Ban TikTok from the U.S. to Stop Extreme Foreign Manipulation of our Youth & Future
Ban TikTok from the U.S. to Stop Extreme Foreign Manipulation of our Youth & Future
The Issue
All Americans should be concerned with international-cyber-psychological warfare, where their services and products come from, and how they have influence over us, not necessarily on the individual scale, but on the societal level.
TikTok is a technological Trojan (American) Horse. Do not fall for it with twisted and thoughtless, "We should never even consider banning anything" or "Any platform in existence equates to free speech" logic; it's the only way the CCP's plan against America will succeed: thoughtlessness.
[remember: we all love our freedoms and rights, we all don't trust the government, we all should be able to trust that parents can prevent the issues to be discussed, and I do not claim that good content doesn't exist on the TikTok platform; just hear me out]
This is not about...
This is not about the ignorant being taken advantage of with simple propaganda. This is not a parenting problem/solution (its much deeper than that!). This is not about banning things we simply don't like (authoritarianism/censorship); this is about international-cyber-psychological warfare (national security and safety of citizens from foreign entities'/enemies' attacks or weapons whatever they may look like in the modern day).
High-level Summary of Ban Reasons:
- TikTok uses wildly different promotion algorithms based on country (completely different app, but visually looks the same; this should be internationally illegal without a name change at a minimum e.g. "TikTok U.S." vs. "TikTok China" on app stores).
- Chinese general spyware (TikTok gathering easy info on users is common knowledge; not quite illegal yet; see next point).
- TikTok's coding was recently (2/14/22) verified to by definition hack its users and has ability to gain full access to all of a smartphone's data- at any point in time without a feasible trace (links at the bottom).
- TikTok's coding techniques allow the bypass of almost all coding security checks done in app stores when it comes to vital functionality- without a trace (links at the bottom).
- Step 4's implications suggest that TikTok's vital functionality can be altered for a specific user or groups (by location, party affiliation, race, etc., you name it)- without a trace now or any time in the future (links at the bottom).
- Platforms themselves are not free speech- the content on them is. TikTok is also not a free speech advocating platform based on algorithmic suppression/manipulation (maybe for specific users, maybe not; see previous point). Quick, hypothetical analogy: Italy gives out maliciously rewritten Catholic Bibles out to the rest of the world while keeping the real, unaltered one to themselves.
- There's no reason that cyber defense against specifically foreign and obviously malicious software is a dangerous precedent to set for the government for the far future as attacks become more futuristic over time. We don't have that protection the way we need it yet. The role of government in general is to protect our rights and freedoms especially from foreign enemies; they are and have not in the foreign-cyber aspect; they leave it to the ISP's and app stores.
- The entire nation (U.S.) and all of its people are and will be horrifically impacted regardless of those that choose not to use the app. Enough people (~1/3 Americans) actively use TikTok (what I suggest is a cyber weapon) every month (links at the bottom) and this will affect everyone including those who have never used the app horrifically in the future.
- The CCP run and control TikTok and they are- and always have been- an untrustworthy, malicious, foreign enemy of the U.S. and its values (no, Microsoft never bought it; the deal fell through, and [info gets hazy online with this, but some are guaranteed] seven private equity firms are investors and Oracle has a "partnership" as a tech provider and was not sold any of the U.S. operations; ByteDance irrefutably owns and controls TikTok (links at the bottom).
Read more for in-depth details/discussion.
Table of contents (~11 min. read, but as Americans this is a highly complex situation):
- The true nature of TikTok...
- TikTok and cyber-crime...
- A realistic, blackmirror-like scenario to consider...
- Why free speech should not be used as a defense for TikTok...
- Why this is not a radical precedent to set for the government...
- Too much of anything is a bad thing...
- Defend your freedoms when the time comes...
- Why ban again? Why is now different than before?
- When using foreign products/services we should ask questions...
- The real solutions...
