TikTok Ban: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)

[@laalaa99stl]

From the part of the show HBO didn't upload: "Luckily all our environmental laws are older than 18 years, so Rep. Gaetz shouldn't have much interest in them."

[@zeta0590]

​@raymondkassay3610 Lets deregulate America till people cannot afford milk🎉🎉. MAGA 2024🎉🎉🎉

[@RHCole]

​@@raymondkassay3610And this is why education is vital to a free society. Regulation built modern day America, buddy

[@ian562ADF52E]

​@raymondkassay3610 can't wait for our country to be ran by r*pists, pdf files, and abusers. Protect women and children btw.

[@MissBlueEyeliner]

God that’s grim and hilarious in one go.

[@CRneu]

@@raymondkassay3610 real question: when pill-mill Trump deports millions of americans who harvest our food and do service jobs, who is going to fill those positions? Americans dont want to work on dairies or farms, or do service jobs. unemployment is below 4% anyway. So, who is going to pick/grow our food?

[@masterloard]

For the Singaporean Citizen scene, all I can think of is King of the Hill "So, Mr. Kahn, are you Chinese or Japanese?" "I lived in California for the past 20 years. I'm originally from Laos." ".... huh?" "Laos. We are Laotian." "The ocean? What ocean?" "We are Laotian - from Laos, stupid! It's a land locked country in south east Asia. It's between Vietnam and Thailand, okay? Population 4.7 million" "... soooo, are you Chinese or Japanese?"

[@blueice35270]

🤣🤣For real ! As if they are deaf and only want their intrusive questions on written record as if they are a terrier going after a rat down a tunnel. They don't solve anything. Don't prove anything other than they are total A$$ Hools with no purpose other than to spend taxpayers money investigating anything. I'm surprised they don't ask how money toilet paper each defendant uses per poo.

[@holeinmysoul1]

😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

[@igotanM16]

"Yep" "Yep" "Yep" Mmmm-hmmm"

[@Zeroninja-j5c]

I tell you what 😂

[@djdrack4681]

yet he somehow understands boomhower

[@dinkelberry]

Ngl it’s kinda funny to see this as a German working in tech because we have the same or similar worries about US companies.

[@Ali-e5h1b]

Yeah, as an American I am suspicious every time the US points a finger.

[@Hawkenwhacker]

America is the definition of hypocrisy.

[@violetlove3580]

Most of us Americans feel the same way! But only the ones who are actually paying attention lol

[@nromk]

With Google being forced to possibly sell Chrome and Rumble being an potential buyer, I think if it comes to that I'm downloading Opera. There's no way I'm letting Rumble control my internet browsing history.

[@Raziel_HHL]

for real, Instagram is doing more or less the same thing. Every time I linger for 5 seconds on a video my for you page is full of similar content suddenly

[@ninjanerdstudent6937]

If TikTok gets banned in America, and Americans still want to use it, all they need is a VPN to access it from a different nation.

[@otterguyty]

Fine for casual users, but my 100% of my income is from American Tiktok users

[@cyberjunkie23]

That's not how it works. It is banned in India and you can't access it on VPN coz it's illegal for VPN providers.

[@markusayasse99]

This comment is sponsored by NordVPN! More about them after the sketch!

[@consciousness3466]

What if they remove it from the app store?

[@TotoLakay]

@@consciousness3466 Before app stores, we could download a program and install it on the pc or phone. Has that capability secretly removed or do people forget how to do that?

[@ShuRugal]

@9:23 - we have that automated collection sensor already. we call them: Facebook Yourtube Google Amazon Apple Microsoft etc etc etc

[@bazzfromthebackground3696]

All american lobbied companies, who compete with Tok. 🧐🧐🧐

[@RadioNickWNHS]

Some poor intern had to look up sonic feet and that’s now on his search history forever.

[@bodenking]

They probably have a dedicated computer for the weird searches they have to make. Just don’t look at the ads on webpages, they lost an intern that way

[@thezachman1]

Forget his search history, every time they close their eyes for the rest of their lives, there's a chance Sonic's stinky feet will be there

[@GarretGrayCamera]

They'll get a new computer, problem solved.

[@terencehamilton4219]

the intern probably likes sonic feet, dont kink shame.

[@Thorndelwyn]

Those could have come from his own collection. We'd need to ask those big tech to know....

[@VictoriaFire3]

Food for thought. Rather than just ban 1 app, why not just crack down on what kind of data companies can collect when people use their platform? Helps the American public and solves their concerns. But then again the people currently in office and those just recently elected will never do anything to actually help the American public, let alone take money away from big corporations.

[@RHCole]

But how can we make money off of that? /s

[@derekcoaker6579]

That would fuck up our non spying U.S. Businesses. /s in case. The Hypocrisy is... expected.

[@krombopulos_michael]

Because regardless of privacy regulations, there is no amount of data we should feel comfortable handing directly over to the government, especially the the authoritarian one of a hostile nation.

[@EthanMitch]

​@@krombopulos_michaelYour nation is more hostile to you than China

[@victoriasmith8570]

Well that’s just downright sensible, and we can’t have that!

[@pallao3500]

Only a good guy with a metaphorical gun can stop a bad guy with a metaphorical gun.

[@jasonsedor5676]

well done, well done

[@williamwhitney7395]

That metaphorical gun better not make me afraid for my families or my life. Cause I don't use fake guns.

[@LunaryxDiarmait]

​@@williamwhitney7395It's not the fake guns fault, though. It didn't know better.

