Even if a policymaker envisions that a TikTok ban would limit Beijing’s access to user data, the fact is that corporate ownership is only one risk vector. has no strong, comprehensive privacy law for consumers. This is wrong and ignores the tech picture: The U.S. Over the past several months, too many pro-ban policymakers and pundits have argued that a ban will protect Americans’ sensitive data. The TikTok debate’s problems go well beyond the hearing. Those hoping the hearing would make a clear case for a ban were faced with a confused and issue-crowded hearing. Questions of algorithmic addictiveness are not directly related to national security either (and have generally not been part of the conversation about Beijing’s potential data access and content manipulation). But these issues of child safety-raised at TikTok’s hearing as part of the argument for a ban-are not related to national security or TikTok’s parent company per se. Although causal relationships are sometimes overstated (when they may be less clear), many social media companies will not tackle issues like addictiveness without stronger market and regulatory incentives. Many platforms have or are contributing to problems vis-à-vis child safety, addictiveness for minors, and the mental health of teenage users. Some issues raised, like child safety, are incredibly important. There was also everything from points made about the broader lack of data privacy protections in the United States to questions about whether TikTok’s Chew had spoken with Chinese government officials (to which he repeatedly said no).Īll told, representatives’ questions were a mashup of genuine concerns about TikTok, misguided concerns about TikTok, China-bashing, broader concerns about data privacy, and more. There were questions about child safety on the platform, looking specifically at issues such as platform addictiveness and the mental health of young women on the app. There were questions about TikTok’s parent company and the Chinese government’s ability to access data from the app or manipulate its content. Orrin Hatch asking Mark Zuckerberg in 2018 how Facebook remains free to users: “ Senator, we run ads,” Zuckerberg replied with a smirk.) TikTok’s hearing was similarly scattered. (Perhaps the most famous meme comes from Sen. There are technically absurd questions, which often get featured in memes and excerpted on morning shows there are more nuanced and targeted questions, which often get ignored by the press and dodged by the person answering them. Most congressional hearings with major tech executives are a mixed bag. Some members of Congress and the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, or CFIUS, began scrutinizing TikTok’s ownership in the fall of 2019 in August 2020, former President Donald Trump attempted and failed to ban TikTok entirely. Debates about TikTok go back over three years. These concerns stem from TikTok’s parent company, Chinese tech giant ByteDance, and worries that the Chinese government could compel ByteDance or TikTok to hand over data on TikTok users or manipulate content on the platform. TikTok has been at the center of public debate due to the U.S. Cathy McMorris Rodgers opened the hearing by saying as much: “We do not trust TikTok will ever embrace American values, values for freedom, human rights, and innovation.” Unique to TikTok, however, was that some politicians used the hearing to argue for a complete ban of the platform in the United States. “I think people are a lot more likely to stay, even if it’s a little slower than somebody shouting at them immediately in the previous video,” he says.Last week, TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew underwent an experience familiar to many tech executives: getting heat in front of Congress. Unlike cable TV or streaming series of similar quality, though, the show’s popularity will be dependent on the whims of TikTok and Instagram’s algorithms. Cobell Energy attempts to push back against that convenience. “Given that everything is coming to you in this stream, and it is so disposable, it’s really easy to get into the habit of thinking that you can just make something that doesn’t look very good or doesn’t sound very good,” says Cagan. The idea, he says, is to get viewers hooked immediately. Instead, it is crammed with the kind of scenes and dialog that cut through the noise on social platforms. It also, according to Ari Cagan, Cobell Energy’s director and writer, lacks the beginning establishing shots common to similar shows made for TV. The series, which consists of weekly, short episodes just a few minutes long, was shot vertically, so it’s easy to watch on mobile. Cobell Energy, a series from Don’t Look Up director Adam McKay’s Yellow Dot Studios, lands on TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube on Tuesday.
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