- We must protect America and what it is...
The true nature of TikTok...
Be aware that TikTok's content promotion algorithm functions wildly different than how it promotes content in other nations. At that point, it does not matter how it functions different, the fact it does is already a major issue. We aren't talking about the censorship China imposes on their own- they can do that all they want. We are talking about promoting useful skills (e.g. science) in society to younger people as the key to fame vs. promoting sexualized and useless activities that don't contribute to society as the golden ticket to fame. If you have used TikTok before it's immediately noticeable how much filth and nonsense is highly promoted. Sure, there is some good content, but what is the majority? That only happens here, not there! That is a major problem for ALL Americans, present and future!
---[Breaking news released 2/14/22]---
TikTok and cyber-crime...
(F.Y.I., I have a heavy background in software development and cyber security)
A recent and shocking update has surfaced (links at the bottom) that is highly relevant to everyone's view of TikTok on a separate cybersecurity level:
TikTok has been confirmed to bypass all smartphone security systems and coding checks performed by Apple/Google.
First, reports have shown how TikTok's coding can gain access to 100% of your phones data with no limitations.
Second, they coded with languages and libraries that the security checks that Apple and Google perform cannot reverse engineer or "check" effectively; they used all the specific tools available that would make security as difficult as possible.
Furthermore, for ease of understanding, TikTok has lots of their coding not just simply typed directly into the app, but huge portions of fundamental lines of code "get retrieved from a database" (basically the actual lines themselves!). Which is a huge security issue with only malicious implications.
What this entails is that they could completely change TikTok's functionality after a Google/Apple security coding check is performed with a typical app update bypassing all security for involving coding checks.
This even suggests they could on an individual basis alter how the app functions for you and you alone. To expand this concept, they could alter functionality for a specific town/city, county, state, group of people, community, company, political affiliation, or whole country so long as they had the data to organize the users in a database like that- which they do especially with full access to 100% of a device with no limitations.
The lengths they are going to in order to have complete freedom and access to all of our data and minds by passing every type of security and checks available should concern you greatly. This is allowing TikTok and their owners to, by definition, hack anyone, anytime, and no one would EVER be able to know.
As someone highly specialized in this field, I hope I have conveyed the true and sincere severity of these new details being brought to light. If this isn't manipulation to the highest degree and an actual cyber-crime of hacking, then we need to completely alter the definition of both.
I call on Apple and Google to protect its users and their highly trustworthy, security-related reputations by doing everything they can to prevent cyber crimes from taking place on their watch no matter the monetary influence. Put your foot down now before it's too late! Prove how trustworthy you really are!
(Links at the bottom)
----[End of breaking news]----
A realistic, blackmirror-like scenario to consider...
Imagine the following hypothetical scenario:
American leaders decide, "You know what? Let's cripple the [insert foreign enemy here]'s social fabric and future ability to produce by making the population strive for fame via activities that are completely useless to their society and embarrassing on the public stage, and we'll do it by: making the world's most addictive and popular app so everyone everywhere has it, highly promote the more useless/disgraceful content specifically over there intellectually distorting and handicapping the current, and thus, future generations. In fact, while we're at it, lets use this concept in reverse on our own nation to boost intelligence and production in the future by promoting the best type of content here and burying the useless/disgraceful activities that do not benefit the country greatly. They won't see it coming because nothing like this has ever been attempted so directly and on the scale we plan to; not even international laws are in place to prevent this sort of psychologically-motivated algorithmic-manipulation because they'll just blame it on the parents for 'bad parenting'. The addictive nature of the app will keep the parents distracted and want to defend the app as well. The perfect not-a-crime-yet."
I'm not suggesting the entire scenario exactly as described is at play. I'm suggesting the fact that the scenario is completely realistic and so feasible is the reason we need to be much more careful and do take action to prevent such a situation from being so easily achievable on our own nation. The risk is simply way too high and for what? A highly addictive phone app? Everyone equally has incentive towards such defensive motives, and I mean everyone. You can kiss future American freedoms and innovations goodbye if you simply do not care or think about such black mirror-like scenarios now.
