JUST LIKE AMERIKA

UPDATE: Kyrgyzstan’s TikTok block builds censorship fears

By

 AFP

In her photography studio in the capital of Kyrgyzstan, Aku Sharsheeva, tried unsuccessfully to connect to TikTok this week.

“Nothing loads. There are no videos,” the 22-year old told AFP, showing an error message displayed on the app’s home page.

The Central Asian country this week blocked the video-sharing platform after its security services expressed concern over the influence on children.

Sharsheeva had used TikTok, which has more than one billion monthly users worldwide and is owned by Chinese tech giant ByteDance, to market her photography business. Now she will have to find another way.

The ban in Kyrgyzstan — a small, ex-Soviet country of seven million people — is just one small part of a global backlash from politicians and regulators to the app’s surging popularity.

TikTok is embroiled in a string of battles over issues ranging from the mental health effects of the app to the data it allegedly scoops up from users.

Azamat Asanov, an official in Kyrgyzstan’s digital ministry, told AFP the decision to cut access had come down from the security services.

“The decision was motivated by TikTok’s failure to comply with a law on preventing harm to children’s health,” he said.

Some TikTok users in the country question that reasoning.

“Closing down TikTok is absolutely absurd. The malicious content they want to protect children from can be found everywhere, on any social network,” said Sharsheeva.

She said the block was the latest sign of a “repressive deterioration” unfolding in the country.

“Those who block it are doing so to control freedom of speech,” she said.

– ‘Pressure’ –

Kyrgyzstan, once seen as the most politically open country in the region, has mounted an escalating campaign to bring independent media and civil society under closer state control in recent months.

Authorities have arrested several journalists, suspended independent media outlets and passed a “foreign agents” law that critics say is designed to silence dissenters.

“I don’t think there was any need to block TikTok,” said Aigerim Bekbosunova, a 20-year-old medical student who often watched educational videos on the platform.

Another student, Syymyk Zhyrgalbekov, said a ban could help — but more as an antidote to social media addiction.

“It will help school kids. I and others were really addicted to TikTok,” the 18-year-old said. “It was hurting our studies”.

TikTok is also in the spotlight over its data policies in the United States and European Union, where fears are growing over the company’s links to Beijing.

Kyrgyzstan borders China where it has important economic ties.

The country’s State Committee for National Security, which requested the ban — is a successor to the Soviet-era KGB secret police and headed by the powerful Kamchybek Tashiev.

Asked whether a ban on other social media platforms could follow, the agency was non-committal, telling AFP it “doesn’t know at the moment.”

Studio owner Sharsheeva said blocking the app left no doubt as to the direction the ex-Soviet country was heading in.

“We have had a lot of pressure on activists, on journalists, on various media. It was on TikTok that you could promote your point of view,” she said.

“It seems that the state doesn’t like the fact that some alternative opinions are wandering freely around the internet.”

by Arseny MAMASHEV

X owner Musk says opposed to US ban of competitor TikTok


Elon Musk says TikTok should not be banned in the USA, even though such a ban may benefit the X platform. — Reuters pic

Saturday, 20 Apr 2024

SAN FRANCISCO, April 20 ― Elon Musk yesterday came out against banning TikTok in the United States, even if it would mean less competition for his social media platform X, formerly Twitter, as the initiative sees fresh bipartisan momentum in Congress.

The US House of Representatives is set to vote today on a bill that would force TikTok to divest from Chinese parent company ByteDance or face a nationwide ban.

The measure, which has the vocal backing by many Democrats and Republicans, has also been written into a massive aid package for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, which could ease its passage in both chambers of the US Congress.

“TikTok should not be banned in the USA, even though such a ban may benefit the X platform,” Musk said in a post on the social network he acquired in 2022.

“Doing so would be contrary to freedom of speech and expression.”

A number of replies to Musk's comment on X expressed concern that a TikTok ban would set a precedent that could be used to target other social media and messaging services.

Under the bill, ByteDance would have to sell the app within a few months or be excluded from Apple and Google's app stores in the United States.

It would also give the US president the authority to designate other applications as a threat to national security if they are controlled by a country deemed hostile.

TikTok slammed the bill, saying it would hurt the US economy and undermine free speech.

“It is unfortunate that the House of Representatives is using the cover of important foreign and humanitarian assistance to once again jam through a ban bill,” a company spokesman said.

He added a ban would “trample the free speech rights of 170 million Americans, devastate 7 million businesses, and shutter a platform that contributes US$24 billion to the US economy annually.”

Western officials have voiced alarm over the popularity of TikTok with young people, alleging that it is subservient to Beijing and a conduit to spread propaganda, claims denied by the company and Beijing.

Joe Biden reiterated his concerns about TikTok during a phone call with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping in early April.

The House of Representatives last month approved a similar bill cracking down on TikTok, but the measure got held up in the Senate. ― AFP