Life is full of natural pairings. Peas and carrots, for example. Wine and chocolate. Baseball and hotdogs.
And that most natural pairing of them all: politicians and moral panics.
One of the current moral panics sweeping the political world is the fear of the social media app TikTok. A slew of (mostly Republican governors have banned the app from state-owned phones and other hardware. President Joe Biden, whose political career has thrived on moral panics (to the detriment of millions of people) is on board with the TikTok crusade, too. Buried inside the massive year-end spending bill was a TikTok ban on most federal government phones and hardware.
All of this may make politicians and their hangers-on feel like they are striking a blow against Chinese data miners and their nefarious masters in Beijing.
But let's be clear: unless and until the app is banned on all devices, public and private, then these government device-only bans are nothing more than cheap political theater.
Does that mean a nationwide ban is on the horizon? No. But that won't keep the pols from trying:
“I have serious concerns with any app that poses a risk to Americans' personal data and information and has deep ties to China,” Sen. Steve Daines, R-Mont., said in a statement to NBC News. He's one of several Republican senators who have been pressuring TikTok for more information.
“We need clear answers on TikTok's data sharing policies and must ensure the platform is being held accountable for its practices,” he said.
Would the political class have the same sort of intense, immediate concern for people's private data in other venues besides a dodgy social media company?
Except they aren't, at least when it comes to sites like Login.gov, which the government itself has established:
…when citizens enter their personal information to register for the site, it's not the federal government that validates it — it's a group of private-sector data brokers, companies that are increasingly under scrutiny for collecting, storing and selling massive amounts of information on Americans without their knowledge.
As the data broker industry has come into Washington's sights, it has been pushing back against a proposed law that would limit its ability to harvest millions of people's information and give citizens a right to block all third parties from collecting it.
When the feds get serious about policing their own dodgy data harvesting sites, then we can have a serious talk about social media apps and their collection habits. Just don't hold your breath waiting for it to happen.
The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the positions of American Liberty News.
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I am just curious: “Does the Moron who penned this tripe not understand “Indoctrination?” of China
Yes there is a fine line between Free Speech and Suppression of it, however has he not looked around and realized there is a Moral Compass needed and lines that should not be crossed for the mind and thoughts of a vulnerable person, like promoting porn and drag queens to little children and the lie that America was the first and most prolific Slave trader and Colonists and there fore should be destroyed?
Try telling the TRUTH along side the lie, instead of promoting the lie only. We dont need “COMMUNIST THINKING & INDOCTRINATION” we need critical thinkers, we need people given the truth so they can chose,. Presenting chocolate to a child as a healthy diet is criminal when the child learns not to eat anything else and weighs 350 lbs because of “Their Corrupted thinking” brought to you by unfiltered rhetoric by supposed journalists who dont give facts but rather their opinions
Journalism used to give you facts and by reading them you made up your own mind as to the situation. Today you are hand fed opinion and most often corrupted opinions at that, slanted, one side opinions aside from the facts
The BATTLE people is the BATTLEFIELD of the Mind and Soul and its yours thats in the crosshairs.
Dont be woke, being in a state of half and half, wake all the way UP and take a look at the facts and be horrified what as to what complacency ha done to you and the country.
Ban Tik Tok from the US. Many if my family and friends will be unhappy. If the Chinese government has anything to do with anything inside if the US should be banned.
You are correct Valerie. Looks like Mr. Leahy is afraid to lose his pension from the Chinese Communists if he don’t bark at those of us who see Tik Tok for what it is. A nefarious and dangerous communist spy ring.
OH and to the Corporate founders, if this kind of tripe is what you plan on spoon feeding the readers 0 take me off your indoctrinated lists.
It isnt the liberals in this country nor the RINOS who are doing it any good, they are the ones sworn to take her down, so take me off your contact list if you are liberals bent on destroying the minds of those reading your material
Need to get rid of the dem. Lovers
Don’t know why we have to flood yet another special site with all of our info. Isn’t twitter, facebook, truth social enough for us that we have to use a hostile regime’s platform to air our woes? I don’t personally like any of them and can’t see the allure!
Why don’t all Americans remove TicTok from their internet phones, tablets, and computers, since we know Communist China spys on this app? Aren’t there American apps much better suited for American youth? I had to remove TicTok from my tablet, even though it was one of the factory installed apps on my Galaxy21.
You could not be more wrong. TikTok is a sewer and having the CCP collecting all of this information is an existential danger. What are you? A CCP sympathizer?