Why free speech should not be used as a defense for TikTok...
Do not defend TikTok in the name of free speech and here's why:
- There are tons of other places for the content on TikTok to move to that is much more free and authentic; this would not be the silencing of speech- this would be the shutting down of a foreign enemy's weapon, and, arguably the enhancement of free speech from a false free-speech actor with bad intentions. Platforms themselves are not speech; the content is. [This is analogous to shutting down a specific library because this particular library has all of the books like other libraries but hides all the books they choose (with bad intentions) in a storage closet and only puts out the most evil and vile books imaginable hoping to make the world a more vile and evil place. You could ask for a book from the storage closet if you know what to ask for. Censorship would be banning a book on the shelf. Banning a platform is not censorship when there are many other places for content to exist.]
- China does not play by our rules/security/amendments/rights/laws/ethics so defending their cyber-psy-op weapon in the name of our rules of free speech while they have disregarded and don't play by any rule/security/right/ethic of ours in its creation does not make sense.
- Defending TikTok as if it's a free speech platform is laughable because of how artificial the app really is in terms of its manipulative algorithms for sharing the "free" speech; "free speech" is not their platform motto (they hate free speech!)- it's artificially manipulated and curated speech; there's nothing free about it.
Why this is not a radical precedent to set for the government...
This isn't setting a radical precedent for our government to ban things because we are banning a foreign weapon. Banning malicious, foreign, modern weaponry is not a dangerous or outlandish precedent to set for the future as tech continues to become more futuristic and more attempts like this are tried later.
Applications that heavily alter their functionality without a name change or informing the user of major functional changes purely based on country at the very least should be illegal. Claiming this one app is the same app here as it is there by calling it the same name when their functionality is completely altered always has malicious implications.
Too much of anything is a bad thing...
The CCP is banking on you having an all-or-nothing approach to banning things without giving any thought or consideration. They're playing our patriotism logic against us; don't fall for it. Too much of any one thing is a bad thing; too much free speech can hurt people and cause a loss of freedom if a reasonable, small limitation is not set to protect it (e.g. yelling fire in a theater is illegal); too much 'not banning things' or at least not stopping to think and consider before deciding to not ban something is a bad thing. Heck, even drinking way too much water causes water poisoning! Everything good is done so in a reasonable and healthy moderation/balance.
Defend your freedoms when the time comes...
Do not support the CCP's goals of destroying your freedoms by thoughtlessly defending their Trojan Horse in the name of free speech (they know you'll do this by default and are taking advantage of our American instincts) and allow their weapon to be used by American citizens unknowingly against their own nation. Defend your freedoms from foreign enemies before they are taken from you even if slowly.
Why ban again? Why is now different than before?
A TikTok ban was already attempted before- but what many aren't aware of were the driving forces behind the ban in the first place, and that in 2020, former President Trump started efforts to ban TikTok (+ other Chinese software) and once President Biden came into office, he immediately halted his efforts.
Almost all of the national security issues were stemming from spyware (i.e. tech to spy; not manipulate) and illegal activities being present on the platform. Keep in mind the illegal activities being present on the platform initially. Do you think China allowed those same illegal activities to initially be present/promoted on TikTok within China? As for the original thoughts surrounding the ban, differences in content were assumed to have been censorship-related; in other words, not a concern as each nation can and should have their own policies regarding censorship.
As for "why now?", to keep it short:
- Other services have now mirrored TikTok's functionality (it just took time) meaning there are other places for the content to move to that the main featured functions are the same and might be better than what TikTok has to offer in terms of genuine success/free speech whereas that could not be said before when TikTok was new
- TikTok has now been confirmed to have committed the cyber crime of hacking via bypassing all security checks during app updates and gaining full access to a device without permission. (Downloading does not give them permission to have full access to your phone)
When using foreign products/services we should ask questions...
