In all the complaints I’ve seen about the ban on TikTok, the one thing I haven’t seen enough of is any recognition of the reason for the ban. It’s all “boo hoo, we’re losing a platform.” What about the fact that the U.S. government and dozens of state attorneys general have levied some serious claims against TikTok, including …
- That it’s designed to be addictive to kids,
- That it feeds them false and dangerous information, and
- That it gives information about U.S. citizens to the Chinese government.
This isn’t just a political thing. See TikTok Is Harming Children at an Industrial Scale. (I can’t vouch for the “After Babel” website, but Jon Haidt is a serious and trustworthy source.)
First, I’m in favor of free speech — for adults. If adults want to use a platform that tells them lies and warps their sense of reality, that’s their business. That does not apply to kids. We have legitimate reasons — no, we have a duty — to limit what children are exposed to.
Second, I don’t trust senators and congressmen (or state attorneys general) to get technology right. I remember how embarrassing it was to listen to their talks with Zuckerberg et al. It’s entirely possible they’ve made a mistake here.
Okay. If they’ve made a mistake, let’s hear it. But if your comments on TikTok don’t even acknowledge the problem, it leaves me scratching my head. Are you saying it doesn’t matter?
We’re (apparently) allowing this app to feed information about our citizens to our geopolitical enemies. How stupid can we be? It reminds me of the old quote attributed to Lenin: “The capitalists will sell us the rope with which we will hang them.” Except we’re not even selling it to them. If you’re going to sell the future to China, at least make some money in the deal.
Along these lines, it’s worth nothing that China often limits U.S. apps in their country.
I’m not against the Chinese. They have a great and ancient civilization, and there’s a lot we can learn from them. Totalitarian communism is not one of those things, and we’re fools if we’re feeding or enabling that monster.
