That's not a "botnet" though, advertising does the same thing. We don't call the people buying things they've been marketed a "botnet".

There's definitely areas of advertising that are banned/controlled so that comparison seems more damning than beneficial (e.g. alcohol to minors, medication in any country other than the US

It needn't be a perfect comparison to be a useful one.

It's not useful though. I actually think it's very cool that TikTok got a bunch of young people to contact their representatives. If this ban goes through, the political blowback is going to be extreme. It will be like the Streisand effect x100,000,000.

> If this ban goes through, the political blowback is going to be extreme.

Its not a ban. Whats going to happen is that tiktok will divest.

Kids will continue to have their social media.

> What’s more, divestiture would require Beijing’s approval. Last year, the Chinese government said it opposed a forced sale.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/house-passes-tiktok-...

TikTok's users will know who to blame: the US government. There would have been no problem at all before this bill got pushed through (if passed).

Once again, laws effect companies all the time.

This isn't new or an out there thing.

Some companies leave because they don't want to pay high taxes, or for numerous other reasons.

All tiktok has to do is follow the law and they won't be banned.

But if they don't, well that's their decision as well.

People aren't fools. They know that TikTok is being put into this position by the US government. You can go on any social media platform right now and see how outraged TikTok users are. This is going to have incredible political blowback from the younger generations and there won't be any "lawyering" around that. Even if the ban doesn't go through, a lot of damage has already been done.

Yes I am sure some kids will cry on the internet.

The bill is overwhelmingly bipartisan though. There isn't anyone for some kids to go after, if it's almost a unanimous bi partisan effort.

Those kids lost. It's over.

And if people are this upset, then that is all the more reason to pull the trigger now, instead of giving our foreign adversaries more time to retaliate.

Anyway, tiktok almost divested the last time this happened. Unless they are OK will losing 10s of billions of dollars for nothing, well chances are they'll just divest, despite the current posturing they are doing.

> I actually think it's very cool that TikTok got a bunch of young people to contact their representatives.

I don't think that's the concern.

Just capitalism slaves :P