TikTokâs CEO testified before the House Energy and Commerce Committee last week. He wasnât well received. The main focus of your Congress critters was how TikTok could be weaponized against Americans through data surveillance and/or algorithm manipulation.
TikTok is used by about 150 million Americans. It may (or may not) be owned or controlled by the Chinese government. Given what we know about how American Big Tech abuses your data, and how China embraces surveillance as a tool of social control, itâs common sense to ask questions about how best to guard against TikTokâs misuse.
TikTok could be used to collect information on American citizens. But if TikTok was banned, that wouldnât protect the privacy of American citizens. Many other companies are already collecting that information and are willing to sell it to any buyer.
The only thing that could protect the privacy of American citizens is a law preventing anyone from collecting that information: A law that would restrict all companiesâ capacity to collect data on Americans, not simply TikTokâs.
A final argument made in Congress is that TikTok could be used to promote Chinese propaganda. It could; but is our government in the business of protecting us from a free flow of ideas? If America is still a democracy, people should be free to promote or listen to any kind of speech. That is the very essence of free speech. On to cartoons.
Why hammer only the Chinese?
The hypocrisy by Silicon Valley entrepreneurs after the bank failure was breathtaking:
Tranny vs. tyranny. GOP knows what it hates:
Stormy weather ahead:
More hypocrisy by Republicans:
Woke or witch, itâs all the same:
Vlady isnât into upsets:
