TikTok says it offered the US government the power to shut the platform down in an attempt to address lawmakers’ data protection and national security concerns.

It disclosed the “kill switch” offer, which it made in 2022, as it began its legal fight against legislation that will ban the app in America unless Chinese parent company ByteDance sells it.

The law has been introduced because of concerns TikTok might share US user data with the Chinese government - claims it and ByteDance have always denied.

TikTok and ByteDance are urging the courts to strike the legislation down.

“This law is a radical departure from this country’s tradition of championing an open Internet, and sets a dangerous precedent allowing the political branches to target a disfavored speech platform and force it to sell or be shut down,” they argued in their legal submission.

They also claimed the US government refused to engage in any serious settlement talks after 2022, and pointed to the “kill switch” offer as evidence of the lengths they had been prepared to go.

  • dmtalon@infosec.pub
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    1年前

    But a “kill switch” doesn’t address the issue. I mean while it’s “killed” it does but whenever it’s not, the data privacy concerns are in full swing.

  • Steve@communick.news
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    1年前

    The law has been introduced because of concerns TikTok might share US user data with the Chinese government - claims it and ByteDance have always denied.

    That was never the major issue.
    It’s about the Chinese Government tweaking the algorithm to very subtly shift public opinion. Something we know they’re doing already.

    • darthskull@lemmy.ca
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      1年前

      No they don’t care about that. They know foreign governments do that all the time on Facebook, YouTube, Reddit, etc. This is about protecting lobbyists’ business interests, and right now the biggest lobbyists and campain contributors are also tik tok’s competitors.

      • Steve@communick.news
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        1年前

        Posting things to a site, is fundamentally different from actually owning the site; And adjusting the algorithm to promote or suppress specific ideas. Foreign governments don’t have that ability. Not in the domestic US versions anyway.

        There are several reasons to do it. Lobbyist are another.

    • NevermindNoMind@lemmy.world
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      1年前

      Even if tik tok was nakedly controlled by the Chinese government, who gives a shit? I can go over to RT (Russia Today) right now and get fed Russian propaganda. Hell, until 2022 I could add it to my cable package. I can to this day still get it as a satellite TV option. If the concern is “foreign government may influence public opinion on a platform they control” then the US has a lot of banning to do.

      But we don’t because free speech is a thing and we’re free to consume whatever propaganda we want.

      We gave up that principle because “China bad” (and the CCP is, to be clear). But instead of passing laws around data privacy, or algorithmic transparency, or a public information campaign to get kids off of tik tok, the US government went straight to “The government will decide what information your allowed to consume, we know what’s best for you” and far too many people are cheering.

      Besides, the point your making is bullshit anyway given the kill switch mechanism Tik Tok offered.

      TikTok was banned because 1) China bad, and 2) Tik Tok is eating US social media companies lunch. Facebook and Twitter and Google throw some campaign donations at the politicians that killed their biggest rival, and the politicians calculate that more people hate tik tok than like it (or care about preventing government censorship if the thing being censored is something they don’t like). It’s honestly one of the grossest things I seen dems support lately.

    • dezmd@lemmy.world
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      1年前

      It was always about butthurt Trump opening the floodgates on the idea of banning it after TikTokers kept attacks on him trending.

      It’s brainwashed lunacy to the point of propaganda to continually claim it’s over China using the platform to sway public opinion. They can and do use EVERY platform to do that.

      You think even Lemmy is immune?

  • BezzelBob@lemmy.world
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    1年前

    Chinese spyware: 🙅‍♀️⛔️❌️🤬🤬😤👿✊️💣🧨💣💥💥💥

    American spyware: 😊😊💖😍🐰🐱😻😻🌸🌹🌷

    • BaroqueInMind
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      1年前

      If I had a choice between U.S. Constitutional law versus Chinese Politburo arbitration about what consequences can happen if my life gets destroyed by using TikTok, I can at least talk to the fucking elected U.S. official face-to-face to complain without going to jail.

  • mhague@lemmy.world
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    1年前

    Tiktok offered us the ability to shut them down? To avoid being shut down. By us. Woe to the vanquished I guess.

    • KevonLooney@lemm.ee
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      1年前

      The idea is that with the “kill switch” the US Government would take any blame for the shutdown. Right now the Biden Admin and Congress have successfully switched that around so TikTok looks more unreasonable. There’s no demand that they “shut down”, just that ownership be located where they are subject to US law.

  • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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    1年前

    The government is so fucking stupid sometimes. I think both ideas are bad, but a kill switch would be so much better strategically than selling it to a third party who could just send the data to China anyway and still be influenced by CCP demands.

    • nondescripthandle@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      1年前

      I feel like from the beginig forcing sale was the goal so a US entity has a chance to pick up part of the number one social media for cheaepr than the open market because when a sale is forced sellers lose leverage.

      • Fades@lemmy.world
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        1年前

        You seriously think this is simply a trick to obtain tiktok for a cheaper price?? who the fuck upvotes this shit?

    • Fades@lemmy.world
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      1年前

      It’s not about sending the data to China it’s about not allowing a hostile power maintain control of a major lever that directly impacts a huge swath of the us demographics.

      Hate it or love it but TikTok algorithms hold an insane amount of power to influence a gigantic age range and the goal here is to get those in control of said algorithms under US law so it can be regulated properly.

      Yes, us bad, but there is logic and value here. No it’s not the perfect solution but we can’t do nothing either. TikTok showing oracle the source code doesn’t do shit to address these issues.

      https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/21/business/tiktok-china.html

  • dutchkimble@lemy.lol
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    1年前

    Imagine the president walking around with 2 buttons now, one for nucular weapons and one for tiktok.

    “Fire ze missilee”

    “But I am Le Tired”

    “OK. Turn off tiktok. Then fire ze MISSILES”