Technology
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It's wild to me how many people with seemingly liberal values are cheering on the US government telling them what apps they can and can't use to get and share information. Banning it on government devices is fine, banning it outright seems like a huge 1st amendment violation and assault on democratic values. The government has no business telling you what you can listen to or say, many people have died for us to have that right and we shouldn't give it away just because we're scared of election interference or spying or whatever it is.
That would be true if they were banning it because they didn't like it. But I believe the growing concern is that it is a national security concern. Like the Chinese government is spying through the app.
Someone correct me if I am wrong. I haven't looked into this at all, just repeating what I have heard.
We're getting spied on via all our apps. If the concern was really privacy, congress should enact some GDPR-like privacy legislation that applied equally to all companies and levies fines against them for non-compliance. But they aren't doing that. This is just a bunch of hot air that is used to reduce our liberties. Same as when they say laws are "for the children" but all they really do is restrict online speech, take away your right to privacy, etc.
But they don't care about spying unless it's the Chinese government, because that's what makes it a national security issue.
So ban it on government devices. China spying on me personally has no national security implications. That goes the same for pretty much every other American citizen. Add to that, most other apps are spying in the same way and then re-selling that data globally to the highest bidder. It's not about national security. Pushes to infringe on our rights never have been, that's just the excuse they use.