U.S. ambassador says Beijing stance on TikTok ban 'supremely ironic'

I think 'hypocritical' was the word he was looking for. The truth with Chinese characteristics.

China doesn't trust Tik Tok in China? Of course not.

So they commented on it and try to intervene other countries' decisions on that oh so CCP independent SNS? If they are not involved at all they also better had ignored the banning attempts, right? lol

China doesn't like it when other countries pull a China on China.

What a laugh! Beijing must think they are the only ones allowed to block, ban and censor. Welcome to the real world of just deserts!

The China govt doesn't allow TikTok in China?

They're missing out on a great tool to spy on their people then, seems ironic indeed

The China govt doesn't allow TikTok in China?

TikTok is in China.

I think 'hypocritical' was the word he was looking for.

No, ironic is probably the more appropriate term. Hypocrisy would require a failure to live up to standards which you yourself claim to uphold. It's not hypocritical for a person holding lower standards to simply point out that a person claiming to have higher standards is not acting in accordance with those higher standards.

In this case, China is completely transparent about maintaining state control over the internet and blocking access to foreign platforms. The United States, on the otherhand, is the side which ceaselessly promotes the idea of free markets and unrestricted access for foreign capital. So it would be accurate to say China is pointing out US hypocrisy, but not the other way around. It can only be ironic.

Hope this gets through the Senate and signed into law as soon as possible, with other countries to follow. It's lunacy for the free world to let adversarial nations like China operate in their countries in this way (particularly as their tech companies are not allowed to operate in China).

And in terms of China's stance: if, as TikTok says, the company is not Chinese, why would China be so opposed to a sale/ban?

https://qz.com/tiktok-ceo-congress-hearing-chinese-ownership-1850251285

And just how would this "non-Chinese" app fall under China's export regulations?

https://techcrunch.com/2023/03/23/china-reminds-us-that-it-can-and-will-kill-a-forced-tiktok-sale/

Oh, that's right - it's because the company is Chinese, is fully beholden to the CCP, and will do Xi's bidding.

The pro-China hordes will cry that free speech is being censored, but this is a fallacy. It's not the speech but the platform that is the issue. Everyone can post exactly the same speech to any other platform: just not one controlled by a dangerous, totalitarian state.

M3M3M3Today 03:42 pm JST

I think 'hypocritical' was the word he was looking for.

No, ironic is probably the more appropriate term. Hypocrisy would require a failure to live up to standards which you yourself claim to uphold. It's not hypocritical for a person holding lower standards to simply point out that a person claiming to have higher standards is not acting in accordance with those higher standards.

China should raise its standards rather than having zero standards. It should stop calling itself a democracy while it is at it.

Hypocrisy would require a failure to live up to standards which you yourself claim to uphold. It's not hypocritical for a person holding lower standards to simply point out that a person claiming to have higher standards is not acting in accordance with those higher standards.

Well, we could argue about the correct use of irony, if we want to be pedantic, M3, but in China "many Western platforms, including Google, Facebook and Instagram, are blocked from operating in the country" while China will throw the toys out of the pram if the US denies TikTok. Smells of hypocrisy to me. It's not as if China doesn't make claims based on some kind of high-minded principles. I actually like Chinese justifications - truth with Chinese characteristics - because it is fun to see the paradoxes, incongruities, inconsistencies, lies and, yes, hypocrisies that they throw up. Non-interference in other countries’ affairs is a favourite. Well, this is a US affair, "in accordance with the law,“ which China often touts as decisive. China often does things for "maintenance of safety and security," so, given the potential subservience of the app to the CCP, is it not reasonable that safety and security might be violated for the US? China even cites "violation of international law" when it suits, as if it believes in it (see 9 dash line). "The principle of market economy” and "disrupted market order” have also been used to justify this or that, yet it doesn't mind violating the former and causing the latter to further its aims. Have a pop at the US, if that is your thing - I often do it myself - but the foe of your foe is not your friend. I still maintain China is one big hypocrite.