[@catxtrallways]

What kept nagging at me was the fear of being blackmailed. What are our officials up to that they fear being made public? Instead of trying to bury the evidence, release it to the public. Take the power out of the threat.

[@BertockLeg]

​@@williamwhitney7395damn... i hope horror movies stear clear

[@flippingthescienceclassrom]

The government should have better laws instead of targeting one company. This doesn't stop any other company from doing the exact same thing (which they do, here in the U.S.).

[@bazzfromthebackground3696]

But they only care about this one company, because the competitors of said company have billions lobbied telling them to.

[@stevenmarsh7155]

If they were treating it as a direct threat, it MIGHT hold water, but the tact of "its too dangerously powerful, you must sell it to us" is laughably, stupidly transparent.

[@SynthiaVan]

If you know anything about China and how it views America, you would see how obviously it is a destabilization weapon right out of their playbook. Banning propaganda and misinformation vehicles that are owned by foreign adversaries should not be controversial. The reason it is controversial is because the propaganda is working.

[@leonhartthuesten9695]

As a non-American I find it interesting, how personal data suddenly becomes an issue, once the new trending app is non-american. But what do I know... Hi Google! :)

[@owlbusdumbledork9966]

Our government is so good at using the media to direct public conversation. We're all too distracted and uneducated, and politicians never actually say what they mean, and yet everyone thinks they do, while simultaneously claiming that all the politicians they don't like are lying about everything. It's baffling.

[@ghostlytavern129]

Big brother doesn’t like it when any one else spies on their citizens

[@TheZombieButler]

😂😂😂😂

[@coltonblake13]

For a reason. I'm going to guess it's how they use the data. The data that they collect is literally everything, including keystrokes for everything on every app, including permission to allow those permissions to your devices linked to your profile. So any government employee has allowed them to access the computers and everything on them if they've ever used Tic-Tok on a government device or your government credentials on a private device with Tic-Tok.

[@MrWowh]

Of course in the US its a big deal. It could be weaponized. Other countries should be worried about US companies as well.

[@Herr_Vorragender]

The point that Google and Meta are doing the exact same thing only on a far larger scale, can not be stressed enough!

[@johnconner4695]

They are American companies so it’s irrelevant.

[@bazzfromthebackground3696]

Byte Dance brought this exact thing up during the hearing, and Congress' actual reaponse was "They're not Chinese, they don't count."

[@tannersmith7378]

Good thing I don't have Tik-Tok, and only consume short form media on every other app

[@Onarca]

It's not just about the short form content, it's the rate that it spreads misinformation and disinformation. It puts most other apps to shame in that regard.

[@AutumnsGunnar]

@@Onarcalol no it doesn’t. Twitter is the king of misinformation and Facebook definitely takes second place. TikTok is more strict about everything across the board when it comes to social media companies. You can’t even say certain words like gun without being flagged

[@illuminant777XtX]

Short form video is absolute cancer. Its time waste and highly addicting. Most people can never stop doing it for a long time. And it completely fucks up children. Short form video infinity scroll should be banned or at least heavily regulated. It brain rots a BILLION people who could do something usefull otherwise like god damn learn something read or anything.

[@dizont]

@@illuminant777XtX i agree, short video format has to be regulated or smthn. Its hijacking human brain

[@chriscoalman1075]

@@Onarca Oh yes its a problem. Fluid intelligence in humanity is on a decline (most data shows towards social media/media usage) first time ever its observated and at the same time AI is on the rise. We are in for some awakening.

[@OpinionsNoOneCaresAbout]

18:20 "Senator 'I wasn't really an Army Ranger but boy will I tell everyone I was', only one of us has lied to the American people, and it's you."

[@Chipajock]

told my congressperson "not only will i vote for your replacement, i will be campaigning for them, and i did"

[@SynthiaVan]

You're part of the problem, not the solution. We need more safeguards against propaganda and misinformation, not less.

[@laalaa99stl]

Guy on Fox News calling TikTok junk food for our brains is chef's kiss irony.

[@raghuvarv]

TikTok is junk food for our brains. Fox News is a cigarette with an asbestos filter mesh.

[@0Clewi0]

And lets now hear how they praise that Trump stopped the ban

[@cyro420]

All mainstream media is garbage … fox is the same as msnbc

[@AP-iu2ty]

Don't you guys still believe Russia collusion conspiracies?

[@DoubLL]

I mean... he's right. Ironically so, but still right 😅

[@125steini]

"Metaphorical gun violence will not stand!" 🤣

[@Gaite4354]

Yup, its true. China is dangerous.

[@mattbehling7416]

So basically government saying how dare you track our citizens that’s our job

[@EthanMitch]

No it's the job of their donor social media companies

[@cc1k435]

Yeah, well, one problem at a time. The Chinese taking our money leaves us all unable to deal with our own crooked billionaire class. 😂

[@paulgrieger8182]

Well said.

[@CentristDad155]

So you trust the government that kills millions of its own citizens at a time and has gulags? If they do that to their own citizens what are they going to do to you?

[@IVWOR]

You id...t

[@vincentclark5739]

I’m glad he mentioned other social media apps do the exact same thing as TikTok. Just don’t post your whole life online and itll be that much harder for them

[@uncan]

Parent child argument: Your favorite social media platform is biased, invasive and corrosive! No, your social media platform is biased, invasive and corrosive!

