I think the real concern is that social networks can be used for mass political opinion manipulation. Algorithmic recommendations and deplatforming have become political battlegrounds and the power of the social media companies is recognized more and more as being immense.
> I think the real concern is that social networks can be used for mass political opinion manipulation
Again, the concern is not that that is happening, but that it's happening by people not under control of the US elite. The hyper-partisan news organisations of the US engage in "opinion manipulation" just fine, as does Facebook.
Correct. The difference between Facebook and Tiktok is who can apply pressure and in what ways. For example many people believe that Trump's antitrust moves against Google are also political, different situation different techniques but same goal, a battle over the control of social networks.
"but that it's happening by people not under control of the US elite"
Wow, no. This is not it.
Facebook is not interested in influencing the outcomes of elections, and the US Gov is not using FB to do so directly - other than to ban egregious misinformation and to allow any legit actor to participate.
WeChat/TikTok are organs of the state - they can and are used at will by CCP organs for censorship, control, monitoring etc. - for any reason, at any time, at any whim.
The moral equivalence arguments being made are simply out of touch with the operational realities of companies in the China vs. US/Europe etc..
If that was the case Facebook would be banned as well, it’s just another grift as usual. He even explicitly said that a US company could buy it as long as the federal gov got a cut of the sale: pure grift.
Second - Trump's indicating that 'the US should get a cut' is just ridiculous and bizarre. He's not getting a cut, so it's not really 'graft' - but it just plays into his deal-making instinct that the US 'is a player and ought to get a piece'. He's just blatantly ignorant. There is 0% chance of this happening, there are 0 people in his circle that would ever conceive of such a thing, it's just one of those 'Trump things' they smile and ignore.
Trump doesn't want another social network that he cannot control. Tiktok's young user are not his base. He wants to silence them. It's censorship of free speech right before the election. It is impeachable.
