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Canada Social Networks Government

Canada Bans TikTok Citing National Security Concerns (www.cbc.ca) 86

The federal government of Canada has ordered TikTok to shut down its operations in the country, citing national security concerns. However, Canadians will still be able to access the app and use it to create content. "The decision to use a social media application or platform is a personal choice," said Innovation Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne.

"We came to the conclusion that these activities that were conducted in Canada by TikTok and their offices would be injurious to national security. I'm not at liberty to go into much detail, but I know Canadians would understand when you're saying the government of Canada is taking measures to protect national security, that's serious." CBC News reports: Champagne urged Canadians to use TikTok "with eyes wide open." Critics have claimed that TikTok users' data could be obtained by the Chinese government. "Obviously, parents and anyone who wants to use social platform should be mindful of the risk," he said. The decision was made in accordance with the Investment Canada Act, which allows for the review of foreign investments that may harm Canada's national security.

Former CSIS director David Vigneault told CBC News it's "very clear" from the app's design that data gleaned from its users "is available to the government of China" and its large-scale data harvesting goals. "Most people can say, 'Why is it a big deal for a teenager now to have their data [on TikTok]?' Well in five years, in 10 years, that teenager will be a young adult, will be engaged in different activities around the world," he said at the time. "As an individual, I would say that I would absolutely not recommend someone have TikTok."

Canada Bans TikTok Citing National Security Concerns

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  • It can't handle free speech. (See also: recent laws compelling pronouns.)

    It can't handle anti-government sentiment (see also: trucker protest in Ottawa.)

    It can't handle basic criticism.

    It can't handle life, basically.
    • by Baron_Yam ( 643147 ) on Wednesday November 06, 2024 @07:40PM (#64926585)

      >It can't handle free speech. (See also: recent laws compelling pronouns.)

      Lie. C-16 does not criminalize using something other than someone's preferred pronoun. It might just recognize it as part of a pattern indicating you're a prejudiced asshole behaving in a discriminatory manner towards someone, though.

      >It can't handle anti-government sentiment (see also: trucker protest in Ottawa.)

      Another lie. The 'trucker protest' in Ottawa was a bunch of barely-functional malcontents with outside funding who took over a section of the capital, wouldn't let anyone sleep (constant horn honking), and even tried to set an apartment building on fire. Honestly, they were a great advertisement for the return of the death penalty. Or eugenics.

      >It can't handle basic criticism.

      Vague, but obviously a third lie. The government gets criticized all the time.

      The fact that you're too stupid to understand what's going on or have a meaningful opinion and can barely manage to put someone else's 'Fuck Trudeau' sticker on your pickup truck doesn't mean the government can't handle criticism. It means you're too stupid to understand what's going on around you and you're angry and confused and have mistaken that for a valid political opinion.

      • The apartment building fire had nothing to do with the convoy, I'm surprised this lie is still floating around. There was zero violence during that large protest, but those against it did their absolute best to make things up to make it seem so. Ref: Will anyone apologize for falsely accusing truckers of attempted arson in Ottawa? [nationalpost.com]
    • by PPH ( 736903 )

      Someone might catch Justin Trudeau wearing blackface.

  • by lsllll ( 830002 ) on Wednesday November 06, 2024 @07:35PM (#64926573)

    Well in five years, in 10 years, that teenager will be a young adult, will be engaged in different activities around the world

    Imagine China knowing pretty much everything there is to know about via use of AI because of stuff you did when you were a teenager. Yeah, PRISM [wikipedia.org] allows the U.S. to do the same thing, but we're hoping they're only doing it for "national security".

    • I am confident the on-going, wholesale rape of personal data will continue unabated, with the only variables being who's collecting it, and who's buying what they collect. Mostly it's just used for selling you stuff. Very few people are worth the risk and expense of having their personal data used for actual coercion. Unfortunately, whatever circumstances make the risk worthwhile will likely ensure the few rare victims are in a position to do real damage.

