Hacker News Reader

Comment by slibhb | Hacker News Reader

This whole thing is embarrassing. Banning an app is something the CCP does. It's not supposed to be something the US government does.

That's leaving aside the feasibility. I suppose tiktok could be banned on Iphones easily enough but it's less clear how the web app or android apps could be banned.

View on HN

Bans don't have to be perfect to be effective.

Free speech isn't absolute, not even in the US. It's normal and healthy for a society to adapt it's view on speech over time and as the world evolves. Hopefully toward being more open, yet openness must be balanced against the negatives.

Every generation is scared of "what the kids spend their time doing". In the 80s it was the PMRC. Later on there were at least a few video game scares ("What if my son plays Mortal Kombat and tries to rip my head off?").

Today it's "evil Chinese apps". Embarrassing.

I'm not advocating taking all social media from kids. Just limits and at least corporate oversight. I grew up in the 80s, with limits on my BBS and AOL time, and I survived.

Now that the Internet is cheap free and everywhere it's reasonable to ask if unfettered access and megacorps need some guardrails.

TikTok is not being "banned" by this bill. It's being prohibited from being owned by a "foreign adversary" (a defined term in US Code), with the threat of being banned from app stores and hosting providers if not divested.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com