Even The Government Doesn’t Practice What They Preach

If having the most prosperous economy in the world wasn’t enough, America want’s that title for data mining as well. Recently TikTok CEO, Shou Zi Chew, was grilled by the American government because of privacy concerns regarding the American population. Though this is definitely something interesting to talk about, I wanted to shift the focus to how even the biggest influences in society today don’t preach what they say. Chew, who rarely had a chance to speak at the hearing, said that American companies has a bad track record revolving around privacy and data. This goes to show that things are easier said than done. It’s better to 100% sure that you aren’t making the same mistake for which you’re calling someone out on.

The Perfect Example

This whole hearing felt like entitled parents sticking up for their kids who did it first. Sure, TikTok most definitely mines our data, but that's an industry standard at this point. In fact, 9 out of 10 Android apps share data with Google, you can’t stop it. To make things even better, the most trouble with data and privacy the US government had was with Facebook, who had personal data harvested by Cambridge Analytica, a political consulting firm, which they then used for political advertising. The country has too many internal issues they need to solve before going after a social media company which is no different than other platforms run in their own country. They don’t practice what they preach, which makes them the perfect example for what I want to talk about. It’s better to preach what you do, not what you want to do. In this case, they preach safety, but they are far from it.

The Main Point

Stuff I could talk about

Be loud about things you’re an expert on. Social media makes everyone feel like they are an expert in all topics of discussion, but we are not. Arguing for a blatant statement on something you don’t understand well will only make you look like a fool. The government asked too many questions that were common knowledge, like if TikTok can access a user’s Wi-Fi. This shows that they aren’t an expert for what they are arguing for. If they had industry professionals ask questions that benefited their argument, this article could have been different. It’s better to contribute to topics you understand well and can have an actual impact on. If you don’t enough about a topic but you’re interested, listen to someone who does understand it well. I’m an expert on Kanye’s discography, so I feel obligated to speak when there is a discussion about his music. On the other hand, I read The Prophet by Khalil Gibran, but I am not enough of an expert to argue that he’s the best poet to ever live.

Argue for things you understand well. If you don’t, chances are you lost the argument before it even started. I am currently working on a screenplay since November of last year and am thinking of entering into a couple film festivals. Let me know if you guys would like to hear more about it.

If you enjoyed this, consider joining my newsletter!

I have a new publication! Visit Studio 13 Magazine on Medium for more information.