      "Let them track me. I'm not interesting enough to

    • be a program manager, and all their silly 28 year old dating, videos, and social media will be harvested by China for blackmail or public shaming. All social media is a national security risk for all people. The risk does not seem to be just to teenagers, the risk is everyone having a publicly available history that can be exploited. It has always been true that having a public profile is a risk to a person. People in show business have been acutely aware of this for decades. VIP's stay indoors and onl
  • by couchslug ( 175151 ) on Wednesday November 06, 2024 @07:45PM (#64926603)

    Ban foreign investment in residential property.

    • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

      by Fly Swatter ( 30498 )
      Just ban corporate investment. If you aren't directly renting (apartments), leasing (landlords), or mortgaging (banks, etc.) a property to someone your corporation should not be allowed to own residential property.

      I guess what I am saying is corporate home-buying companies and flippers should be illegal - residential should be for homeowners only, not some corporate equity exploit driving up prices.
    • Ban foreign investment in residential property.

      Why? There is too much profit. Security concerns go out the window when money comes into play. When the free candy van drives around, all children are in danger. They just can't help themselves.

  • This is ridiculous, and especially if the free world is going to batten down for something like this Trump-ass Coup 2 in DC, gotta keep these totalitarian countries out of our shit.
  • by schwit1 ( 797399 ) on Wednesday November 06, 2024 @09:27PM (#64926771)

    The data issue is a side show.

    https://www.forbes.com/sites/e... [forbes.com]
    These sources reveal that in addition to letting the algorithm decide what goes viral, staff at TikTok and ByteDance also secretly hand-pick specific videos and supercharge their distribution, using a practice known internally as “heating.”

    They can similarly minimize the reach of certain topics.

    This was done to rile up college kids against Israel's self defense operations in Gaza. We saw the protests

    • I think their outrage had a lot more to do with the fact that the far right Israeli government is slaughtering women and children in Gaza. I'm sure they manage to kill a terrorist or two every now and then, but mostly the Israelis are just murdering civilians.

      • Re: (Score:2, Interesting)

        by Baron_Yam ( 643147 )

        Not that it makes leveling entire neighborhoods right, but imagine how the average Israeli feels about having terrorists moving freely about on the other side of a border constantly launching rockets at them.

        At some point, they're going to hit back if they have the capability to do so, and they absolutely do. There's no winning scenario. Gaza and the West Bank exist because Israel bowed to world pressure after the events of '67 in a world climate that was probably less accepting of conquering land in the

        • Re: (Score:2, Informative)

          The problem isn't just "sensitivity" to occupying territory. It's specifically a no-no under the Geneva Conventions. And the Israeli occupation has been brutal...guaranteed to produce a resistance (AKA terrorists, if you're on the other side). A girl I knew toured the Middle East back in the early 1980s. The casual brutality of Israeli soldiers she saw appalled her. One example: walking down a main street in Tel Aviv, she and her friend are approached by two Israeli soldiers clearly interested in pick

          • Brutality breeds brutality. If you had a neighbor taking shots at your family every day, how long do you think you'd last before you started thinking of them as a subhuman who needed to be put down?

            It's amazing there's anyone in Israel against genocide at this point. And it doesn't matter that the other side feels the same way and whether or not they are justified. This is just basic human response to one group trying to kill another.

            • by r0nc0 ( 566295 )
              I could accept your argument if Israel hadn't funded Hamas. They fucked themselves over in that regard. They also have a very strong settler/Zionist faction that has been taking land away and that doesn't help anything now does it? Religious zealots are on both sides of the issue here so there is no rationality to be had - it's just brutal survival and at that level there really is no distinction between animals just fighting it out. They are the same as each other regardless of what comes out of their mout
            • For a lot of Palestinians, it's simpler than that: quit occupying our territory. By that, I don't mean Israel itself. That's a whole different argument. I mean land that Israel has illegally seized outside of its boundaries. If you compare the body count, it's so lop-sided at this point any possible "self defense" excuse is long gone. And then, of course, there's the matter of Netanyahu's Likud Party actually funding Hamas in order to keep the excuse alive. That's a matter of public record, not some

    • This was done to rile up college kids against Israel's self defense operations in Gaza. We saw the protests

      Let's dig a bit deeper into this. Is Tiktok itself promoting anti Israel videos, or a third party? What is to be gained from eroding support for Israel?

