Half of Canadians support TikTok ban, with U.S. concerns ‘trickling’ north: poll

I don't care what America is doing, ban it because it's fucking awful for society. Algorithmic short-form content is literally destroying the attention span of an entire generation, regardless of if gathers data on you or not.

How about we enact meaningful privacy regulations that affect all online services instead?

I hate TikTok as much as the next "old", but making this about TikTok specifically instead of about the way Platform Capitalism is exploiting all of us lets everyone else off the hook, from giants like Facebook and Google through to ISPs like Bell to automotive OEMs like GM.

Bust all their balls.

The poll does not have a margin of error because online polls aren’t considered truly random samples.

“In terms of those who support the ban and those who have specific concerns regarding TikTok, it’s mostly among older Canadians who don’t use TikTok,” said Christian Bourque, executive vice-president of Leger.

It's almost as if the headline is clickbait or something. Bullshit article about a bullshit survey that can't even be called a survey.

I'd understand and be open to a blanket ban or restrictions on all algorithmic short form media, but that's not what this is. The rationale for the US ban is supposed to be privacy and limiting foreign influence, not concerns over algorithms or they'd have to come up with a reason they're not banning all the other algorithmic short form media out there. Singling one company out, as the EFT and others have pointed out repeatedly, does nothing about privacy and security issues that are at least as bad with TikTok's competitors.

This is a combination of censorship (particularly of pro-Palestine content, which many TikTok users are defiantly and persistently supporting even though it's been severely restricted there), and probably some pandering to certain groups. I'm getting increasingly concerned with this idea I keep seeing people espouse this borderline fascistic idea that rather than encouraging people to develop media literacy, we should just censor all information they see, as if long-term censorship in sanctioned corporate media didn't set the tone for so many of the problems we're facing now.

Just bring back myspace and ban all other social media.

I can make my own decisions on what apps not to use; if I wanted the government to decide for me I'd move somewhere with big government like Saudi Arabia, Russia, or USA.

As much as I hate the idea of the government regulating the internet, at least there will be one fewer type of link I can't click in my group chats.

EDUCATION IS THE ANSWER, elementary and high schools need to start incorporating classes that teach kids how to recognize when they are being manipulated by corporate entities, government propaganda or individuals. Constant exposure to the idea that the internet's primary use is to monetize and manipulate users will hopefully lead to a generation of adults who inherently distrust media and will actively look for collaborating sources of information.

As for the 'erosion of attention spans,' banning TikTok is like trying to stop alcoholism by banning Anheuser-Busch. Not everyone drinks the same brand of beer, not everyone who consumes alcohol is irresponsible.

No government should be restricting access to any site or service that is not expressly illegal (selling personal information, terrorist group recruitment, human trafficking and exploitation).

It is a slippery slope argument but it is entirely possible that banning TikTok could set a precedent for corporate entities lobbying for bans of sites and technologies that directly threaten their business. ISPs might lobby to ban the use of VPNs because they are used by 'criminals,' Microsoft might lobby against desktop Linux distributions because 'hackers,' police and governments are already targeting 3rd party messaging platforms and encryption because they offer un-tappable channels for communication.

Honestly .... government should just nationalize all social media ... it holds way too much power over government and society and depending on its design and delivery can become addictive to the point of severely affecting the mental health of people.

It should be a system that is highly regulated like highways, waste water, fresh water, food safety or air traffic. It's critical to civilization at this point and it is a system that either has the power to help society or destroy it.

This isn't to say that government would do a great job of handling it either ... it will all depend on who wants the power and who wants to deregulate it all at any given moment. But I'd rather have this entire system bound up under the complicated control of government systems than in the hands of a private company or companies that only want to manipulate people to turn a profit.

Think of the examples I just presented .... if highways were completely privatized by one or two companies, owning and driving a car would be prohibitively expensive ... it all waste water and fresh water were completely privatized in the hands of corporations, how safe do you think your water would be? ... if all food safety was handed over to private corporations, what do you think they would feed us? ... if private companies were completely put in charge without much regulation on air traffic, how often do you think we'd have air accidents around our airports.

I know government isn't the answer to everything ... but it's the best we got ... if we have a community of organizations and people in place to watch one another, there's less likely to be a problem or a serious one anyway ... just look at how our highways, water and food safety function ... sure it isn't the best, it could be better but it's a hell of a lot better than letting some greedy corporate head decide on how to let things go or let people get hurt or die just to squeeze a bit more profit out of everything and everyone.