“A national security risk.” Doubtful. As a content provider I use TikTok and most of the other most popular platforms as well. It’s hard for me to believe TikTok is more of a risk than any of the others. Then again, it could be they are all a risk and it really depends on how you define risk – or who’s at risk.
Mark Zuckerberg still hasn’t sent my suit money for invading my privacy and abusing my personal information. He already “shot his gun” and the gub’ment doesn’t seem concerned about that. Oh, oh, oh… FB and the other Meta companies are American. So… no national security risk.
Maybe then, we should redefine the question. Is the abuse of information by social media and all other Internet platforms acceptable? Absolutely not. I advocated for consumer protections ever since cookies were invented. Weaponizing cookies has never been ok. Just because it’s a US company doesn’t make it right either.
Sure, it’s more complicated than that. I lost a lot of confidence in legislators, and hope for the internet, when they allowed manipulation of bandwidth. They said it wouldn’t make any difference. Years down that misbegotten path I can confidently say I’m injured by this both as a content provider and consumer.
Big businesses like Meta, Netflix, Google and the others love the lack of regulation and the encouragement they enjoy to tread upon American consumers. Running your own personal website or visiting independent sites has become a deprecated experience. But then so has visiting Google or Amazon if you’re trying to find specific niche information or a product that doesn’t get the approval of the company comptroller when the algorithms are being imposed. I envision good websites and products that are practically, or literally, no longer available.
Maybe the real question is who’s making the money and does greed have a legal limit? Does seem a little arbitrary but I can give my opinion. Having been on FB and (other Meta platforms) for many years I’ve never seen such proactive greed evolve as it has on FB. Ole Zuck has sliced that pie down to the point you wonder when, not if, users will begin the exodus. Seems like the risk isn’t whether Chinese gub’ment has American information as much as it might be Zuck wants to make money selling it to them.
Maybe the question should be is the Internet a utility? Admittedly I cringe at the thought of regulation from that perspective – but maybe it would be the lesser of evils. Maybe it would facilitate policy that would protect the American consumer from undue risk and abuse rather than focusing on the profits of big business.
I’m not sure what the answer is for the TikTok conundrum. I am concerned and can see the potential by Chinese gub’ment. Even still, there’s not another platform that provides the experience that TikTok does. Unlike the greed oriented platforms, TikTok took a concept and stayed with it optimizing the experience to an unequalled level of excellence both for content providers and consumers.
The other content platforms have attempted to horn in on the reels market and to my way of thinking have already failed miserably. TikTok is eating what they perceive to be their exclusive lunch. They can’t beat TikTok unless it goes away. In my opinion that’s the real driving force behind the impending ban of TikTok in the US.
Banning TikTok in the US will be a tragedy on many levels. Maybe there’s an actual national security risk but it seems apparent that there’s a lot more on the table than that. Then, it’s not just about fair competition and censorship either. I believed Congress was making a colossal mistake not imposing appropriate legislation protecting the American consumer early in the evolution of the internet.
One way or another the fate of TikTok will be a benchmark and may be a major turning point for the internet, fair competition and censorship. In different circumstances and context the undertows might not seem as ominous. Since we are headed into a new age of government and politics the undertows are already present and have been understated.
Other media reports say it’s unlikely the Supreme Court will save TikTok and in spite of his “warm spot” for the platform incoming President Trump doesn’t appear to have a path for doing so. The injuries at face value will be enormous and the road fraught with peril if the ban on TikTok proceeds.
I personally urge whichever entrepreneurs and agents of government that have the opportunity to do so – reevaluate and find a way to save TikTok in the US.
©2024 – Jim Porter Casey
