Technology @lemmy.world Alphane Moon @lemmy.world 1mo ago

US adds web and gaming giant Tencent to list of Chinese military companies

www.theregister.com Tencent added to US list of 'Chinese military companies'

This could be the start of a saga to rival TikTok’s troubles, and embroil Tesla and Microsoft

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156 comments

Does this mean league of legends is a weapon
- Weapon of Mass Distraction.
  
  Psychological Warfare for sure
- I mean it installs a rootkit on your computer that gives them full control over everything including what you type, hear, and see as well as the ability to record what you've previously typed and said. It could at any moment also fully disable your computer (as well as millions of other computers) rendering them useless.
  
  Just because they haven't used it that way, don't assume they can't or won't.
  
  Do they send this data over the network? Or is the data only used by the software installed on the machine?
- I mean, there's always been speculation that Vanguard is spyware. There's absolutely no need or justification for always-on cheat detection.
  
  What speculation? It’s literally spyware. You are giving it full low level access to your processor.
- A weapon against sanity, yes.
- Chemical weapon, maybe.
- Weapon of mass-debation
Gosh I feel like I've heard Tencent has a stake in some other company that isn't mentioned here yet.

what was it . . . hmmmmm
- I'm really not sure which one you mean, because they own interest in a ton of companies.
  
  Tik Tok is what they're referring to
They gonna force a sale of League of Legends now?
- Do Fortnite next.
- Tencent owns 11% of Reddit...
  
  And? 11% isn't full ownership like the thing I said.
- More likely they would leave the market. That game isn’t really popular in NA but it’s the most popular non-mobile game in Asia
  
  ...Are you kidding? LoL has been huge for years in NA. RIOT is an American company that was bought by Tencent. Leaving the market means they lose their entire dev team.
  
  LoL isn't popular in NA anymore?
- Already can't trust kassadin, don't need an anti trust
Calling Tencent a "web and gaming giant" is really deceiving here.

It's one of the biggest tech conglomerates in the world. Tencent invest into literally everything: games, social networks, entertainments, cloud computing, finance, AI, other investments... Tencent owns WeChat, Tencent Cloud, Tencent Healthcare just to name a few and helps CCP with surveilance and censorship through these ownings (tbf they don't really have a choice, they're based in China)

100% they are involved in military too so this classification is very much justified.
- Don't they also have lots of stakes in other companies.
  
  Yeah that's what the comment said
  
  Epic Games for one.
Why is the list not just every Chinese company? do they not know how state capitalism works?
- They do not.
  
  Yeah they do. Fascism is state capitalism. They plan to replicate China.
We have a puppet coming into the presidency. China will have all the inroads to our government they care to pay for. Tencent and Co. will be a non-issue.
- A US social media giant owns the president. I don't think there going to allow the competition. Muskrat and Fuckerburg have a lot more sway and money.
  
  Trump has already asked for action on TikTok to be delayed so that he has authority to "address" the situation. Trump doesn't have to choose between the bribes offered, he'll gladly take them all at the same time.
- As opposed to all of our previous presidents, who refused to be bought by corporate corruption? LoL.
  
  I don't think they're making that claim, just that Trump is easy to manipulate and buy off for anyone with the means. Everything is negotiable with him.
  
  My own thought is that the wealthy corpos absolutely can and do purchase US politicians, but some of them have some philosophical guardrails that preclude stepping over certain issues. That number, however, seems to be shrinking the longer we have politicians who are allowed to get fat off of the people.
  
  But we beat big pharma...
Can't win capitalism? Fret not, everything is national security and we can throw the rules of capitalism out the window :)

And then the west is surprised at the confused look of the global south when Ursula and Biden mention "Rules based order"...
- I mean it's not like China was open and allowed competition from western companies.
  
  But it us kind of insulting when America did incredible violence to the global south to get them to open their markets only throw it all out the window.
  
  This just in, "Wealthy people everywhere suck ass! More at 11."
- China is state capitalism. Capitalism isn't losing. The West is losing because China is using state funds to buy up successful Western companies, and as their new owner, has the ability to force them to do China's bidding.
  
  Meanwhile the West is completely barred from buying a majority stake in any successful Chinese company and even if it could would not be taking it over on behalf of serving the state.
  
  The problem is China plays by its own rules and those rules are heavily stacked against every other nation. That was fine when they were making junk for Walmart; it's not so fine when it's highly sophisticated electronics and software (that can do whatever China wants it to in the West) ... and to add insult to injury it's often based on stolen Western technology (since us idiots decided to put the factories that manufacturer the designs there).
- Nobody really cares about the rules. While I don't like capitalism, unfortunately it also starts a new era of imperialism, where the strong ruthlessly conquers the weak, see Israel-Palestine, Russia-Ukraine, and China-Taiwan.
  
  One of those is not like the others...
That's horrible. I should Google for more information so I can avoid using companies involved with the military.
I wonder what this means for 50 Cent?
- He's on thin ice.
- He's five times better, or worse.
Would Call of Duty be the American equivalent?
- Tencent is an investor there too
Aint we got tea companies that make war machines here?
- Such as?
  
  One famous example is Corning which mostly does kitchenware and then also huge military contracts for military equipment. But then of course every single US company takes on military contracts from Ford making engines to Singer making sewing machines and guidance systems during cold war lol
  
  So OP is absolutely right. American companies will dip into everything that makes money which is really not a problem tbh and that's how capitalism is intended to function just a bit funny given that one company makes kitchenware and bullet proof glass for mil vehicles.
- hence why this article is not a big deal or dig at China in any way lmao
  
  Why does everything need to be whataboutism’d to America. Yes we also have companies that work with our military, who gives a fuck? This article is simply pointing out that a big Chinese company with ties to lots of social media (Reddit for example) is also mil adjacent.
  
  It’s just a fact, not commentary on China that then makes the US hypocritical.
  
  Why are you making whataboutist comments unrelated to the article? Every fucking country has companies that work with their military, that’s not what the article is about.
  
  I'm just pointing it out bro, nothing more bro, just mentioning it bro, nothing wrong with constantly running negative stories about China bro, not manufacturing anything bro.
- I don't know which company you're referring to, but I think it's pretty damn likely that China also classifies them as a military company too. Shit, most western companies are banned in China.
  
  I fail to see the hypocrisy that you appear to be implying.
  
  I only meant to say that it is quite normal for private interprises to dabble in military application
Lol pretty much every American company should be added to a similar list given how deep they are in the pockets of CIA, etc
- Cool whataboutism, this article is about a Chinese company and China, not about America or its mil companies.
  
  It’s not like it’s an insult to say Tencent is involved with the Chinese military, why are you so defensive? Do you think you’re sharing unknown info? I think we’re all quite aware of the US MIC.
  
  Do you seriously believe China and every other country doesn’t keep similar lists already? This is basic ass shit.
  
  Every time anything about China is posted someone like you comes running to tell us all “b-b-but America too!!!!” as if that changes a damn thing in regards to the discussion topic at hand.
  
  Pointing out hypocrisy is not whataboutism. Whataboutism is when you bring up a separate topic as a criticism to distract from the original topic. For example, if you make fun of my cooking and I bring up your drawing skills in response, that's whataboutism. If you suck at cooking and yet bring up me sucking at cooking, that's just pointing fingers and trying to paint that as a negative for someone else when you possess the same deficiency.
- Weird. I can't see the .ml after your name. Must be a Lemmy bug.

156 comments