#and I hate that it's entirely correct

[bohba13-writing-den]

To clear things up, this isn't about the spyware. (Though I would LOVE regulation on that) This is about who is using it, how they can use it, and the fact this has been a known vector in the past. (there used to be a blanket ban on media companies operating in the US being foreign owned, the FCC now assesses such purchases on a case-by-case basis)

Several things you need to know first. China is ABSOLUTELY hostile to the US and its allies. There are a myriad of reasons for this that are too numerous to explain in detail, both good and bad. HOWEVER know that China is hostile to the US.

Now, one might think that this isn't an issue. Bytedance is a private company, that China can't force them to do anything.

And to that I say "bless your heart."

Because if you think the US is bad, and it is, China is WORSE!

By law, any "privately" owned business must have 80% of its shares owned by the local "union."

Oh, that's great, the workers have control of the company right?

nope. Unions in the PRC are in fact extensions of the local government, which are in turn beholden to the provincial government, who are then beholden to the national government, who are again, may I remind you, actively hostile to the US and its allies.

Next, there is a law in place in China which basically means the CCP can walk up and demand the info they have on their users, and they must comply. No warrant, no probable cause, nothing. Just, hey we want your data, hand it over.

Now, honestly, this isn't what I'm scared of. It once again goes back to their highly invasive algorithm.

So there are several factors to this. First and foremost is the fact that this algorithm can peg you down very quickly, which is honestly kind of scary. Then, once it finds out what will keep you on the app, instead of feeding that to you constantly, which would result in you eventually putting the app down, which they don't want for many reasons. Instead what they do is they put that at random intervals so that it works like gambling, resulting in you being hooked on the app.

Again, while ethically dubious and should be highly illegal, this is not why the ban has bipartisan support.

This has bipartisan support because all of this put together, results in a social cyberweapon.

Remember how much damage Russian bots were able to do? Now imagine if they had TOTAL CONTROL over a platform that had the popularity and reach as TikTok.

They could use the invasive info gathering to create categories of users with very high specificity, feed them information to do X Y or Z, and have a high likelyhood of those people doing that thing.

They could selectively radicalize users and have them act within their rights that are otherwise potentially damaging to national security.

Now yes. This does sound crazy, especially to someone not familiar with how exactly the CCP oppresses their people. (And no, it's not with social credit, that died in the proposition phase)

China uses the app on their side of the "Great Firewall" to control the flow of information. They use it to push their propaganda and suppress dissenting opinions, factually and/or morally right or wrong.

TikTok goes well beyond any platform in information gathering and invasiveness. Knowing the bodies involved, this is a tool meant for Chinese intelligence to compromise millions of Americans to act in hindrance of US interests, whether those interests be good or bad.

Why do you think it has become such a strong platform for pro-Palestinian information to disseminate? because that information actively undermines the current US position (Which I also do not support because Israel needs to back the fuck off and actually care about civcas.) Why do you think we have heard exactly jack and shit about the ongoing genocide of the Uyghurs on TikTok?

It's because at the end of the day, they are completely beholden to the CCP.

A very qualified YouTuber (Even if I disagree with some of his takes when it comes to Gaza and Bushnell) has a video on how easy it is to astroturf political movements and protests merely using the app's advertiser services, and you know that Chinese intelligence has beyond premium service in that reguard.

This shit is fucking bonkers, but as someone who has been paying attention to that side of geopolitics for a long time, this is completely on brand for the CCP.

I hate that a lot of people are going to lose their jobs, but Chinese companies are generally not allowed to operate in the US for exactly this reason. Huawei has installed hardware backdoors in the past for example.

Chinese companies are merely extensions of the state, and are used as such whenever it suits them.

so the house of representatives just passed a bill that will now move to the senate to BAN tik tok completely in the united states and they are expected to argue that “national security risks” outweigh the freedom of speech and first amendment rights. biden has already said that if it gets to him, he will sign it. whether or not you use the app…….this is something to be worried about

[violetscanfly]

Out of reach

[wormzandgutz]

environment studies featuring Atlas and Star hanging out

[bixels]

This Twitter MLP human redesign drama is a mess, leave me the fuck out of it.

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

There is a platonic explanation for all this. Right?

[First] Prev <–-> Next

[not-super-sonic]

🇩🇪 SCHALL DER IGEL 🇩🇪

[clairedaring]

Hey, Miyata-kun. Do you want to live together?

