Trying to put form to the train of thought running in my head:
The US needs to ban tiktok because it is a popular media outlet that is outside of their propaganda sphere.
The US can’t say that’s why they want to ban it, because that’s very literally a free speech thing. They still can and will curtail speech, but they’re trying to figure out a way to not blatantly look like they’re doing it.
So they’re on this big data privacy national security thing. But it feels to me like it’s not an argument that any of them can (or at least should) genuinely believe. Hearing the argument being made sends my head spinning.
Good wholesome Country A wants to spy on evil unknowable Country B. A forces A’s companies to build in backdoors for A’s spies to use. B buys A’s products. A spies on B. B knows they’re being spied on, figures out how, and starts spying on A because A also uses A’s products. A knows this, but accepts it as the cost of doing business and keeps telling companies to include backdoors.
But this applies to any combination of countries. It’s just the way things are done! No country needs someone to have their fun video app installed to get at that person’s data. Why can’t
they all just admit that it’s a propaganda war publicly? No one will give a shit.
Going even beyond that, hosting a video sharing website is a ridiculously inefficient way for a state actor to get people’s data. The ENTIRE bloated US intelligence apparatus has an operating budget of 74 billion dollars. Satellites to cyber war to black sites, $74b. ByteDance is reportedly spending $7b just on GPUs this year. Hackers are a hell of a lot cheaper than that.
Trying to put form to the train of thought running in my head:
The US needs to ban tiktok because it is a popular media outlet that is outside of their propaganda sphere.
The US can’t say that’s why they want to ban it, because that’s very literally a free speech thing. They still can and will curtail speech, but they’re trying to figure out a way to not blatantly look like they’re doing it.
So they’re on this big data privacy national security thing. But it feels to me like it’s not an argument that any of them can (or at least should) genuinely believe. Hearing the argument being made sends my head spinning.
Good wholesome Country A wants to spy on evil unknowable Country B. A forces A’s companies to build in backdoors for A’s spies to use. B buys A’s products. A spies on B. B knows they’re being spied on, figures out how, and starts spying on A because A also uses A’s products. A knows this, but accepts it as the cost of doing business and keeps telling companies to include backdoors.
US and China: How Chinese Spies Got the N.S.A.’s Hacking Tools, and Used Them for Attacks
Chinese cyber association calls for review of Intel products sold in China
China and US: US finds Huawei has backdoor access to mobile networks globally, report says
But this applies to any combination of countries. It’s just the way things are done! No country needs someone to have their fun video app installed to get at that person’s data. Why can’t they all just admit that it’s a propaganda war publicly? No one will give a shit.
the liberals need their bedtime stories
I need an emoji that’s the precise intersection of
and 
Edit:
Going even beyond that, hosting a video sharing website is a ridiculously inefficient way for a state actor to get people’s data. The ENTIRE bloated US intelligence apparatus has an operating budget of 74 billion dollars. Satellites to cyber war to black sites, $74b. ByteDance is reportedly spending $7b just on GPUs this year. Hackers are a hell of a lot cheaper than that.
Granted, TikTok is actually making money.