The questions that must be asked about popular products/services from foreign nations are: What is the general effect on our nation after 10 to 50+ years? Is it, generally, a positive effect or a negative one? How could the nation inventing the product or service use this against our nation now or in the future? Who could be affected in a bad scenario?
Foreign vehicles are easy: positive effect even 50 years later, the inventing, foreign nation could not use their vehicles against us now or in the future. Foreign vehicles under proper inspection are safe & not a concern.
Answer those same questions about TikTok- a Chinese-created and controlled entertainment/social media app that (research suggests) essentially every 3 Americans you see use TikTok regularly! Here are those foreign service/product questions again with inserts:
- What is the general effect on our nation after 10 - 50+ years (from TikTok)?
- Is it, generally, a positive effect or a negative one (from TikTok)?
- How could the nation inventing the product or service (China) use this against our nation now or in the future?
- Who could be affected and who are the most affected in a bad scenario?
The real solutions...
So what's the solution? There are, thankfully, a few options:
- Culturally we should discourage the use of TikTok as a matter of future national security and for the stability/prosperity of our nation.
- If a ban were to be put in place, there may be outcry; however, as mentioned previously, all other major entertainment/social media platforms have mirrored what makes TikTok so successful as a means of competition, meaning there are plenty of other options for Americans to now move to that the main feature functionally is the same, whereas that could not be said in the past when TikTok was new.
- Develop a new American app to compete directly with TikTok with national security, future prosperity, and freedom from Chinese-controlled, nation-specific, promotion algorithms being the purpose to replace.
- Create a law preventing social media/entertainment apps that span nations from nation-specific, algorithmic discrimination for what types of content get the most promotion (not based on censorship policies or illegal activities, but pragmatic function of the content within a society [what constitutes fame])
We must protect America and what it is...
We must protect future America's success, security, freedoms, and currently (and more importantly) the U.S. children of TikTok. This affects all Americans present and future. TikTok is the first modern-day, technology-based Trojan Horse of its kind; no other software does what it does and is as popular or effective. Don't fall for it; learn from the past or we will be doomed to repeat it. The CCP is taking notes from the Greeks, so should we. Way too much trust has been placed in those that have not earned it and don't deserve it. Let's all be much more mindful of what we accept from foreign nations next time and ask those important questions every time starting with: Where does this foreign service/product come from?
Awareness of the complexities raised in this petition is the first goal and most successful way to fix this problem; share if you care! Especially share with TikTokkers and those who would disagree with a ban because of dangerous, "never consider banning anything ever" or "platforms themselves are speech" reasoning.
Thank you for your valuable time reading (for knowing is half the battle) and hopefully your signature/support.
Links/References:
- TikTok's Coding and Techniques Obscuring/Bypassing/Hacking:
https://www.thewrap.com/tiktok-circumvent-privacy-protections-user-data/
https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/tiktok-circumvent-apple-google-privacy-140000271.html
- U.S. TikTok Users:
https://www.cnbc.com/2020/08/24/tiktok-reveals-us-global-user-growth-numbers-for-first-time.html
https://backlinko.com/tiktok-users
https://www.statista.com/statistics/1100836/number-of-us-tiktok-users/
See how many the settlement supposedly affects:
https://www.foxbusiness.com/lifestyle/united-states-tiktok-users-eligible-cash-92-million-settlement
https://www.businessofapps.com/data/tik-tok-statistics/
- Who Owns TikTok:
https://www.the-sun.com/lifestyle/tech-old/3093732/tiktok-owner-zhang-yiming/
https://www.liberatedstocktrader.com/tiktok-stock/
https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-58719674
https://footwearnews.com/2020/business/retail/walmart-bid-tiktok-microsoft-1203047256/
https://edition.cnn.com/2020/08/28/tech/walmart-tiktok-bid-hnk-intl/index.html
350
The Issue
All Americans should be concerned with international-cyber-psychological warfare, where their services and products come from, and how they have influence over us, not necessarily on the individual scale, but on the societal level.