The US congress were thieves!

The US congress were thieves!

As you don't know what it is like to vote for leadership in China... oh wait, the CCP elites only vote for themselves, you completely miss the point of banning tiktok. The CCP is run by a bunch of autocrats that like to try to control others. Not just their own citizens of China, but globally. A lot of people are sick of the CCP, and they keep doing things to create more enemies for themselves.

but in China "many Western platforms, including Google, Facebook and Instagram, are blocked from operating in the country"

You seem to be suggesting that this is an inherently bad thing. I don't see it that way. I think some degree of 'digital sovereignty' will increasingly become the norm over the coming decades. China is an early and dramatic mover, but we also see the EU moving in this direction.

There is no reason why Silicon Valley (or Beijing) should take a cut of every mobile payment, advertising spend, taxi ride, or food delivery that takes place in Japan, the EU, or anywhere else. It makes very little sense to allow foreigners to control digital services that are effectively natural monopolies.

The US congress were thieves!

They pulled a CPP on China, and China doesn't like it when other countries CPP China.

supremely ironic

There is far too much irony with China and the govt's actions there.

ByteDance keeping data in the USA wasn't sufficient if all the support and engineers are still living inside China, beholding to the CCP. While upper management may not know ( and doesn't want to know ), there are certainly CCP "minders" getting fed data from TikTok, if not for everyone, for specific accounts.

The CCP doesn't like it when people try to tell the truth who have decided to never return to China. It is much easier to bully people when they are in your country. If they aren't there, they have to track down relatives and bully them.

Crybabies US congress are jealous of big success of Tiktok because many of them have shares in US social media and they want to cut Chinese Tiktok access to united states people..

Another proof of the fear and frustration of good old US has for the unstoppable growth of China..

Plain and simple..

Another proof of the fear and frustration of good old US has for the unstoppable growth of China..

Wait, China does this to all foreign companies in China, so wouldn't that mean china has even more fear and frustration of the good old US than the other way around?

The issue isn’t hypocrisy but whether the U.S. admitting there is justification for government control and bans over media. The U.S. government finally realizes the CCP way is necessary and good. Learn from China.

quercetumToday 12:17 am JST

The issue isn’t hypocrisy but whether the U.S. admitting there is justification for government control and bans over media. The U.S. government finally realizes the CCP way is necessary and good. Learn from China.

There has historically been control over media in the US, particularly before cable and the internet took off. This is just recognizing the extreme danger that AI and China pose.

Have we tried just reverse engineering the technology and putting up a big firewall to keep out all dangerous foreign influences? If not, why not?

I can certainly understand China’s stance on not allowing foreign social media companies into their country, and I am not telling China they need to trust the West before they are ready to, but reciprocal measures can actually build up trust when done in a fair and open manner. Just need to be more honest about why we are doing things.

Good faith gets good faith in return. Otherwise to hell with the other guy, right?

UChosePoorlyToday 05:36 am JST

Have we tried just reverse engineering the technology and putting up a big firewall to keep out all dangerous foreign influences? If not, why not?

It's a communications app. Would be almost impossible to put up a firewall that blocks only nefarious Chinese content as opposed to regular Chinese content. People would complain about there being a firewall in the network even more than the app being banned, too.

TikTok should be banned as viewing the questionable content leads to social breakdown

Taiwan - sorry, I forgot my sarc tags. I don’t want to ban TikTok. I am a pretty free market kind of guy, but I also believe in the golden rule and don’t think democracy and free markets should be a suicide pact either.

I don’t think the US needs to ban TikTok. Maybe just keep an eye on it.

Want to steal Tiktok from China?

All the Congress members who voted this were thieves!

China should continue banning Facebook, X, meta these dangerous platforms !

elephant200Today 09:53 am JST

China should continue banning Facebook, X, meta these dangerous platforms !

They already did. This is the problem with being a belligerent child country.