The US House of Representatives is due to vote on a bill giving Chinese owner ByteDance about six months to sell that part of its business

China could use social media app TikTok to influence the 2024 US elections, the director of national intelligence, Avril Haines, has told a House of Representatives intelligence committee hearing.

Asked by Democratic Representative Raja Krishnamoorthi if China’s ruling Communist party (CCP) would use TikTok to influence the elections, Haines said “we cannot rule out that the CCP would use it”.

Lawmakers have long voiced concerns that the Chinese government could access user data or influence what people see on the app, including pushing content to stoke US political divisions.

  • @Coach
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    158 months ago

    Oh…so it’s ok if a US company pushes political division, but if it’s a foreign company then it’s an issue?

    • @MicroWaveOP
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      8 months ago

      It’s more of an issue because it’s a foreign company. For example, companies like Facebook (Meta) and Cambridge Analytica can be investigated and regulated by US agencies like the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). But they have no sway over TikTok’s developer ByteDance because it’s located outside of the US.

      That’s what this bill is trying to do: force ByteDance to divest.

      • @Viking_Hippie
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        78 months ago

        companies like Facebook (Meta) and Cambridge Analytica can be investigated and regulated by US agencies like the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)

        They aren’t, though. Because they keep legally bribing Congress to give them more or less free rein.

      • @GlitzyArmrest
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        8 months ago

        You’re gunna turn into dust by the time the government regulates Meta. The only reason they care about TikTok so much is optics and the fact that a foreign company is abusing the system in the same way as the domestic social media companies. The fix isn’t to divest ByteDance, the fix is to pass actual regulation with teeth that applies to domestic and foreign companies alike.

    • @nomous
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      8 months ago

      All things being equal, yes it’s worse if it’s a foreign company.

    • zelifcam
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      8 months ago

      deleted by creator