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>"This is the first time that Americans have really had to deal with their teenagers using a form of mass media that isn’t created in their country by people who mostly share their values. It’s from somewhere else. That’s compounded by the fact that the ‘somewhere else’ is China, "

I don't know why I find this so funny, but I just imagine a completely terrified American family going "honey, you won't believe this, I opened the about page of the app, and it's from 'somewhere else'!"

Yeah no shit there's 97% of the world that's not American and they can actually make things. Americans are talking about TikTok as if they've just encountered their first batch of exotic spices travelling along the Silk Road.



I would wager that the average tiktok user would have no idea the app was developed in China if not for the current political tension surrounding the app. True, I'm sure most just assume its from the US (like most apps) but you'd probably just get an "oh, that's interesting" when telling someone it was "made in China."

Funny to imagine sure, however definitely exaggerated ahah.


Believe it or not they do thanks to trumps attempt at banning it. The love for tik tok is far above anything I’ve seen, more than IG. Grindr is also owned by Chinese company, but most people don’t know this one.


Yep, didn't know about grindr and yea. TikTok is a strange app (to me) it has a lot of brand loyalty... but then again, so did vine.


That's a straw-man argument. Most people don't know nor care that TikTok is software made in China. The feds seem to care, but they're playing politics, and there is not much overlap with what Average American cares about.


Made by China is not such a big deal.

China having visibility on personal lives of most us Citizens is a bigger concern.


This is one thing that always perplexes me, so since you seem to be one of the people that are concerned by this I ask you why? What do you believe china will do with the info gleaned from TikTok data?

Personally I am more afraid of my own government than I am of china, See my government has the power to put me in a cage, or even kill me if I defy them. They have a the power to unilaterally declare an "emergency" to put me under house arrest, they have the power to close my business at will....

If china attempted to any of these things to me here in the US that would be an act of war, but when my own government does it that is perfectly acceptable and even endorsed by the courts of this land

So why pray tell do believe China is the threat?


I don’t want US getting into personal lives either.

I also think given half a chance China will remove US as a super power, or any power of any kind.


Well as Lincoln said decades ago, we if falter and loose our freedom it will be because we have destroyed ourselves

I think China is a threat, and they will cease upon our weakness, but I do not believe China can do this on their own

For the US to fall, it will be down to our own hubris and internal division, not an external force or a china run Social media service hosting 30 second banal mindless videos


I think there is reported cases of China actively attacking (and doxing) non-Chinese users that post "bad" things on their network -- the hive mind taken to the next level.


Do you have family in China? Do you have coworkers with family in China?


Also, I don't think Americans somehow magically share common values. Most Americans I know would take that as an insult.


We used to, I am old enough to remember those days..

Sadly it seems the melting pot is gone, and been replaced with the Salad Bowl... and the Tomato's want to declare war on the Onions.....


The culture wars are going on from before 1950?




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