Ask HN: Why isn't TikTok owned by the U.S. government?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32199199

by frozencell • 4 years ago

5 22 4 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

If TikTok is a national security threat, don't we have gov reports of 1) the backdoors of the app 2) detailled understanding of shareholders and their action scope, (3) purchase of shareholders voting power?

Does the U.S. government asks Google to make YouTube shorts better than TikTok?

Pakdef• 4 years ago

How do you know they don't?

frozencell• 4 years ago

I’m looking for proofs of its infiltration.

liberia• 4 years ago

TikTok is Chinese malware masquerading as a friendly social media app that people use for giggles when waiting for the bus or loafing at work. It’s a Trojan horse firmly embedded in the US with no oversight or regulation. And the amount of data it grabs behind the scenes is astonishing.

rvz• 4 years ago

Correct.

Not only they collect more invasive data than Facebook does, but it is the fact that they lied about accessing that user data from China already tells you that this thing needs an investigation into both the amount of data it is collecting and the over-worshipped algorithm that uses that data to dictate what is seen and unseen.

If they were able to do this to Facebook and fine them for billions, they can also do it to any other social network. Especially, TikTok.

wiskinator• 4 years ago

|It’s a Trojan horse firmly embedded in the US with no oversight or regulation.

Is there any proof to this statement? It's very bold.

Thetawaves2• 4 years ago

Do you need proof that 1 + 1 = 2?

gc22browsing• 4 years ago

The US govt outsources software development to the big consulting firms. Any one of them would take 5 years and $10B to create an equivalent app. And then it would only run with Microsoft Explorer (not Edge).

muzani• 4 years ago

I'd bet Meta has/will spend at least 5 years and $10B creating an equivalent app, and they're the (second) best in the world at this.

ksherlock• 4 years ago

Pepperidge Farm remembers when Donald Trump tried to ban Tik Tok and force a sale to Oracle.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Trump–TikTok_controvers...

bediger40004• 4 years ago

Even a blind pig finds an acorn once in a while.

ffhhj• 4 years ago

By smell?

throwntoday3• 4 years ago

Why is it so difficult for people to just say he was right about something? Guess TDS is real.

bediger40004• 4 years ago

That would be socialism.

xster• 4 years ago

Why isn't Twitter owned by the Chinese government?

ceasesurthinko• 4 years ago

Because Twitter is banned by China and isn't used there.

Ask HN: Why isn't TikTok owned by the U.S. government?

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