As someone in the US who has had their private data leaked multiple times (ive lost count) and is extremely careful when browsing you tube as to not be drawn into a conspiracy ridden rabbit hole, I’m not sure what the point of this tik tok ban is. To me tik tok is social media business as usual. If congress is going to go this hard on a social media company and privacy concerns they should be doing this with all the other companies that pry into our private lives and try their best to manipulate us as well (car makers, appliance manufactures, phone makers, wearbales, ect…) otherwise to me this comes across as the US congress extorting a single company to make billionaires richer. It has been shown time and time again that even US based social media companies are vulnerable to influencing conspiracy theorists and swaying the votes of thousands of people.I feel like we are at the pinnacle of technological ignorance here. Thoughts?

  • ThePowerOfGeek@lemmy.world
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    9 months ago

    I hear ya. I’m dragging my heels on introducing social media to my kids. One of them is reaching a point where his friends are getting into it. Thankfully, so far he’s not really that interested. Also, my wife and I are taking the time to prime him about the dos and don’ts of social media, so hopefully he will have better awareness.

    But between corporations and degenerate creeps preying on kids and teenagers (especially girls), it’s a troubling time to be a parent or guardian.

    I’m fine with a ban on Tiktok. I think that platform adds nothing of significant value to society, and a lot of problems instead. But the bigger problem is that we need better accountability and safeguards for social media companies in general. And only targeting Tiktok because of their current ownership doesn’t get us there.