Tik Tok and all the Hullabaloo around it!

 Today's ramblings are courtesy of the internet and all the articles about banning Tik Tok due to possible use by China as a means to spy on Americans and cause undue influence on Americans beliefs and actions.

First, I have Tik Tok on my phone, but rarely use it.  I downloaded it so I could see the shorts that my youngest sends me from Tik Tok.  Otherwise, I am not on the platform. As I stated, my youngest daughter spends almost all of her free time watching Tik Tok videos and claims that she learns interesting and useful things all the time just by watching them. So, I am not on the ban the platform bandwagon as yet.

The US Government has tried before to ban this platform and failed.  I am not really sure that our government has the power to ban an app from existence.  There are still ongoing talks to ban Tik Tok from government phones, which I agree with.  Why do you need a social media platform on a work phone anyway?

This action is quickly being followed by other nations.  The UK and the EU both have enacted bans of Tik Tok on government phones due to the possibility of surveillance and safety of user information. 

Tik Tok is located in Beijing, China and is owned by a private company called ByteDance.  The company denies any sharing of information with the Communist Chinese Government. This company is doing quite a lot to try to show the world that using the platform is safe and secure.

They are moving the customer information servers to other countries; they have engaged with the US Government and are diligently trying to meet their requirements to assure the safety of the platform.  There are, however, still many politicians who fear the company and the possibility of using the stored information about its users for covert intelligence and policy determination, as well as the possibility of making the younger users believe false information that is pro-China and anti-US.  Since the demographic of this platform is mostly teens and young adults, this is not a silly concern.

Overall, this is an issue that is yet to be resolved and is getting major coverage in the news media, so you can't help but see it or read about it, unless you live under a rock.

I am still making up my mind.  I can see both sides of this issue and will wait to make a permanent stand once I see what the Tik Tok Company does to ease the political concerns of our government as well as the other governments.

What do you think about this issue? Have you any thoughts on the matter?  If so, please, let's talk about it.  Leave me a comment and we can begin a conversation (as long as we both can do so civilly).

Now, totally unrelated to this topic, I want to tell you that today is National Panda Day!  Can you think of anything cuter?

  Resources for further reading:

• https://www.cnbc.com/2023/03/16/uk-bans-tiktok-on-government-devices-following-us-move.html
• https://www.cnbc.com/2023/02/23/eu-commission-bars-employees-from-using-tiktok-citing-security-risks.html
• https://www.cnbc.com/2022/12/13/lawmakers-unveil-bipartisan-bill-that-aims-to-ban-tiktok-in-the-us.html
• https://newsroom.tiktok.com/en-eu/sharing-an-update-to-our-privacy-policy

With Easter coming upon us, you might enjoy a previous post about my attempts to make Easter decorations for work here.