CNN’s Laura Coates speaks with Steve Wozniak, the co-founder of Apple, about online privacy and Congress’ pending legislation that could lead to a ban of TikTok.
All profit social media should be held accountable for the content, and the accuracy of it. That’s what the money is for—moderation of disinformation and illegal content.
I don't use TikTok, I never have, I never will and I advice against anyone else doing so not only for privacy reasons but also the effect it has on mental health and attention span. I lose nothing if it gets banned - and I'm still against banning it. The only difference between TikTok and other social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook and Instagram is that TikTok is Chinese owned. Do they actively influence western politics by it? Absolutely. We'd be doing the exact same thing if our platforms weren't banned in China. If the US decides to ban it then that's a move from the Chinese playbook. Don't be like China.
The idea that "it's ok cause we'd do the same" is ridiculous. There is no comparison: China is an authoritarian government and the parent company is practically an arm of the state. There are legitimate criticisms of American tech companies obviously, but they're ultimately subject to the market and democratic governments. We shouldn't be doing any business with authoritarians in the first place, much less inviting them to control a significant social media app in the guise of a legitimate business.
The US government demanded access to the US based social media companies to pull whatever sensitive information they wanted. They just don't want China to have the same access.
Also, TikTok has been caught abusing exploits to get additional information outside of the permissions granted by users. IIRC, TikTok was caught stealing the MAC address from phones a few years back.
It's odd the Steve Wozniak is pretending to be ignorant of the distinction. US government wants Intel, and doesn't want a rival nation to possess similar Intel. That's basic intelligence 101.