TikTok is a technological Trojan (American) Horse. Do not fall for it with twisted and thoughtless, "We should never even consider banning anything" or "Any platform in existence equates to free speech" logic; it's the only way the CCP's plan against America will succeed: thoughtlessness.
[remember: we all love our freedoms and rights, we all don't trust the government, we all should be able to trust that parents can prevent the issues to be discussed, and I do not claim that good content doesn't exist on the TikTok platform; just hear me out]
This is not about...
This is not about the ignorant being taken advantage of with simple propaganda. This is not a parenting problem/solution (its much deeper than that!). This is not about banning things we simply don't like (authoritarianism/censorship); this is about international-cyber-psychological warfare (national security and safety of citizens from foreign entities'/enemies' attacks or weapons whatever they may look like in the modern day).
High-level Summary of Ban Reasons:
- TikTok uses wildly different promotion algorithms based on country (completely different app, but visually looks the same; this should be internationally illegal without a name change at a minimum e.g. "TikTok U.S." vs. "TikTok China" on app stores).
- Chinese general spyware (TikTok gathering easy info on users is common knowledge; not quite illegal yet; see next point).
- TikTok's coding was recently (2/14/22) verified to by definition hack its users and has ability to gain full access to all of a smartphone's data- at any point in time without a feasible trace (links at the bottom).
- TikTok's coding techniques allow the bypass of almost all coding security checks done in app stores when it comes to vital functionality- without a trace (links at the bottom).
- Step 4's implications suggest that TikTok's vital functionality can be altered for a specific user or groups (by location, party affiliation, race, etc., you name it)- without a trace now or any time in the future (links at the bottom).
- Platforms themselves are not free speech- the content on them is. TikTok is also not a free speech advocating platform based on algorithmic suppression/manipulation (maybe for specific users, maybe not; see previous point). Quick, hypothetical analogy: Italy gives out maliciously rewritten Catholic Bibles out to the rest of the world while keeping the real, unaltered one to themselves.
- There's no reason that cyber defense against specifically foreign and obviously malicious software is a dangerous precedent to set for the government for the far future as attacks become more futuristic over time. We don't have that protection the way we need it yet. The role of government in general is to protect our rights and freedoms especially from foreign enemies; they are and have not in the foreign-cyber aspect; they leave it to the ISP's and app stores.
- The entire nation (U.S.) and all of its people are and will be horrifically impacted regardless of those that choose not to use the app. Enough people (~1/3 Americans) actively use TikTok (what I suggest is a cyber weapon) every month (links at the bottom) and this will affect everyone including those who have never used the app horrifically in the future.
- The CCP run and control TikTok and they are- and always have been- an untrustworthy, malicious, foreign enemy of the U.S. and its values (no, Microsoft never bought it; the deal fell through, and [info gets hazy online with this, but some are guaranteed] seven private equity firms are investors and Oracle has a "partnership" as a tech provider and was not sold any of the U.S. operations; ByteDance irrefutably owns and controls TikTok (links at the bottom).
Read more for in-depth details/discussion.
Table of contents (~11 min. read, but as Americans this is a highly complex situation):
- The true nature of TikTok...
- TikTok and cyber-crime...
- A realistic, blackmirror-like scenario to consider...
- Why free speech should not be used as a defense for TikTok...
- Why this is not a radical precedent to set for the government...
- Too much of anything is a bad thing...
- Defend your freedoms when the time comes...
- Why ban again? Why is now different than before?
- When using foreign products/services we should ask questions...
- The real solutions...
- We must protect America and what it is...
The true nature of TikTok...