[@cathywethington5913]

Exactly

[@betsyjohnson9699]

Exactly. The US government is screaming about TikTok like the incoming First Lady’s app isn’t worse

[@coltonblake13]

Mine doesn't collect literally everything, including keystrokes for everything on every app, including permission to allow those permissions to your devices linked to your profile. So any government employee has allowed them to access the computers and everything on them if they've ever used Tic-Tok on a government device or your government credentials on a private device with Tic-Tok. The data, if an American company has it, is subject to our laws. Foreign governments, especially china, do not.

[@Tustin2121]

@@coltonblake13- Why do you continually spam these lies?

[@samuxan]

A summary: tiktok does everything alphabet, microsoft, X or meta do, but the company doesn't share the data with the us government so they don't like it. So instead of doing a European style GDPR they focus on just the app they don't control(or doesn't donate to their campaigns)

[@KaifongChang]

That's the whole point! Americans can only be screwed by American themselves, not by the Chinese. This is indeed a national security issue...

[@JustinAzoleGaming-i5l]

So you would rather have chinese overlords? Europe is also working to ban tiktok BTW. Why do you think china doesnt allow such programs within their borders unless they are owned by china? Here is a hint, they understand the power and influence it would give the United States over their people.

[@Foolofatook889]

American tech companies do not share your data with the government unless they’re subpoenaed. TikTok has also used the app to track the location and harrass a journalist that published information that they didn’t like.

[@nkanyezihlatshwayo3601]

I wouldn’t be surprised that in the last four years ByteDance has made significant monetary contributions to keep their business afloat but that security hawks can’t find it in themselves to trust it a priori because that ‘feels an awful lot like bribery’ - which is, of course, a significant security concern.

[@purplekey9330]

This is skipping over the fact it's going to a foreign government. Tiktok is owned by a nation that isn't on the best terms with us, of course it gets a special condition. I don't get how this keeps getting missed. It's not that we can't see, it's that China can

[@Commander.Starfleet]

The singaporean being grilled by that congressman should've retorted with his own questioning, based on appearance: "how long have you served in the russian FSB? Do you hold a russian passport?"

[@donnaflores2166]

And asked if he was here legally

[@dominicnzl]

everyone is guilty until proven otherwise in very simple words a 5 year could understand if he really wanted to

[@MarcColten73]

Talk about a flashback. "Are you now or have you ever been?"

[@Hawkenwhacker]

Fighting back with their own questioning would be counterproductive. Allow the one doing the questioning to expose their own foolishness.

[@poeticsilence047]

​@@Hawkenwhacker exactly. Make them look bad and silly. Keep saying the right answers.

[@patrickhaley1312]

I don't really think it's more nuanced than most people think. Congress is banning tiktok for doing the exact same things all other social media companies do. The only difference is who owns the company, or more realistically because American social media companies have been lobbying for over a decade. And since it's not blanket protection for all American's data from all social media companies all tiktok has to do is buy the data from american companies for pennies. It's a bad law written by people who don't understand the technology they're legislating.

[@M3ganwillslay]

They want to ban it for only one reason . 🧃 Have no control over it .

[@sanmer85]

They're doing it cuz Meta paid them

[@M3ganwillslay]

@sanmer85 the entire Jewish lobby . Not just meta

[@_jpg]

​@@M3ganwillslayIs the Jewish lobby currently in the room with us?

[@benwalters4808]

​@@_jpgaipac? Nah they are busy buying the new incoming house members

[@diegohaldeman9719]

Its easy to have 7 million small “businesses” when half the tiktoks are people pushing their commissioned or dropshipped product

[@DanielGarcia-rx3kt]

There's one thing I and everyone else should know for certain: when the US government says it's about national security, it isn't. There is ALWAYS an ulterior motive.

[@cathywethington5913]

👍👍👍👍👍

[@coltonblake13]

For a reason, national security. I'm going to guess it's how they use the data. The data that they collect is literally everything, including keystrokes for everything on every app, including permission to allow those permissions to your devices linked to your profile. So any government employee has allowed them to access the computers and everything on them if they've ever used Tic-Tok on a government device or your government credentials on a private device with Tic-Tok. The data if an American company has it is subject to our laws. Foreign governments, especially china, do not.

[@yakuza01]

@@coltonblake13 Oh boy, wait until you learn about Santa Claus. LOL.

[@ingrudmessenger1193]

Ehh... depends on your definiton of national security. I assume it's harder to force Tik-Tok to add a backdoor for US intelligence than Facebook.

[@monophthalmus3254]

Most importantly, Zuck has asked Congress to ban TikTok as Meta cannot compete.

[@Ursicus-td8zt]

If my taxpayer-funded math teacher can demand I show my work, then I demand Congress shows theirs.

[@rightsdontcomewithpermits7073]

And this is why we have politicians like we have, Because we have nothing better to offer. Everyone is crap. 😂

[@user-zu5do6ri6r]

@Ursicus-td8zt You have it backwards. We owe society. Society doesn't owe us.

[@janetsolbakken3332]

@@user-zu5do6ri6r, we may owe society, but we don’t have to let corrupt congress hide information from us to protect one of their own. They owe us integrity in their leadership.

[@jokerz7936]

Eat your veggies and in about 25 years you can look it up when it's declassified.

[@coltonblake13]

You mean classified? For a reason. I'm going to guess it's how they use the data. The data that they collect is literally everything, including keystrokes for everything on every app, including permission to allow those permissions to your devices linked to your profile. So any government employee has allowed them to access the computers and everything on them if they've ever used Tic-Tok on a government device or your government credentials on a private device with Tic-Tok.

