Man... the red scare really did a number on the American psyche...

This comment section better remember that you can't even order from McDonalds anymore without creating an account online. Hell, as of a few weeks ago I can't even update apps on my personally purchased smart TV without creating a fucking account and letting them link my email to data they already have from Experian (all US companies btw). Tiktok is just a fucking scapegoat so y'all wont push for actual privacy protection laws.

If Tiktok gets sold to a US company nothing will change about their practices the CCP will just buy the data from a 3rd party vendor owned by a US LLC.

Unless they get subpoenad by a district court and the C suite is willing to go to jail for not disclosing it.

Also the US govt already has asked for built-in backdoors to iPhones and the like. They even have highly complex de-anonymization algorithms for data that almost every American with a credit card is giving to their "private" bank so we can have FICO credit scores and venmo.

The private ownership isn't doing shit for our data protections.

Leaving aside the actual political substance of your comment. Don't you think it's a bit... Head in the sand to assume anyone who disagrees with you is some "Russian troll"? I know we all exist in social media bubbles, myself included, but my social circles and my online circles all share "radical" concerns about the administration and country in general but it generally comes from a genuine desire for our politicians and therefore country to be and do better. We're all Americans just like (I presume) you.

I joined lemmy.ml cause of the FOSS stuff but I'm learning it comes with a reputation I didn't know about.

Do you have a link handy for further reading on this? I knew the heritage foundation has been terrible since inception but I didn't realize how much sway they've had historically. I thought that influence was new