TikTok Says It Will 'Go Dark' Without US Court Intervention
14 points by this_weekend 5 hours ago | 21 comments
  • andyjohnson0 4 hours ago |
    Trump has stated that he's against this ban. But my working assumption is that Meta's recent announcements around moderation, diversity, and new execs are a quid pro quo for Trump supporting to the ban in office.
    • nozzlegear 2 hours ago |
      The Supreme Court seems poised to uphold the ban though, based on recent oral arguments ¹, in which case Trump would face some pretty significant hurdles in trying to overturn it. The bill has already been signed into law by President Biden. Trump would have to try to get a new bill through congress to overturn the previous TikTok ban bill.

      ¹ https://apnews.com/article/supreme-court-tiktok-china-speech...

      • andyjohnson0 27 minutes ago |
        My theory was that Meta offered Trump what he wanted partly in return for changing his stated position to support the ban. Given that the SC now seems likely to uphold the ban, Trump wouldn't have to do anything.
  • ironyman 4 hours ago |
    Two interesting things can be infered from this:

    1. TikTok would literally rather shut itself off from its largest market, than divest its ownership from PRC; says a lot about who's really in control here.

    2. They really believe they have an edge in their algorithm that they would rather go dark than divulge it.

    Tiktok's tentative US buyers (probably a consortium led by Steve Mnuchin or Jeff Yass) says there is no way the Chinese have the technological edge here and US engineers can successfully replicate it so I lean towards no. 1.

    • muddi900 4 hours ago |
      Then why haven't they?

      Why is Instagram full of boomer normie slop?

      You can say youtube is close, but Shorts aren't their prime source of income.

      • jvanderbot 3 hours ago |
        Instagram is full of boomer normies because Instagram is full of boomer normies.

        Tiktok may have an interesting algorithm but it certainly has a different crowd and culture of what to post than other platforms.

        • wenc 25 minutes ago |
          I've heard it like this:

          FB: Boomer, Gen-X, Older Millenial -- sharing stuff with friends and family.

          Insta: Millenial and Gen-Z -- visual story telling.

          TikTok: Gen-Z -- entertainment.

          I'm from the BBS days, and I use FB for the Groups. Insta/Tiktok don't really have groups.

    • beardyw 3 hours ago |
      The alternative would be that they say they will probably capitulate. How would that help them?
    • jvanderbot 3 hours ago |
      Is it true that the lawyers have argued against US gov's interest in reducing CCP's propaganda in an effort to overturn the case? I realize lawyers don't represent the truth, just the law, but that is not a good look if so.
    • etothet 3 hours ago |
      If #2 os true, then why don’t any of the other similar app or features of other apps work as well as TikTok from a technical standpoint? My experience with TikTok is that purely from an execution standpoint of showing a video, being able to manipulate it (scrub through, alter speed, show/hide comments, etc), and then show another video immediately, no other applications - or the similar features of Instagram and YouTube - come close. Not to mention how successful the TikTok shop is.
    • scosman 3 hours ago |
      Or they are just saying this now, as strategy to try to trigger intervention.
    • ANewFormation 3 hours ago |
      Or 3. They think the ban will eventually be overturned, and in the mean time some percent of those who want to use it will simply find work-arounds.
    • csomar 3 hours ago |
      This seems to be, for China, a break from the plaza accord era. China has a lot at stake (more than tiktok), and they are not capitulating at cars either (they have been warned by Janet Yellen about "over-capacity"). If Tiktok gets banned in the US, this will accelerate the conflict.

      It doesn't help that today's politicians are not saving face either. You have gangoons who have nothing to do with tech that wants to buy-out the falling cow.

    • panja 3 hours ago |
      Why give up your cash cow lol
      • nozzlegear 2 hours ago |
        Your cash cow risks becoming just a cow if you have nowhere to sell its milk and cheese.
    • loadingcmd an hour ago |
      To add - they’re threatening a shutdown as a negotiating ploy(in Asia you start walking away to drive a bigger bargain) - their primary goal is not monetary, it was about geopolitical control. Then selling will risk divulging their data/algo/tactics (employees moving to new owner) and they cannot afford.
    • dns_snek an hour ago |
      #1 is hypocritical. The US is banning TikTok for the same reason China banned Facebook, they can't use foreign platforms for domestic propaganda like they want to. The scaremongering about China brainwashing the US population is nothing more than projection. They both want to brainwash their own population, first and foremost.
  • csomar 3 hours ago |
  • wtcactus 3 hours ago |
    Good. The fact that TikTok has basically two different apps. One showing pedagogical content in China, and another fine tuned for disinformation and dissent they show in the west, tells me they are a tool from the Chinese oppressive government to undermine democratic countries.

    I’m glad they are about to be shut down.

    https://www.deseret.com/2022/11/24/23467181/difference-betwe...

    • jmclnx 3 hours ago |
      Same here but for a totally different reason. As I mentioned before, until US Based social media is given the same access in China as TikTok has in the US, they should be banned in the US.

      This believe goes back to "reciprocally", that used to (still is?) a big part of diplomacy in the past.

    • krapp an hour ago |
      Every Western social media platform is fine tuned for disinformation and dissent, and when it's neo-nazis or flat-earthers or anti-vaxxers or people planning a violent larp on the White House, Americans will (at least claim to) defend it to the death, because free speech and dissent are absolute, inviolate rights granted by God. TikTok is simply giving the West what it wants, and what already works in our market.

      The issue you have is with the mirror TikTok is putting up to the cesspool that is American culture, not with China doing what is just good business.