[@Thiefnuker]

We have publicly owned radio stations. We have publicly owned television broadcasting. Why do we not have publicly owned internet service providers and social media spaces?

[@nothankyou7979]

Because of the insane fearmongering against socialism & communism. Anything „communal“ is bad!! Only hyperindividualism and capitalism good.

[@freedomishavingachoice3020]

Technically, PBS is on KZbin.

[@mc76]

You might have noticed that the GOP has tried to defund A and B on a regular basis. There is no way the incoming administration is going for C.

[@user-zu5do6ri6r]

@Thiefnuker The government shouldn't be funding the first 2 things. This is a classic 2 wrongs don't make a right.

[@ObviusRetard]

Be careful what you wish for when twitter becomes state media under Trump hehe

[@goatness]

The “sell it to an American company” part of the demand tells me that it is entirely about money.

[@cathywethington5913]

Exactly

[@neildolan3700]

On the other hand, the refusal to do so tells me it's *not* about money on ByteDance's end.

[@harveyataddlety4073]

America will always try their best to keep certain information from getting to the public.

[@goatness]

I was talking about the reason for the demand to sell, which was not initiated by ByteDance. But also, if the dictate is that they must sell to an American company, that’s a limitation on potential bidders which could artificially keep the price low. Heck, they’d probably force a sale of $1 to some temporary holding company, which then resells to the highest domestic bidder for an enormous profit that doesn’t leave this country. If ByteDance is interested in money, they’d want to keep the ongoing revenue instead of being forced into selling.

[@宋庆礼]

@@neildolan3700 Really? If you were force to sell your thriving company under a short notice, you will never get even half of asset worth. Not to mention the company could worth double in a year. Imagine you force Musk to sell his Tesla share 2020.

[@fkcoolers2669]

These fools will mobilize to cry over Tik Tok before they'll get out and actually vote. Classic.

[@eyasabiedan6950]

Google listens to us from the microphone on Androids and shows you ads based on what ever we said to people 😂😂

[@ingrudmessenger1193]

And so does Apple.

[@brianfernandes10BD]

You know it's funny when TikTok is getting banned for data broking, while Meta and Google are giggling heartily.

[@AutumnsGunnar]

It’s happening because they lobbied for it

[@blueice35270]

And you TALK about buying something and the next thing you know there are 15 ads on the damn Microsoft EDGE and Facebook for it.

[@MrAweeze]

At least they're American. We don't want to help China hasten our inevitable collapse

[@ChrisAlfanoPHL]

It's getting banned for being owned by a company that has to put the interests of an adversarial foreign government over its own business. If they spin it out or sell it it's not banned

[@ChrisAlfanoPHL]

The fact that there's no public evidence that bytedance has acted on any directions from the Chinese government doesn't mean anything. There's no way we could know without deep espionage and of course we wouldn't want to reveal the intelligence methods we discovered any evidence through The point is that under the current regime the Chinese government has the right and ability to freely manipulate tiktok with no public visibility and that in and of itself is a huge problem. Whether they haven't done it already or we just don't have evidence that can be made public or they haven't done it yet, the fact remains that they can do it whenever they want and it's a huge threat Yes we should have blanket privacy and algorithmic manipulation regulations that apply to all American companies too. Also we shouldn't have major media companies dominating in America that are subject to the control of hostile foreign governments. All bytedance needs to do is sell off or spin out tiktok to a company not under the thumb of the CCP and everyone can keep using it. Why is that off the table for them?

[@lie6790]

Ban all corporations from stealing our info under threat of prison for management, leaders & major shareholders.

[@segfault-]

+1!

[@coltonblake13]

It isn't theft. You agree to their user agreements and terms and conditions

[@alexanderbrown4250]

But what about the 1st Amendment?

[@franjkav]

@@coltonblake13dumb argument

[@MissBlueEyeliner]

I don’t trust myself to get TikTok… so I’ll just binge shorts on KZbin… at least I’m self aware about my cognitive dissonance.

[@nubeivanlama]

That’s exactly what I do

[@wetenschap123]

And funnily enough, KZbin algorithm still gets it wrong after 14 years. (and that's good)

[@christmastiger]

I can't do the short-form stuff, maybe that's why I'm so opposed to downloading TikTok cause people describe it like it's an addictive drug

[@JL0ndon]

@@christmastigeras a person who has dealt with actual addiction issues, i find it so alarmist and ridiculous to say it’s like a drug. It’s not a good thing for sure and it can be addictive but it’s nothing like a drug that can kill you from withdrawals or OD.

[@cascadecontroller]

Same, the shorts algorithm is pretty bad thou. So I hate myself for binging and the content is not even good.

[@Dezhavu13]

Tom Cotton does an excellent reprisal of Joe McCarthy's style of questioning.

[@greghodges2116]

Maybe we need robust public protection laws on all forms of social media, not just TikTok

[@MikeH89]

That clip made Senator Tom Cotton sound like a bargain basement Senator Joe McCarthy 😂😂😂

[@scottstover482]

I think orange jesus is a bigger threat than tik tok.

