owners in China have no rights but what the CCP sees fit to let them have, and can withdraw it at any time.
So the CCP is the de facto owner of everything in China.
Armstrong’s an idiot.That is his advantage!
I notice that you utterly fail to name any supposed “harm” that has been done by TikTok.
SO, the evil CCP allows TikTok to be a free speech platform for US citizens to share information freely about things like the deadly nature of the US government created and shoved on the American people “vaccine” and the stolen election of 2020, while the US Government gives secret orders to US run social media companies to censor and smear anyone with dissenting opinions.
And you think the CCP is the enemy.
You obviously have no clue how things work in the US.
I know how things work in the US, I also know with the right Americans in charge we can correct the problem. Un like the CCP, we can’t correct them, we can only protect ourselves from them.
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