Be aware that TikTok's content promotion algorithm functions wildly different than how it promotes content in other nations. At that point, it does not matter how it functions different, the fact it does is already a major issue. We aren't talking about the censorship China imposes on their own- they can do that all they want. We are talking about promoting useful skills (e.g. science) in society to younger people as the key to fame vs. promoting sexualized and useless activities that don't contribute to society as the golden ticket to fame. If you have used TikTok before it's immediately noticeable how much filth and nonsense is highly promoted. Sure, there is some good content, but what is the majority? That only happens here, not there! That is a major problem for ALL Americans, present and future!
---[Breaking news released 2/14/22]---
TikTok and cyber-crime...
(F.Y.I., I have a heavy background in software development and cyber security)
A recent and shocking update has surfaced (links at the bottom) that is highly relevant to everyone's view of TikTok on a separate cybersecurity level:
TikTok has been confirmed to bypass all smartphone security systems and coding checks performed by Apple/Google.
First, reports have shown how TikTok's coding can gain access to 100% of your phones data with no limitations.
Second, they coded with languages and libraries that the security checks that Apple and Google perform cannot reverse engineer or "check" effectively; they used all the specific tools available that would make security as difficult as possible.
Furthermore, for ease of understanding, TikTok has lots of their coding not just simply typed directly into the app, but huge portions of fundamental lines of code "get retrieved from a database" (basically the actual lines themselves!). Which is a huge security issue with only malicious implications.
What this entails is that they could completely change TikTok's functionality after a Google/Apple security coding check is performed with a typical app update bypassing all security for involving coding checks.
This even suggests they could on an individual basis alter how the app functions for you and you alone. To expand this concept, they could alter functionality for a specific town/city, county, state, group of people, community, company, political affiliation, or whole country so long as they had the data to organize the users in a database like that- which they do especially with full access to 100% of a device with no limitations.
The lengths they are going to in order to have complete freedom and access to all of our data and minds by passing every type of security and checks available should concern you greatly. This is allowing TikTok and their owners to, by definition, hack anyone, anytime, and no one would EVER be able to know.
As someone highly specialized in this field, I hope I have conveyed the true and sincere severity of these new details being brought to light. If this isn't manipulation to the highest degree and an actual cyber-crime of hacking, then we need to completely alter the definition of both.
I call on Apple and Google to protect its users and their highly trustworthy, security-related reputations by doing everything they can to prevent cyber crimes from taking place on their watch no matter the monetary influence. Put your foot down now before it's too late! Prove how trustworthy you really are!
(Links at the bottom)
----[End of breaking news]----
A realistic, blackmirror-like scenario to consider...
Imagine the following hypothetical scenario:
American leaders decide, "You know what? Let's cripple the [insert foreign enemy here]'s social fabric and future ability to produce by making the population strive for fame via activities that are completely useless to their society and embarrassing on the public stage, and we'll do it by: making the world's most addictive and popular app so everyone everywhere has it, highly promote the more useless/disgraceful content specifically over there intellectually distorting and handicapping the current, and thus, future generations. In fact, while we're at it, lets use this concept in reverse on our own nation to boost intelligence and production in the future by promoting the best type of content here and burying the useless/disgraceful activities that do not benefit the country greatly. They won't see it coming because nothing like this has ever been attempted so directly and on the scale we plan to; not even international laws are in place to prevent this sort of psychologically-motivated algorithmic-manipulation because they'll just blame it on the parents for 'bad parenting'. The addictive nature of the app will keep the parents distracted and want to defend the app as well. The perfect not-a-crime-yet."
I'm not suggesting the entire scenario exactly as described is at play. I'm suggesting the fact that the scenario is completely realistic and so feasible is the reason we need to be much more careful and do take action to prevent such a situation from being so easily achievable on our own nation. The risk is simply way too high and for what? A highly addictive phone app? Everyone equally has incentive towards such defensive motives, and I mean everyone. You can kiss future American freedoms and innovations goodbye if you simply do not care or think about such black mirror-like scenarios now.