[@brokenrecord3523]

Almost as dangerous as brown jesus

[@greteb1951]

I’m not Christian in the slightest but comparing the dried tangerine to Jesus feels a bit off

[@betsyjohnson9699]

@@greteb1951given how much Jesus fought against corrupt government and religious officials, Trump definitely is not in any way comparable to Jesus. The problem is that all of his followers think he is 😭

[@Trumpsucksmics]

@@greteb1951but his followers call him that 😢 I feel ashamed of my religion.

[@brokenrecord3523]

@@greteb1951 A self-proclaimed messiah promising salvation, but really just initiating a violent cult following?

[@quotationmarksedits]

I feel called out by the “Xena: Warrior Princess” reference. That deserved a bigger laugh.

[@The8BitPianist]

A crucial aspect this video didn't mention: A lot of the anti-TikTok efforts picked up after there were more and more pro-Palestinian posts on the platform. Some politicians mentioned that criticism of Israel is one of the reasons to ban the site.

[@andersjepsen1309]

It _is_ extremely frustrating to see people who are supposed to be on the left blindly support a regime that executes homosexuals and blames The Jews (TM) for world war 1 and 2.

[@duderdude4831]

Tiktok should've been banned before Oct 7th.

[@Xennial_Scientist_TinaChris]

Uh....Trump tried to ban it way before last year😂He got mad when teens pranked his rally using tiktok years ago. They've only added last year's war as another excuse to ban it

[@mikevondebag]

We should break up FB and IG into seperate companies again as well.

[@DavidNelsonATX]

I’m in the “I’m too old” camp. I fall somewhere between TikTok and hour plus podcasts. Your show falls perfectly in my sweet spot.

[@ioutra6121]

this comment exactly

[@donaldtrumpsmom4575]

😂😂😂😂😂this show fits perfectly in the trash that where the dem party is too. Trump 2024.

[@katiekane5247]

​@@donaldtrumpsmom4575Linda McMahon and Dr Oz 🤣 The second least satisfying "I told you so" in recent history 😢

[@josephinethornton3823]

Tiktok, much like desperate trolls that were obviously starved of their mother's attention, is something that just holds no interest for me. I once downloaded it and tried to make videos but I simply can't give enough of an eff to be bothered with it and, as all things on the Internet work, unless you're willing to put in the time and make it flashy (or simply use a filter to fake the flashy and add music people like) it's not ever going to get engagement. But that's ✨exactly✨ my sweet spot. As of about 12 years old I got WAY TOO ATTENTION, and at 50 I've finally aged out of the vast amount of attention from a huge mass of horny dudes and angry women that want the attention of the horny men. I'm finally just a person again, like I was for the first 11 years of my life. It's GLORIOUS. So why would I go through the steps required to purposefully seek an audience by gaming an algorithm to pay attention to me? For what possible purpose? If people aren't willing to read what I have to write, it's obvious they have no interest. I'm not going to put on makeup and a showy dress for T&A appeal to get attention when I want to speak up about something. Trying to jam everything I need to say into a short TikTok video is like parts of John Oliver's show- he's speaking too fast about the really IMPORTANT parts and knows he'll lose the audience if he doesn't make another joke despite the gravity of what he's speaking about. On a random note, I just noticed that Trump looks vaguely like my dad, in the kind of dead eyed stare where they paused his tiktok video as John kept speaking. It's the exact look of a man who is mentally and emotionally trapped in a place a plethora of decades ago and REALLY doesn't like the world he's trapped in now but it's that or death so he just keeps existing with that bizarre expression and is angry he's not relevant. Thankfully my dad died so he won't be insulted by that as he hated Trump for being "a philandering, soul selling spineless schmuck that stands for absolutely nothing if he can make a buck off it; all he cares about is money and those people are the people that historically have always flushed our country straight down the toilet," and, as with most things, my father was indeed correct. That dead eyed stare of a man making a video telling people he's there to save a platform he himself tried to get rid of, on the platform telling people to vote for him because he'll save it. But he won't. He doesn't understand it and only uses it to ogle women younger than his own daughter. . . And, of course, to make money selling cheap Chinese garbage merch on a Chinese app with virtue signaling American flags everywhere, all of the items ignoring the actual flag code itself. What a lifeless husk of a person that desperately wants it to be the 1980's again.

[@SharienGaming]

ive been too old for all that nonsense back since i was in my teens XD had one look at facebook and friendster and all the other nonsense back then and said "nope not touching that"

[@RHCole]

100% fine with a blanket social media ban. If Tiktok is a security threat, then so is Insta, Snap, Facebook, and Twitter.

[@krombopulos_michael]

Not really though because they aren't owned by the governments of hostile nations. They would arguably be a security threat to the regimes of China, Russia, Iran etc. but that's why those governments have banned them

[@SC-dm1ct]

I completely agree, but the TikTok issue is because of its chinese ownership, and the fact that the amount of information the CCP can and has harvested from it is frightening. But yes, down with social media

[@supermariozelda]

Sounds like a free speech violation, no?

[@RHCole]

​@@krombopulos_michaelTikTok is owned by a Singaporean

[@RHCole]

​@@SC-dm1ctSingapore ain't China, TikTok is not controlled by China

[@gslom12]

He has a good point. The jar hasn't been recognized for it's continued practicality and accomplishments.