KOI WO SURU NARA NIDOME GA JOTO (2024) | 1.04

[asgardian--angels]

things I wish I could relive for the first time again:

that magical window where you finish a new piece of media, having watched/read it all by yourself with no fandom contact whatsoever, and you are just so happy about it, and full of interesting theories and takeaways, and just in love with it as a gorgeous piece of art.

because I swear to god as soon as you join the fandom for anything, you're bombarded with how you're supposed to view characters and their arcs, how you're supposed to morally and ethically judge the plot and the ways it apparently failed to present the right message, and if you don't you'll either be shunned for not sharing the popular headcanons or you'll be harassed for not criticizing the source material enough.

like how is it that the fans of a piece of media are also the ones being the most negative about it? If I like a show or a movie or a book, well, I liked it. That's kind of the point. I'm actually not here to tear it apart and talk about how it didn't live up to standards other people had! I enjoyed it for what it was, and forcing myself to find negative things to say about it doesn't actually bring me more enjoyment of it or reap any benefit to me. Fandom's a double-edged sword; you want to join a community to share your love for a piece of art, and the price you pay for a modicum of joy is a mountain of negativity. that's one main reason that I never engage with fandom until I'm completely done with a show, because if I was plugged into all of that commentary and discourse during the process, I'd be completely colored by how I'm expected to interpret everything this piece of art is presenting to me without being able to even form my own opinions.

[johanna-swann]

Not to hate-post on main, I know other people like him and sympathise with him because of his trauma, but to me the Punisher represents everything I hate in a man and character. Cis-het white military macho man who murders people and thinks himself to be righteous because his wife got fridged. Thank you, but no thank you.

[silvesary]

My friend doesn't have a tumblr account but I spent an hour drawing this in her drawme box and god forbid I didn't save it for myself!

[belle--ofthebrawl]

Nebulous opinions refusing to be put into words irt "silly" words like balls and sack being fine in erotica but words like labia and vulva being so rare and I can't even think of when I last read them outside of like. One or two other people on here.

It's even fine to describe cocks as mushroom headed, which is ridiculous but still entirely normal but I can't think of any word besides folds used to describe the vulva that isn't meant to insult and deride. It's tricky to describe a beautiful (and more than beautiful, entirely normal) part of the body when society has made a mockery of it for so long. I feel like they're fine words to say; V and L are softer consonants melding seamlessly into the Uand A sounds that follow. B going into ia is a soft pop while L going into va is a calm slide down. They're not bad sounding words but then again, I'm not bothered by the word moist very much. so obviously mileage may vary.

And sometimes it feels like getting too into exact anatomy will trigger dysmorphia/dysphoria which an entirely different can of worms than misogyny. I can only speak for my own experience here. But my point stands. We use countless silly words for penis and only like, three words for a vagina.

Where am I going with this. It's past my bedtime and I just wanted to write transmasc x cis woman scissoring.

OBLIGATORY THIS POST IS NOT FOR TERFS WE ARE BEING NORMAL ABOUT BODIES AND NOT HOPPING ONTO SOME FREAK BIO ESSENTIALIST BULLSHIT

[soup-or-who-lock]

Wild episode. So much. Too much. but, y'know, maybe Sam will leave forever, immediately after publicly supporting Jacob in a way that won him one (1) singular point in my book. Shoutout to Sam for that, and now go see those grandkids and be forgotten

[danmeichael]

hey not a fetish anon here like those other weirdos. heres one for you, ahem. what is sy and sj's respective favorite game at an arcade and how often is yqy carpooling them there?

the fact that you went out of your way to assert that this isn't fetish-related immediately makes me more suspicious that this is a fetish thing

sj can obviously drive himself because he'd absolutely hate to be truly reliant on anyone, but since they're presumably on good terms he might ask yqy to chauffeur so his pet service top can feel useful.

i honestly am not sure what sj's favorite game at an arcade would be, partly because i've never been to an arcade and don't have a good idea of what all goes on, and partly because sj is just so suited to universes where you can kill things recreationally that i'm not sure playing pacman would be enough for him.

two player games have the appeal of competition so i think he would maybe enjoy playing air hockey or the fighting games with sy (or yqy, if he joins in). the rush of obliterating a rival would be the only thing at the arcade for him. i think he would be exceptionally good at crane games, because the crane machine would be scared of him.

sy is the right kind of insane to be really into maimai or ddr-style games if he has the energy/mobility for it. he's one of those people who grabs the bar.

otherwise i think he'd probably enjoy other less physically intensive timing or strategy-based games as opposed to anything based on luck. votes are out on if he'd actually be good at it or not.

i think yqy is also a ddr guy because an addiction to dancepad games is the closest thing you can get to whatever xuan su does to him. also the gapmoe of extremely tall handsome guy in a full suit doing his little dancepad shit.

[waterme-stories]

Valentine Vuong is a transfemme they/them enby, I am not accepting criticism at this time 😇

[razielim]

honerva, known madwoman, pulled a denethor thinking lotor was dead and all was despair when he really just needed the houses of healing and the hands of the king are the hands of a healer, and so shall the rightful king be known, which is how it's discovered that sendak was descended from a royal bloodline predating zarkon's reign, when he, the real sendak and not the clone haggar has been using, heals his friend and rival from the precipice. reconnecting to ancient galra roots the same way lotor has once desperately sought to connect to altean hearitage, they reestablish a galra kingdom in exile, separate from the fracturing remnants of the empire, hidden using much the same tricks that had once hidden the alteans for ten thousand years

[theres-whump-in-that-nebula]

Interesting. Don’t necessarily think I’m autistic but I have more going on than just ADHD and I’m not sure what that is.