      This is one of the rare occasions where each side is equally shitty. I want Hamas to stop doing terrorist shit and at the same time I want Israel to stay on their side of the fence and stop blowing up brown people. The small government fiscal conservatives sure do clam up when Israel is mentioned. We sent Israel $17.9 BILLION in the last year alone. https:// [apnews.com]

      • by cstacy ( 534252 )

        This was done to rile up college kids against Israel's self defense operations in Gaza. We saw the protests

        Let's dig a bit deeper into this. Is Tiktok itself promoting anti Israel videos, or a third party? What is to be gained from eroding support for Israel?

        In answer to your queries: (1) Tiktok itself (at the control of the CCP) and (2) Why would China want to diminish support (internationally and in the US itself) of the main ally of the US (and implicitly the other western powers) in the middle eastern region? Gee I don't know! China is everyone's friend!

        ?????

      • dreaming of the day where I can upvote this.
    • Viral is by likes.
      How should the company make something intentionally viral.
      And what would be the purpose?

      It is only work for them, with no gain.

      They serve videos to consumers/users.

      Does not damn matter cost wise what video they stream.
      And does not damn matter income wise what video they stream.

      • by Admiral Krunch ( 6177530 ) on Thursday November 07, 2024 @12:50AM (#64926967)

        Viral is by likes.

        Unless someone is putting their thumb on the scale

        How should the company make something intentionally viral.

        By pushing it into more peoples feeds.

        And what would be the purpose?

        Money / influence / power

        It is only work for them, with no gain.

        They serve videos to consumers/users.

        Does not damn matter cost wise what video they stream. And does not damn matter income wise what video they stream.

        Advertiser can pay for the correct video to go viral
        Advertiser can pay protection money to prevent the wrong video going viral
        "Advertiser" can even be a government doing the above.
        That's just the nice clean versions
        "Nice image your company has, be a shame if something were to happen to it"
        "we know X about you, would be a shame if it got out wouldn't it"

        • Advertizement on TikTok is clearly marked as advertizement.

          And otherwise, it is completely clear who the owner of the context is: as you have to follow him to see it.

          You get random content sometimes, but there is also completely clear from whom it is.

          An advertizer is not paying anyone to make a video go viral. What would be the point? He wants his own advertizement displayed and not one of my videos go viral.

          Perhaps you should make a TikTok account instead of writing nonsense about a platform you obviously

          • Advertizement on TikTok is clearly marked as advertizement.
            Trivial to change. Or just lie

            And otherwise, it is completely clear who the owner of the context is: as you have to follow him to see it.
            Trivial to change. Or just lie

            You get random content sometimes, but there is also completely clear from whom it is.
            Trivial to change. Or just lie

            An advertizer is not paying anyone to make a video go viral. What would be the point?
            Um advertising obviously...
            He wants his own advertizement displayed and no

  • Simply preventin8g Tik Tok from operating here is a useless gesture.
  • If I understand this correctly, the Canadian government is banning TikTok from operating servers in Canada, but not banning the use of the app in the country. Does this mean they are essentially forcing TikTok to store Canadian users data in servers outside of Canada? Is this to prevent Canadian government from being able to access data on its own citizens, so that China can process all the data and sell the results back to Canada? Is this a way the Canadian government gets deniability about spying on its o
  • Or at least hold them to a standard where they are responsible for removing misinformation, foreign interference / bots, unlabelled ads, racism / hate, etc., public disclosure of their efforts, free access to researchers to monitor their efforts, and on the receiving end of large fines for non-compliance.

Never test for an error condition you don't know how to handle. -- Steinbach

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