[@doxodd6834]

8:05 … JOHN WHY YOU CALLING ME OUT SO HARD. … And you layed out MY OWN FRIGGIN ARGUMENTS. I’m just saying, you’re right, and I kept that to myself for a long time. XD The Iron Giant is like my big strong gentle type of guy. Real “Daddy” energy but hey I have issues

[@producerbenford]

I was hoping you’d cover the other important reason TikTok came under fire. When Trump held a rally, and TikTok users reserved all the tickets, leaving the venue empty. That’s when Trump and the GOP began targeting TikTok. Up until that point, many GOP-promoted social issues were being effectively shared on the platform. Once Democrats realized how quickly TikTok could mobilize people outside of their control as well, the crosshairs were locked on TikTok from both sides. Love this show!

[@Trumpsucksmics]

I don’t get it though. Why tik tok? We still have KZbin, facebook, instagram, twitter 🤷🏻‍♀️ might as well ban all of it.

[@katiekane5247]

Hey now c'mon, the bruise to his ego was nearly fatal 🤣

[@melphiss]

“TikTok poses national security risks”, laughing in Russian on X

[@Foolofatook889]

The law as written would apply to X if 20% of the company or more is owned by a foreign country of concern.

[@stephaniebrizard8657]

​@@Foolofatook889but it's not and I am sure Trump and Congress would make an exception for it.

[@melphiss]

Any Russian oligarch is somehow related to Putin, which means they are insiders and can threaten Elon’s business, the 20% rule does not guarantee independence of the media

[@christmastiger]

That's the old way, Elon does it himself now. A study came out that the algorithm changed to favor Musk tweets and conservative-leaning tweets around the time he endorsed Trump

[@Foolofatook889]

@@stephaniebrizard8657 How would Congress make an exception? Congress supports the law as written. That’s why TikTok is in court right now.

[@-DM]

This was such a comprehensive and entertaining video, thanks John and team!

[@avakining]

Sounds like we need broad data protection laws that apply to all apps and websites that operate in the US

[@wesshiflet2214]

15:34 “it’s INEXPLICABLE how underrepresented a 1991 political scandal is on TikTok compared to KZbin”

[@justinmonico3847]

-The Government be like "Tik Tok bad. -Trust bro." Us: "Nah"

Daniel O'Brien putting Iron Giant jokes into things will never die.

[@CDud-qi3re]

Ran to the comments to see or say this exact thing.

[@Metaphoreign]

I think we all collectively realized the potential risks of having any personal information on computers connected to the internet to begin with, shrugged, and embarked on a technological odyssey together fully knowing it probably doesn't end well.

[@AdamYJ]

There was an element of “I’m nobody, why would they bother with my data?” also.

[@robgriffin4801]

How hasn't it ended well? Internet connectivity is one of humanity's greatest achievements. Also the "I'm nobody" argument still stands up remarkably well for all intents and purposes.

[@katerusso4891]

Great show John! Needed the laughs! This information is scary 💩!

[@tokeryule5347]

9:03 as if thats not what the US is doing all over the world

[@CaliCowboy805]

Exactly I don't know if you know but Facebook tracks your every step if you went to the store if you went to another city and it tracks you more than Google what business does it have doing that. But tik Toc is bad??

[@Salbastro]

I remember a story years ago about a military base's security being compromised because of all the soldiers and staff wearing FitBits (the gps data could be used to track their locations), but i don't remember the govt demanding they be sold or dissolved or anything like that

[@SusCalvin]

They limit devices on sensitive sites here. Ukraine became that sort of environment. Its a laugh in peacetime, but not when both sides have signals warfare and rocket artillery.

[@tarain417land]

I wish Congress cared as much about FB.

[@betsyjohnson9699]

Exactly!!!!! Facebook and X are both way worse

[@vipersb1]

It's not just TikTok, it's "shorts' in general. Looking at you KZbin, Facebook, and Instagram.

[@jnizzelest]

At 13:18 every social media app we use is the same tracking, people saying good thing they don’t use TikTok means nothing since all of them do it

[@wesshiflet2214]

14:44 ok, I know it’s a quote but referring to Falun Gong as just a “banned religious group” is a pretty generous description lmfao

[@baroquejen]

Did I wake up in opposite land where John is telling us something isn't as terrible as we are being told?? What's happening??

[@coltonblake13]

Makes you wonder what else he's totally wrong about

[@duderdude4831]

Yeah tiktok is actually not good and owned by a foreign adversary wtf

[@Cccddcccjjh]

@@coltonblake13he thinks trans women should play in women’s sports…

[@Tustin2121]

@@coltonblake13- He’s not. You are. Go somewhere else, FBI agent.

[@jinx17]

Well never thought I'd see a Chris Klemens clip on John Oliver but here I am @0:25

[@shelbymp13]

Collab we didn't know we needed

[@therockbottom5256]

Get him on a pilot for “dick or snake?” ASAP

[@madilops]

Crazy times we live in

[@bunnyfernwood]

Was just about to say this 😂😂

[@BernicePanders]

5:50 - I'm a single millennial with no transportation in a small town, stuck in a toxic MI hud apt. & have been disabled since childhood. I've been begging the medical system for 15 years for the amazing freedom & quality of life a scooter would give me, but was told I basically have to be bedridden or in hospice to qualify. Since I can't even make $200 above my fixed disability that's still under $1k a month, I have no hope of saving for one myself. I've tried a GoFundMe, but as is proven by this story, ppl are vastly more willing to give someone 10x what they needed- if it's on the news or viral. I will end up nor surviving the next 4 years, and I gave up on my dream of living in a RV/camper/van, so I can experience anything at all in my life before it's over...

[@franciscomagalhaes7457]

John's impersonation of obnoxious teenaged girls just keeps getting better and better XD

[@kharyrobertson3579]

This episode feels like a great argument for why all social media should be banned in it's current iteration and remade into something less predatory.