Why free speech should not be used as a defense for TikTok...
Do not defend TikTok in the name of free speech and here's why:
- There are tons of other places for the content on TikTok to move to that is much more free and authentic; this would not be the silencing of speech- this would be the shutting down of a foreign enemy's weapon, and, arguably the enhancement of free speech from a false free-speech actor with bad intentions. Platforms themselves are not speech; the content is. [This is analogous to shutting down a specific library because this particular library has all of the books like other libraries but hides all the books they choose (with bad intentions) in a storage closet and only puts out the most evil and vile books imaginable hoping to make the world a more vile and evil place. You could ask for a book from the storage closet if you know what to ask for. Censorship would be banning a book on the shelf. Banning a platform is not censorship when there are many other places for content to exist.]
- China does not play by our rules/security/amendments/rights/laws/ethics so defending their cyber-psy-op weapon in the name of our rules of free speech while they have disregarded and don't play by any rule/security/right/ethic of ours in its creation does not make sense.
- Defending TikTok as if it's a free speech platform is laughable because of how artificial the app really is in terms of its manipulative algorithms for sharing the "free" speech; "free speech" is not their platform motto (they hate free speech!)- it's artificially manipulated and curated speech; there's nothing free about it.
Why this is not a radical precedent to set for the government...
This isn't setting a radical precedent for our government to ban things because we are banning a foreign weapon. Banning malicious, foreign, modern weaponry is not a dangerous or outlandish precedent to set for the future as tech continues to become more futuristic and more attempts like this are tried later.
Applications that heavily alter their functionality without a name change or informing the user of major functional changes purely based on country at the very least should be illegal. Claiming this one app is the same app here as it is there by calling it the same name when their functionality is completely altered always has malicious implications.
Too much of anything is a bad thing...
The CCP is banking on you having an all-or-nothing approach to banning things without giving any thought or consideration. They're playing our patriotism logic against us; don't fall for it. Too much of any one thing is a bad thing; too much free speech can hurt people and cause a loss of freedom if a reasonable, small limitation is not set to protect it (e.g. yelling fire in a theater is illegal); too much 'not banning things' or at least not stopping to think and consider before deciding to not ban something is a bad thing. Heck, even drinking way too much water causes water poisoning! Everything good is done so in a reasonable and healthy moderation/balance.
Defend your freedoms when the time comes...
Do not support the CCP's goals of destroying your freedoms by thoughtlessly defending their Trojan Horse in the name of free speech (they know you'll do this by default and are taking advantage of our American instincts) and allow their weapon to be used by American citizens unknowingly against their own nation. Defend your freedoms from foreign enemies before they are taken from you even if slowly.
Why ban again? Why is now different than before?
A TikTok ban was already attempted before- but what many aren't aware of were the driving forces behind the ban in the first place, and that in 2020, former President Trump started efforts to ban TikTok (+ other Chinese software) and once President Biden came into office, he immediately halted his efforts.
Almost all of the national security issues were stemming from spyware (i.e. tech to spy; not manipulate) and illegal activities being present on the platform. Keep in mind the illegal activities being present on the platform initially. Do you think China allowed those same illegal activities to initially be present/promoted on TikTok within China? As for the original thoughts surrounding the ban, differences in content were assumed to have been censorship-related; in other words, not a concern as each nation can and should have their own policies regarding censorship.
As for "why now?", to keep it short:
- Other services have now mirrored TikTok's functionality (it just took time) meaning there are other places for the content to move to that the main featured functions are the same and might be better than what TikTok has to offer in terms of genuine success/free speech whereas that could not be said before when TikTok was new
- TikTok has now been confirmed to have committed the cyber crime of hacking via bypassing all security checks during app updates and gaining full access to a device without permission. (Downloading does not give them permission to have full access to your phone)
When using foreign products/services we should ask questions...
