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Comment by the_af | Hacker News Reader

> It's obvious that TikTok is qualitatively different from the perspective of the US and its allies.

For those of us not in the US, it's not that different. We are always at the mercy of tech companies from a foreign power.

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> For those of us not in the US, it's not that different. We are always at the mercy of tech companies from a foreign power.

That may be true, but the OP tweet (https://twitter.com/zachtratar/status/1571595169207812096) is referring to Americans specifically, and even for non-Americans, it's different for American-allied countries vs. ones with a more adversarial relationship. I don't think Americans would be concerned about TikTok if it were based in the UK or Italy, for instance.

I’m pretty sure the Snowden leaks made it clear how the US chooses to treat its allies. So no, to anyone outside the US, Tik Tok isn’t substantially different from Facebook.

Then build your own. I mean it... good luck. You should absolutely advocate for your countries to limit their influence, and perhaps ban them from your country. Best of luck, but as an American, there's little I can do, unless you want me voting in your elections.

I'm sure you realize it's not that easy to "build your own" (for whatever tech, social network, internet, computers, etc). You don't have a head start and there are powerful forces working against you, both internal and external.

Though it's not outside the possibilities of a nation, it's still very hard.

I completely understand having divested myself of facebook, twitter and google and the like. I think if more nation states engaged, they would have more power than individuals or groups. Look what happened to parler, gab, and truth.

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