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tsimionescu | on: TikTok goes dark in the US
Those arguments have nothing to do with why TikTok was banned. The banning is purely a geopolitical move. TikTok is the only major social network that is (hugely!) popular in Europe and North America that is not controlled by the USA - and even worse for US geopolitical ambitions, it has major ties with China.

This is not some conspiracy theory: this is 100% of the official reason that Congress voted on this. They fear that China has influence through TikTok into the US public, and could use this to sway public opinion [unsaid: just as the US does with Facebook or Twitter]. They also fear that China could surreptitiously spy on high-value targets through the TikTok app - which is why it was forbidden two years ago already from any device used in doing business with the US Government, including the business phones or BYOD phones of all federal employees and contractors.

Interestingly, part of the fear of influence ties back to Gaza. Here is a quote from Mitt Romney about this [0]:

> SENATOR ROMNEY: A small parenthetical point, which is some wonder why there was such overwhelming support for us to shut down potentially TikTok or other entities of that nature. If you look at the postings on TikTok and the number of mentions of Palestinians relative to other social media sites, it’s overwhelmingly so among TikTok broadcasts. So I’d note that’s of real interest, and the President will get the chance to make action in that regard.

This is exactly the sort of issue that the US fears: losing control of the public narrative, especially in the USA, but more broadly as well.

[0] https://www.state.gov/secretary-antony-j-blinken-at-mccain-i...

yread | parent
Interesting that a Romainian sounding username wouldn't mention the mess with Romanian presidential election where tiktok played a major role. The threat seems very real
tsimionescu | root | parent | next
The Romanian elections were a debacle in many other ways. So far at least, our authorities have done nothing to actually arrest the fascist lunatic that almost won, nor to bring any concrete evidence that he did anything other than breaking campaign finance laws by paying for TikTok like any other influencer might while not declaring this money in his campaign fund disclosures.

Actually, they didn't even bring any evidence of that, except for the fact that he claims in official documents and public appearances that his campaign cost 0, which is such a bold faced lie that it barely needs dismissing.

But no, I don't share the court's apparent opinion that, but for TikTok, this lunatic wouldn't have won. All suggestions are that, will he be allowed to run again (which is theoretically the current status quo, him not having been put under any sort of judicial control!), he will win again, despite his vastly diminished TikTok presence. Turns out, to my great personal sadness, that many of my countrymen, idioticaly, actually liked the fascist and weren't (just) manipulated by TikTok.

fact_checker124 | root | parent
No, it was the Romanian National Liberal Party that used TikTok for campaigning in the first place:

https://www.politico.eu/article/investigation-ties-romanian-...

The campaign was co-opted by trolls (could have been bored teenagers) to use the hash tag for their purposes.

The win of Georgescu seems organic, he is projected to have the same results in May:

https://www.politico.eu/article/romania-election-2025-hungar...

In the context of the EU it is in no way surprising that a "far-right" candidate gets 30% of the votes. Austria, France and the Netherlands were pioneers in 2000 already.

Germany's AfD had 12% after Merkel's immigration disaster and now was 21% (in polls) after the US has repeatedly used and insulted the EU in the past 4 years. In 2019 pro-US sentiment was deservedly at an all-time high in Germany, that is no longer the case.