Social Media & Big Tech news and discussions

[Time_Traveller]

This fucker is banning everyone for every tiny thing. Wtf kind of freedom is this?

He just wants to turn it into his version of Drumpf's Truth Social, get rid of all Centre and Left-wing accounts and what do you have left?

[firestar464]

In my opinion, nothing lasts forever and it was bound to happen sooner or later, if it was under him or not.

He did kill Nitter [F] though.

Sorta, but it's actually still usable. It's just very unreliable

[Time_Traveller]

Reddit looking to raise almost $750 million in initial public offering

Mon, 11 March 2024, 1:22 pm GMT

Social media company Reddit is looking to raise almost $750 million in an initial public offering of its common stock.

The company said in a regulatory filing that the IPO will include 22 million shares of Class A common stock. Reddit is offering approximately 15.3 million shares, while the selling stockholders are offering about 6.7 million shares.

Reddit anticipates that the IPO will be priced between $31 and $34 per share. At the midpoint of that range Reddit would raise about $451 million, and it plans to use proceeds for general corporate purposes, taxes and possibly acquisitions.

https://uk.news.yahoo.com/reddit-lookin ... hKiRYUIOxo

[wjfox]

US House votes through bill to ban TikTok

Demetri Sevastopulo in Washington
AN HOUR AGO

The US House of Representatives has voted overwhelmingly to approve a bill that would ban app stores from distributing TikTok if its Chinese owner does not divest ownership of the video-sharing platform.

Republicans and Democrats came together in a 352-65 vote to back the bill, which also has the support of President Joe Biden, but is opposed by Donald Trump.

US security and intelligence officials have in recent days held classified briefings for lawmakers to stress what they say are the national security risks of allowing ByteDance, a Chinese company, to own TikTok.

https://www.ft.com/content/b1206aa9-279 ... dcceb636e7

[weatheriscool]

[caltrek]

US House votes through bill to ban TikTok

...

https://www.ft.com/content/b1206aa9-279 ... dcceb636e7

More on that:
'Blatant Censorship': Critics Blast US House Vote for TikTok Ban
by Brett Wilkins
March 13, 2024

Introduction:

(Common Dreams) U.S. progressives on Wednesday decried what they called a xenophobic censorship bill passed by House lawmakers that would ban TikTok if its Chinese parent company doesn't sell its stake in the popular social media app, with critics arguing that Congress should instead pass a comprehensive digital privacy law.

Lawmakers passed the Protecting Americans From Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act in an overwhelmingly bipartisan 352-65 vote. The legislation "prohibits distributing, maintaining, or providing internet hosting services for a foreign adversary-controlled application" like TikTok, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Chinese tech company ByteDance.

Fifty House Democrats and 15 Republicans voted against the bill.

"I voted no on the TikTok forced sale bill," Rep. Greg Casar (D-Texas) said in a statement. "While I have serious data privacy concerns with TikTok, this bill was rapidly rushed to a vote by the Republicans with almost no public scrutiny—and that's a recipe for unintended consequences."

"We need well-vetted, robust protections for TikTok users," Casar added. "Today's bill simply may not work."

Read more here: https://www.commondreams.org/news/tiktok

[firestar464]

I'd agree with the article that a privacy bill is better, though I'm not sure about all the israel-palestine blabber

[Time_Traveller]

Steven Mnuchin putting together investor group to buy TikTok

Thu 14 Mar 2024 15.26 GMT

Steven Mnuchin is putting together an investor group to try to buy TikTok, he told CNBC on Thursday.

The former US treasury secretary’s comment comes just a day after the US House of Representatives passed a bill that would give the short-video app’s Chinese owner ByteDance about six months to divest the US assets or face a ban.

TikTok had called the bill a “ban” and urged senators to listen to their constituents before taking any action.

“I think the legislation should pass and I think it should be sold,” Mnuchin told CNBC’s Squawk Box on Thursday. “It’s a great business and I’m going to put together a group to buy TikTok,” he said.

Discussions of banning TikTok in the US have circulated for years, spurred by fears the China-based company could collect sensitive user data on American citizens – an allegation TikTok has repeatedly denied. Donald Trump attempted a ban in 2020, which ultimately did not succeed.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/202 ... buy-tiktok

[caltrek]

Trump’s Social Media Company Is Finally Going Public. He Could Make Billions.
by Russ Choma
March 22, 2024

Introduction:

(Mother Jones) After repeated delays, Donald Trump finally seems to be taking his Truth Social app public—an accomplishment that could set him up for a gigantic potential windfall. “Potential” being the operative word there.

In the moments after shareholders approved a merger between a publicly traded SPAC corporation and Trump Media and Technology Group—the parent company of Truth Social—the SPAC’s stock price began to slide. (A SPAC is a blank-slate corporation established for the sole purpose of merging with another business that wants to go public.) While some noted that the deal could give Trump an enormous shot of money right when he needs it most—he’s facing a deadline early next week to pony up around half a billion dollars for a bond in his fraud case—the stock’s initial volatility also wiped approximately that much money off his balance sheet in a matter of hours. Of course, that’s a danger with any publicly traded stock, and it’s entirely possible that the price will have rebounded by the time you read this. But it demonstrates why the long-awaited merger doesn’t necessarily solve Trump’s cash problems.

Trump established Truth Social in 2022 to be a MAGA-version of Twitter, and the app has sputtered along, powered almost exclusively by Trump’s own posting on the site.

Read more here: https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2 ... -public/

[Tadasuke]

My experiences with social media are mostly negative, especially after 2016.

On Facebook 99% of posts from "friends" were:
• bragging about something
• complaining about something
• things which are funny for them, but not for me
• things which are nice for them, but not for me
• "best wishes" for someone, because of some occasion like a birthday

My posts were rather neutral, as I mostly posted about tech (or science) developments, graphs, some YouTube videos, podcasts or books. Didn't get many likes though. When I went somewhere on holidays, I typically posted no photos or 1 photo, no more.

I hate short video format. I don't watch such time wasters and distractors. I like hour or longer documentaries and generally I don't watch videos which are below 15 minutes in length. So banning TikTok (and YouTube Shorts!!) is a very good idea if you ask me.

I sometimes, rarely go on Instagram, but I don't post anything there, I don't have any "friends" there, I just follow a few accounts. I will remain on Twitter and I won't open any new accounts on any new Twitter clones. I find myself feeling better when drastically reducing social media use.

Using social media can make you more anxious, more distracted and more lonely. Even, if you began using it in order to improve in those aspects.