[@laalaa99stl]

Trump doesn't need TikTok. He's got his buddy Elon's X to track the exact locations of anti-Trump dissidents.

[@0Clewi0]

except that dissidents would just change platform

[@myguy796]

Its a good thing the left has Bluesky, its gonna work out for them, just ask Mastadon & Threads, they'll tell you

[@MC-pt8kv]

Get off Twitter. Why is anyone on there anymore?

[@RonaldRegain]

Just delete Twitter already. 2016 election has shown Twitter is poisoning society.

[@StressedDepressednOverdressed]

Are people still on twitter? Idk anyone still on twitter

[@rockyraccoonhendrix1733]

2:20 “that’s not eseptible”

[@richm.3853]

Maybe it should be banned if that’s the person fighting for it

[@chillnophone2024]

They can't even speak properly. 😢

[@pasarasaki9007]

I'm so glad there irrtated someone else this much, I was scared I was a late-born boomer xD

[@scubasandwich3644]

"I love the poorly educated"

[@hellbendy]

Please try not to make fun of people's accents. It doesn't equate to being poorly educated. Linguistic diversity is beautiful and normal. Not trying to ruin anyone's fun, but it is actually an important thing.

[@kimolstad8348]

“Just trust us”. Do we trust Legislators or China (or tech) more? What a choice….

[@Donillini]

Are you insane? You’d rather trust a competitive foreign power over your own government?

[@SusCalvin]

The party is a paranoid dictatorship that sees any sort of social movements outside of party control as threats.

[@zramsey11]

Data collection isn't my main concern with TikTok. Algorithmically-served short-form content is an immense plague on the human mind. Machine learning systems have become exceptional at keeping your attention, especially when the content only takes a minute to consume. This has been shown to induce ADHD-like symptoms, and needless to say, has wasted hours of peoples' time. It is impossible to pack any sort of nuance into a minute of video, leading to misinformation by ommission, and every piece of information is an opinion piece with no fact-checkers. This is a far bigger problem to me than any data collection. While TikTok is not the only offender, it is the most prolific.

[@ducttapeengineer]

I'm 40 and I hate talking on the phone.

[@rawrproductions5963]

finally an episode, that is just plain funny and not handles dire topics which i only could facepalm over with a sarcastic grin.

[@coltonblake13]

For a reason, national security isn't dire right? I'm going to guess it's how they use the data. The data that they collect is literally everything, including keystrokes for everything on every app, including permission to allow those permissions to your devices linked to your profile. So any government employee has allowed them to access the computers and everything on them if they've ever used Tic-Tok on a government device or your government credentials on a private device with Tic-Tok. The data if an American company has it is subject to our laws. Foreign governments, especially china, do not.

[@Crousher]

Amary Guichon is goated and his School of Chocolate is the best competition show on Netflix by far.

[@laalaa99stl]

"Congress will not stand by and watch someone pointing a _metaphorical_ gun at Americans' heads." 😔

[@wilsonmacharia6762]

It was due to the country we can’t criticize and who’s currently committing massive war crimes

[@foxx77]

Feels worth noting that for all the US Tech Companies, Congress could pass new laws to regulate them and has ways to enforce those. That’s significantly more limited when a company is based elsewhere.

[@mcringelpietzz4085]

Donald Trump trying to ban TikTok was just a 4D chess move to stop people from roasting his ‘YMCA’ dance moves!

[@katiekane5247]

He doesn't even realize what the song is about. His bad "dancing" knows no bounds!

[@davidmerchant8525]

You failed to mention tiktok's role in broadcasting the genocide in Palestine, providing documentation on war criminals and supercharging the anti-genocide movement.

[@michaelf8221]

That was done on every social media app more effectively.

[@RHCole]

​@@michaelf8221...and with less misinformation

[@TheSpearkan]

And you failed to mention Tiktoks suppression of content mentioning the war in Ukraine, pro-democratic demonstrations in China or the Uyghur Genocide in its algorithm.

[@stephaniebrizard8657]

​@@michaelf8221John covered the demographic that uses the app, it gets the message to those users more effectively than the others that have a lesser impact on younger Americans.

[@techarch8851]

That's the main reason they wanted it banned.

[@lorenzoblum868]

3:36 mr Oliver nailed it again... Now, back to the video.

[@lorenzoblum868]

Seems John Oliver is a sharp mind surrounded by an efficient team unlike most congressmen and senators....

[@shroomyk]

As much as I dislike tiktok and short-form brainrot, a better solution would be to just crack down on companies collecting and selling data. But we all know that Congress never chooses the better solution.

[@ReneeKadlubek]

I needed to be near NYC for this to actually get resolved. Thank you.

[@rblyle382]

When he said 30 something percent of people get their news from tiktok, i suddently understood how trump won.

[@cathywethington5913]

That wasn't tiktok. Young people use tiktok. It's older people who voted in trump.. So Facebook, KZbin etc

[@dingdong4567]

Wait, there are other news sources beside Josh Johnson?

[@Ursicus-td8zt]

7 million small businesses on Tik Tok may not seem like a lot, but that's 1/5 of all small businesses in America.

[@thomastakesatollforthedark2231]

Ohh shit

[@AutumnsGunnar]

TikTok added just shy of $25 billion to the GDP last year… Not all those 7 million business are small either so if anything stands out to Trump saving the app it’ll be that number

[@michaelf8221]

To be fair, if tik tok didn't exist or was banned, those same businesses would get the same business from people using the other non-banned apps.

