TikTok has been at the center of controversy for the United States government in the last few years. Particularly, members of the Senate believe China-based parent company ByteDance could spy on its users and share information with the Chinese Government.
With fears that TikTok could shut down if new legislation passes Congress, with lawmakers pushing for the website’s sale, ex-Activision CEO Bobby Kotick is reportedly looking to purchase the platform.
I partially agree: you’re right that the Chinese government spying on American users is unacceptable, but you’re wrong about it being any worse than the US government doing it.
Only case would be if you work in government, but even then, it’d only be a problem if you’re using an unsecured device that also has Tiktok on it to do secret government stuff on, which would probably get you super-fired and possibly prosecuted in itself…
Ah the good old days, where here in Blitey that would have been the case.
These days that kind of thing gets you promoted to Minister for Digital Communications or even just Prime Minister.
I kid you not.
“It also emerged that all messages on Boris Johnson’s phone were wiped in April 2021, after it emerged his number had been freely available on the internet for 15 years.”
Well, if you look at that argument from the US government perspective, a US company vs a China one certainly warrants a different approach. I mean, I wish we had broader social media level data protections, but that’s not what this is no matter what spin is being applied.
From a personal point of view aren’t I better off if a foreign government spies on me rather than a local one?
Like China isn’t going to fine me for piracy or jail me for protesting. My country could.