Prologue:
Serpentza claims to have lived >a decade in China, married to China woman, reads Mandarin, traveled all over China.
Ie, a self proclaimed expert on China.
I find Serpentza’s diatribes … Informative but with a negative slant. Ie his bias is against China government.
Here, Serpentza elucidates Rednote, the Chinese app to which TikTok’ers are moving.
The app name has been sanitized to “Rednote” from “Little Red Book”, which was Chairman Mao’s version of “Project 2025”, ie Mao’s “vision” for governance and the perfect Chinese lifestyle.
Rednote is basically the Chinese version of the US “Lifestyles of the Rich n Famous”, ie Instagram without the “anti-West” content?
Serpentza main message, in all his YTs is “The Chinese PEOPLE are wonderful … The Chinese GOVERNMENT is not your friend”.
I primarily watch China Observer (Tony) for economic information on China.
I occasionally watch Serpentza for SOCIAL info.
ralph
BTW, the macroeconomic connection should, IMO, be obvious.
YMMV.
Rednote has been getting a lot of publicity from US media “this is what TikTok users are flocking too”. Wonder how much Rednote paid the media for that publicity?
**“We commend Amazon, Apple, Google, and Microsoft for following the law and halting operations with ByteDance and TikTok, and we encourage other companies to do the same. The law, after all, risks ruinous bankruptcy for any company who violates it. Now that the law has taken effect, there’s no legal basis for any kind of ‘extension’ of its effective date. For TikTok to come back online in the future, ByteDance must agree to a sale that satisfies the law’s qualified-divestiture requirements by severing all ties between TikTok and Communist China. Only then will Americans be protected from the grave threat posed to their privacy and security by a communist-controlled TikTok.” **
Well I don’t know about that. It is widely known that TFG has an obsession with gold. If you look at his properties, golden adornments everywhere, even his showers. Some say he’s compromised by his golden showers, I’m not convinced.
TikTok is not a threat to the USA. This is a blatant lie propagandized by the mainstream media.
It is not (only) a matter of free speech. It is basically an attempted theft. It is back temporarily. But ByteDance is not going to sell TikTok out right. The tech clique and some others want to own a share at a great price. Of course we all want to own some shares in TikTok. Open the sell to all american investors!
Musk should give ByteDance and Chinese investors half of Tesla. Then maybe ByteDance might give half of TikTok to Musk and to american investors. That would be a great deal for everyone involved.
The folks on TYT had a nice conspiracy theory about it. Last year, another company merged with Trump Media. The CEO of that other company also owns a chunk of ByteDance. That same CEO made a “donation” that was well in to seven figures.
What is the difference between TikTok data mining it’s users, and Meta data mining it’s users?
Why the 180 flip at the top in Shiny-land. He openly said, he found TikTok useful for advancing his ambitions…that seven figure “donation” probably helped too, if true.
So, now, a forced sale of half. So BydeDance can still data mine TikTok users, but another entity can data mine them too. That makes it OK, and not a “national security threat”.
TikTok mines but never was a ‘national threat’, and never will be.
Facebook was never called a ‘national threat’, was it? They talk about questions of privacy.
Sure it is all about a deal. So why not give this opportunity to more investors? I’m sure the people making a livelihood on TikTok would be interested. Investors at large like us Motley Fool kinds would like to invest in a great business such as TikTok!
How is this a matter of free speech? If people can go to another App how is their free speech being limited? Also does the constitution apply to the world or only to the United States? Does Tik Tok, since it is owned by a foreign entity even have the right to declare free speech?
Actually I wouldn’t have a problem with Tik Tok being in the United States if Facebook, Instagram, and X were allowed to proliferate in China unfettered by any laws.
It is for the users of TikTok who are Americans.The proposed TikTok ban or forced sale is based on the claim that it poses a ‘national security threat’—an assertion that is not true.
so your statement seems to imply that TikTok is NOT a ‘threat to national security’.
China’s laws are China’s laws. Just as China cannot dictate American laws, I don’t believe we have the authority to dictate theirs either.
It doesn’t matter whether it is true or not. The Supreme court already ruled that it was ok to ban it.
That isn’t for me to decide. I let other people decide that.
That is a weak argument. I am surprised that you would use Freedom of Speech and the United States constitution to stick up for a foreign company. If you feel that strongly you should probably urge Tik Tok to sell.
That is a weak argument. I am surprised that you would use Freedom of Speech and the United States constitution to stick up for a foreign company. If you feel that strongly you should probably urge Tik Tok to sell
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why is that? You should go back and read my reply to your statement about facebook&google in China,
Freedom of Speech is for the US. Banning Facebook or Google in China that is China’s prerogative.
The push to ban TikTok began under Trump, though he may have changed his idea somewhat. In the meantime, the courts ruled against TikTok, but the freedom of speech debate surrounding the issue is far from settled.
The court argued that if TikTok were banned, users could simply find other platforms to express themselves. Really? Try telling that to a devoted TikTok user.
This debate is uniquely American; in other parts of the world, it might not even be a question. But here in the U.S., we ask questions and demand answers. The government isn’t just targeting TikTok—it’s also banning Chinese EVs and many other imports from China. That seems to be the trend these days.
No it is not about freedom of speech even if I mentioned it.
