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Comment by stoperaticless | Hacker News Reader

Tic toc was recently banned in US.

TikTok wasn't banned explicitly. They are required to divest within a year. If they don't, then the app becomes banned

It is likely more countries will follow. India trail blazed by banning TikTok almost 4 years ago after the border skirmish with China

> TikTok wasn't banned explicitly. They are required to divest within a year. If they don't, then the app becomes banned

Note, too, the difference between the app being banned and the source being banned. TikTok.com will continue to resolve even if they remain under Chinese control.

Here Blinken and Romney discuss why Tiktok is being banned over allowing recommendations of Gaza coverage into people's feeds:

https://www.reddit.com/r/TheMajorityReport/comments/1ckte1k/...

There were attempts at banning it before the war, so probably not the only reason but it does seem to be why the push to ban it reemerged again.

Tik Tok isn't a news agency

Its not but it is being banned because people are getting their news from there and its not following the right narrative that the 'real' news agencies are failing at peddling to the public.

Then again I could be wrong and the U.S government just doesn't like people people dancing, hard to tell which one is the reason behind it all.

The congresspeople who voted to shut down TikTok have been very open about the reason: https://twitter.com/wideofthepost/status/1787104142982283587

Watching the clip is just the usual "Who you gonna believe? us our your lying eyes?". Thing is that the days of a media fully controlling the narrative are gone. Before it was easier since all you had were rumors of what was really going on but now anyone can take video and give direct proof, how are you going to Baghdad-Bob your way into the narrative you want?.

The best they can aim for is trying to create a narrative that at least somewhat aligns with the reality that is impossible to fully hide now.

Like sibling said, they've been pretty clear on the why. They called an emergency session and Senator Ricketts was pretty clear that they view pro-Palestinian tiktok content as Chinese propaganda that's inciting the youth to protest[0].

The administration has been threatening tiktok for two Presidental terms, but it wasn't until pro-Palestinian tiktok content had "more reach than the top 10 US news sites, combined" that they've taken broad bipartisan action.

I've personally experienced the propaganda that US mainstream media doles out, I know it's real; in my mind this smacks of leaders reacting in fear to the erosion of control over what the American people can know about what's happening in the war. This lines up exactly with Israel's muting of Al Jazzera.

Pretty amusing to watch sibling's link of Mitt Romney and the interviewer haltingly say "narrative" in hushed tones, like they know it's some kind of dirty word.

The thing with propaganda is that it needs to have parts rooted in truth in order to be effective outside total information control; I consider the ability to consume everyone's propaganda an essential tool in distilling the most truth possible in a world where media and leadership across the world are openly concerned with the breakdown of their PR (read propaganda).

[0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j8apP1YYg2o

Why not? Nowadays Tik Tok, Instagram, and X/Twitter have more influence than New York Times, at least for the younger generations.

The medium is the message...

It's a forced divestment; they weren't banned but have a year to comply.

Eh, it's effectively the same thing.

If Israel could force the sale of Al Jazeera to Israeli businesses I'm sure it's content would become far more acceptable to the Israeli government.

It's only "effectively" the same thing if ByteDance / China decide to take the loss over selling.

Also, the law could be changed or overruled in the next year. Don't count chickens before eggs hatch?

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