The questions that must be asked about popular products/services from foreign nations are: What is the general effect on our nation after 10 to 50+ years? Is it, generally, a positive effect or a negative one? How could the nation inventing the product or service use this against our nation now or in the future? Who could be affected in a bad scenario?
Foreign vehicles are easy: positive effect even 50 years later, the inventing, foreign nation could not use their vehicles against us now or in the future. Foreign vehicles under proper inspection are safe & not a concern.
Answer those same questions about TikTok- a Chinese-created and controlled entertainment/social media app that (research suggests) essentially every 3 Americans you see use TikTok regularly! Here are those foreign service/product questions again with inserts:
- What is the general effect on our nation after 10 - 50+ years (from TikTok)?
- Is it, generally, a positive effect or a negative one (from TikTok)?
- How could the nation inventing the product or service (China) use this against our nation now or in the future?
- Who could be affected and who are the most affected in a bad scenario?
The real solutions...
So what's the solution? There are, thankfully, a few options:
- Culturally we should discourage the use of TikTok as a matter of future national security and for the stability/prosperity of our nation.
- If a ban were to be put in place, there may be outcry; however, as mentioned previously, all other major entertainment/social media platforms have mirrored what makes TikTok so successful as a means of competition, meaning there are plenty of other options for Americans to now move to that the main feature functionally is the same, whereas that could not be said in the past when TikTok was new.
- Develop a new American app to compete directly with TikTok with national security, future prosperity, and freedom from Chinese-controlled, nation-specific, promotion algorithms being the purpose to replace.
- Create a law preventing social media/entertainment apps that span nations from nation-specific, algorithmic discrimination for what types of content get the most promotion (not based on censorship policies or illegal activities, but pragmatic function of the content within a society [what constitutes fame])
We must protect America and what it is...
We must protect future America's success, security, freedoms, and currently (and more importantly) the U.S. children of TikTok. This affects all Americans present and future. TikTok is the first modern-day, technology-based Trojan Horse of its kind; no other software does what it does and is as popular or effective. Don't fall for it; learn from the past or we will be doomed to repeat it. The CCP is taking notes from the Greeks, so should we. Way too much trust has been placed in those that have not earned it and don't deserve it. Let's all be much more mindful of what we accept from foreign nations next time and ask those important questions every time starting with: Where does this foreign service/product come from?
Awareness of the complexities raised in this petition is the first goal and most successful way to fix this problem; share if you care! Especially share with TikTokkers and those who would disagree with a ban because of dangerous, "never consider banning anything ever" or "platforms themselves are speech" reasoning.
Thank you for your valuable time reading (for knowing is half the battle) and hopefully your signature/support.
Links/References:
- TikTok's Coding and Techniques Obscuring/Bypassing/Hacking:
https://www.thewrap.com/tiktok-circumvent-privacy-protections-user-data/
https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/tiktok-circumvent-apple-google-privacy-140000271.html
- U.S. TikTok Users:
https://www.cnbc.com/2020/08/24/tiktok-reveals-us-global-user-growth-numbers-for-first-time.html
https://backlinko.com/tiktok-users
https://www.statista.com/statistics/1100836/number-of-us-tiktok-users/
See how many the settlement supposedly affects:
https://www.foxbusiness.com/lifestyle/united-states-tiktok-users-eligible-cash-92-million-settlement
https://www.businessofapps.com/data/tik-tok-statistics/
- Who Owns TikTok:
https://www.the-sun.com/lifestyle/tech-old/3093732/tiktok-owner-zhang-yiming/
https://www.liberatedstocktrader.com/tiktok-stock/
https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-58719674
https://footwearnews.com/2020/business/retail/walmart-bid-tiktok-microsoft-1203047256/
https://edition.cnn.com/2020/08/28/tech/walmart-tiktok-bid-hnk-intl/index.html
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Petition created on February 11, 2022