I Don't Know What's Been Established About Tik-Tok

Imo there are three kinds of congressional hearings.

1. Public verbal stoning.

The TikTok hearing today is one of these. Lots of angry statements and rending of garments. Everyone adheres to a script. No minds are changed.

— Lizzie O'Leary (@lizzieohreally) March 23, 2023

I do know what kind of hearing is going on in Congress today. I don't expect any useful information to come from it.

3. Markups/committee business

Rarely covered. Stuff actually happens. Work gets done, mostly by staffers.

— Lizzie O'Leary (@lizzieohreally) March 23, 2023

And whenever anybody says "Everybody knows," I just discount the allegation automatically.

Sure but aren't the facts pretty clear on TikTok, it's essentially Chinese spyware; I mean we all acknowledge that & some people choose to still put it on their electronic devices. Banning it for government officials and government employees seems like the easiest decision ever.

— Jeff A 🧙‍♂️ (@Mithrandir48) March 23, 2023

I mean, wasn't that Snowden's argument about the entire internet? Except it wasn't China he was afraid of? So color me skeptical on this topic, until I'm better informed from better sources. In the meantime:

For those asking: Twitter is, like TikTok, partially foreign owned, in Twitter's case by the Saudis, Qataris, and a Canadian-based Emirati.

The Saudis already got busted infiltrating Twitter with a spy so they could monitor dissidents. AND

— emptywheel (@emptywheel) March 23, 2023

I know what's going on with Twitter.

Like TikTok, Twitter is not only a vehicle for disinformation campaigns, but Elmo has given foreign disinfo campaigns PREFERENTIAL access with his blue check program.

Entire point of Twitter Files effort seems to make Twitter safe for Russian and other disinformation campaigns.

— emptywheel (@emptywheel) March 23, 2023

Elmo has opened the files to the likes of Mattydickpics and Bari Weiss, so it's not beyond reason he's opened them to foreign governments, too. He publicly buys into the most ludicrous GOP promoted conspiracy theories. Twitter is clearly once again home to racists and white supremacists and Lord knows how many Russian and/or Chinese bots. So why aren't we hanging him out to dry? Is it because Twitter is HQ'ed in America? And Tik-Tok is out of China?

If you're not going to trust one, why trust the other?  If you think we need to ban one, why not the other?

Inquiring minds want to know!