[@stephaniebrizard8657]

​@@michaelf8221but it's not the case and most of those companies decide it hits more of its necessary demographic on Tic Tok.

[@KitaBFawkes]

​@@michaelf8221 In the same video above that I assumed we both watched... There is a literal cattle wrangling farmer explaining how he *doesn't* get the same business from other sources that he does from TikTok. So no, I don't think they would. And the reason for that is simple: they didn't see the cow for sale on YT or X or BlueSky. They saw it on TikTok. Different algo, different distribution, and TikTok's algo is built on selling and advertising products. Unlike YT, whose model is to appeal to the advertisers. The advertisers are still trying to sell, but YT isn't trying to sell for them in the same way. The platforms aren't actually samey enough for what you say to be true.

[@Scoots1994]

How much Rule 34 Sonic content did the producers have to look at to find those 3 images?

[@jodyjm13]

I just hope John's joke gets more people to watch "The Iron Giant", because that's a genuinely great movie.

[@Itcouldbebunnies]

Fingers crossed for a Xena revival as well.🤞🥰🤞

[@MichaelSotoCE]

Incredible he didnt mention israel at all. Congress started going insane on the issue after young people were getting informed about Israel's despicable apartheid - on tiktok. It was after that congress started expressing a bipaetisan fervor for banning tiktok

[@sunnijo]

Can we just ban TikTok because 20 people using it at the grocery store with no headphones at full volume is really annoying?

[@DoodleThis]

Even if we kill TikTok, someone else will create the next app and the stupidity will continue. Hell, it’s already bleeding onto Instagram

[@rblyle382]

​@@DoodleThis fuck Instagram and Meta in general as well

[@soymilkman]

truu

[@MVM.7]

Great research as always

[@youtubegarbage7876]

This week I learned that the "R" word is out of fashion, and we should call people who use Tik Tok "low information people"

[@ChronicNewb]

I could never forget this story because I was working in a high school at the time. I tried to present the story to my students as “I’m against this but there are legitimate concerns with TikTok” but my mentor teacher completely shut down any balanced point I tried to make 🙃

[@Sephora0102-x7r]

Some spent their time during the pandemic on Tiktok while others were playing Animal Crossing. What a time it was..

[@AdamYJ]

While others watched Tiger King. Me? I watched Kamen Rider and Ultraman while playing Dragon Quest and starting a garden. I always seem to be the odd one.

[@QuentinStyger]

Kernel level anti cheat software in video games are doing more damage than TikTok ever can.

[@IndiaTides]

Ordinary people don't understand the capacity of data.

[@benwalters4808]

They shouldn't care, the only reason our government pretends to care is they are paid to by our oligarchs.

[@mcmcmcm6520]

I’m totally against the TikTok ban and I’ve never used it.

[@janicewuitschick4599]

I wish there was something better than just a “thumbs up,” for your views mixed with humor,👍🏼👊🏻👍🏼👍🏻👍🏼🤙🏼👍🏿👍🏾👍🏾👍🏽👍🏽👍👏🏻

[@garga.mel.o]

2:30 his best impression yet???

[@InfamousBlonde]

I'm sorry to admit that I have rewound your "I'm just 18 year old girl from Michigan" monologue so many times now...

[@Weird766]

From an non US perspective: Could someone tell me the difference please? The Chinese social media app does the same things, the Amercian social media apps do all over the world.

[@stephaniebrizard8657]

There is no difference, and that is the point. This is just a bs play of politicians to control an app that is not American owned.

[@Clickwrap]

There is no difference. Bans on using the app on devices or in places connected with State Government operations and infrastructure- on military bases, on phones issued to federal government workers (such as staff at the Pentagon, for example) and diplomats (such as those operating out of U.S. foreign embassies) is the only restriction that makes sense in the vein of concern for national security. Otherwise, the entire thing basically revolves around “China bad” and “America good.” Then there’s the obvious conflicts of interest with Tik Tok being one of the only social media platforms that isn’t actively censuring any coverage of Gaza that doesn’t come from or isn’t in line with Israeli statements/interests.

[@copilot13]

It's mainly the level of control Chinas government has over Bytedance than America has over its social media companies. We've seen a lot of evidence of social media companies refusing to comply with federal government requests (twitter, meta, apple) but Bytedance wouldn't be able to do so, leaving more potential for harm.

[@OffendingTheOffendable]

The most amazing phone calls in history

[@emmamurphy738]

John pointing out how shameless TikTok users are is so funny bc of how true it is. There are no secrets, no guilt, no shame on that app. A truly lawless land 😂

[@ivorya815]

Tik Tok is REALLY bad in Germany. Legit can't go into the comment sections without seeing an AfD fan account

[@herbertschulz4313]

Yeah, but instagramm and you tube are the same. And Twitter way worse about this. The only social media platform you dont see any AfD on is funnily enough, reddit

[@AutumnsGunnar]

What’s AfD?

[@AutumnsGunnar]

Never mind I looked it up

[@rblyle382]

​@@AutumnsGunnar had to look it up too. Sounds like their brand of maga.

[@ivorya815]

@@herbertschulz4313 True! It really stuck out to me on Tik Tok, but yeah, social media is dominated by those sorts of people. I guess they have the most time to write stupid comments all day. Rare good moment for reddit haha