Summary
Americans are posting videos about 3D-printed guns on the Chinese video app RedNote, despite the content being illegal in China.
While some users are uncomfortable with the topic, others see it as an opportunity for cultural exchange.
The future of TikTok remains uncertain as the Supreme Court is expected to rule on the ban.
The 3D gun thing in China is frickin’ hilarious. Xi and the CCP are gonna go apeshit about that.
Or the metal parts needed to make a “3d printed gun” function as anything other than a random suicide generator.
You can’t print 100% of a functional gun on a consumer printer unless you are willing to accept it blowing up in your hand after a shot or 2.
If you have a 3d printer, and a bit of electrical know how, you can actually machine most of the metal parts.
The US is gonna ban RedNote so fast. Watch and see. A special session of Congress. Matching funds on bribes to the Supreme Court.
They can’t let this go unchecked.
It’s up to the president now.
The bill basically says, “if the president thinks a foreign government controls an app that could be bad, he can ban it.” Section im referring to: “(2) a social media company that is controlled by a foreign adversary country and determined by the President to present a significant threat to national security”
Actual law: DIVISION H-- PROTECTING AMERICANS FROM FOREIGN ADVERSARY CONTROLLED APPLICATIONS ACT
Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act
(Sec. 2) This division prohibits distributing, maintaining, updating, or providing internet hosting services for a foreign adversary controlled application (e.g., TikTok). However, the prohibition does not apply to a covered application that executes a qualified divestiture as determined by the President.
Under the division, a foreign adversary controlled application is an application directly or indirectly operated by (1) ByteDance, Ltd., TikTok, their subsidiaries, successors, related entities they control, or entities controlled by a foreign adversary country; or (2) a social media company that is controlled by a foreign adversary country and determined by the President to present a significant threat to national security. (Here, a social media company excludes any website or application primarily used to post product reviews, business reviews, or travel information and reviews.)
Sidenote: I’m fairly certain that means the law would not allow the President to ban a social media site run via activity pub and hosted by the people, because it is not controlled by a foreign government.
It’s funny how when something’s going offline it’s easy for people to just switch apps even if the barrier to switching is extremely high (like having to learn a new language high). Makes it seem almost like…maybe people are fine with the shitty politics on the garbage sites and it isn’t really about the switching costs after all.
You can’t look at switching costs in a vacuum. The real metric is the Expected Return. When the original app is going to remain open, there is a very high risk that, ultimately, most of the users you care about aren’t going to make the switch. Even if the switching costs are low, the ER is negative because the most likely outcome is that you waste your time trying to migrate to a new platform that doesn’t really take off.
When the original app might stop existing then the calculus switches and even a high cost option is worth it because the odds are much higher that your efforts will pay off.
look, this content isn’t getting censored! it must be because rednote is Good, not that it didn’t have the english speaking moderation resources
