• fidodo@lemmy.world
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    8 months ago

    How is tiktok anything like WikiLeaks or lavabit? How is Lemmy like them either?

    • makeasnek@lemmy.mlOP
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      8 months ago

      They are all examples of speech platforms the government targeted because they disagreed with what they were publishing. Because of the precedent set in those situations, the government has even more latitude to prosecute even more speech they don’t agree with. The basis of the TikTok ban is literally it’s “foreign propaganda”. Propaganda is just “stuff the government doesn’t want you to hear”. The right to hear things the government doesn’t want you to hear is one of the most basic rights of human expression. Not just in the US, but in the UN Charter on human rights as well.

      Fear of “foreign influence”? You would find that exact argument being made by the Soviet Union to block US films and books in their country. You would find that exact argument being used in China to block internet access. You would find that exact argument being made in Iran to stop the discussion of homosexuality.