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Mark Zuckerberg Stoked Washington’s Fears About TikTok

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Re: Mark Zuckerberg Stoked Washington’s Fears About TikTok

#41

Post by briandear »

staticassertion wrote: post #10
briandear wrote: post #5

I have no opinion on TikTok (I am an adult with better things to do,) however, fair question: does TikTok pose a threat? There was a report that TikTok users sabotaged a Trump rally. It would seem that that could be considered “election campaign interference sponsored/enabled by a foreign government.” We’ve gotten mad at Facebook for similar things haven’t we? Or, if it’s against Trump, that’s acceptable? Not sure wh…

A group of teens purportedly using TikTok to troll the president's rally is not election campaign interference.

They weren’t trolling. They were actively preventing people from attending. Trade “Trump” for “Biden” and see if the opinion changes. If a Russian company enabled the sabotage of a Democrat rally, would we be having this same conversation? That’s the problem with these debates, “the means justify the ends” is all that matters. It isn’t about fairness or what’s correct.

The Chinese ban Tiananmen Square stuff (and ugly people,) on TikTok, yet they allow “teens” to interfere with an American political campaign.

Re: Mark Zuckerberg Stoked Washington’s Fears About TikTok

#42

Post by jussij »

blfr wrote: post #26
staticassertion wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A group of teens purportedly using TikTok to troll the president's rally is not election campaign interference.

Why is it not when Facebook ads purchased by foreigners are considered to be?

In the former case all the teenagers did was send in an RSVP indicating they would attend knowing full well they would not be doing so.

In the later case foreign entities were spreading misinformation in an attempt to undermine candidates, in they hope they could change the outcome of an election.

The later was a direct attack on the election process, the former was a direct attack on the president's ego.

Re: Mark Zuckerberg Stoked Washington’s Fears About TikTok

#43

Post by engineer_22 »

TMWNN wrote: post #12
briandear wrote: post #5

I have no opinion on TikTok (I am an adult with better things to do,) however, fair question: does TikTok pose a threat? There was a report that TikTok users sabotaged a Trump rally. It would seem that that could be considered “election campaign interference sponsored/enabled by a foreign government.” We’ve gotten mad at Facebook for similar things haven’t we? Or, if it’s against Trump, that’s acceptable? Not sure wh…

I was wondering about that too. For those claiming that Trump is mad at TikTok[1] because kpop fans on the site sabotaged the Tulsa campaign rally by signing up for (free) tickets, a) How do you know that said sabotage was 100% organic and not something TikTok manipulated its algorithms to encourage? b) Even if said sabotage were 100% organic, does the fact that this was done on a Chinese platform cause concern? c) H…

Wow that's a sobering statistic. If true it means Biden is DOA. Social media wins elections.

Re: Mark Zuckerberg Stoked Washington’s Fears About TikTok

#44

Post by oxfordmale »

Zuckerberg is damaging Facebook reputation. I was approached by Facebook's recruitment team, but decided not to go ahead with it given the recent negative news around this company. I predict a slow decline for Facebook, like IBM, if Zuckerberg stays on as CEO.

Re: Mark Zuckerberg Stoked Washington’s Fears About TikTok

#45

Post by filleduchaos »

blfr wrote: post #27
filleduchaos wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh good, finally someone who agrees with me that every other country in the world should ban Facebook, Twitter, Reddit and so on because those country's citizens use those platforms and also participate in or sabotage political rallies. Clearly the US has been meddling in elections around the globe for a decade and needs to be sanctioned!

Clearly the US has been meddling in elections around the globe for a decade and needs to be sanctioned! I don't really get the snark. Yes, of course the US has been meddling in elections around the globe for multiple decades up to and including staging coups and sending military personnel. The only reason it's not being sanctioned is because of its massive wealth and power.

My comment was only partly tongue-in-cheek, believe me. Even beyond the obvious physical meddling, yes I really would prefer a world where American companies didn't have a de facto hegemony over the internet[0] though I despair of it becoming a reality any time soon. At the very least I'll settle for a world where more Americans acknowledge the existence of that hegemony instead of thinking of themselves as neutral and clutching their pearls over other countries exerting a fraction of that influence!

0. This actually extends far beyond the internet and apparently now into space. Just imagine the absolute uproar if Starlink had been launched by a Russian or Chinese company.

Re: Mark Zuckerberg Stoked Washington’s Fears About TikTok

#46

Post by gberger »

Firebrand wrote: post #22

Sort of a Frankenstein’s monster situation Zuckerberg created for himself. He took Bytedance’s money so they could plaster TikTok ads all over Facebook and Instagram back in 2018. TikTok pays its approved creators around $0.035 per 1,000 views. Maybe compete with that.

Couldn't Facebook denying to accept TikTok ads be argued as constituting amticompetitive behaviour?

Re: Mark Zuckerberg Stoked Washington’s Fears About TikTok

#47

Post by MengerSponge »

KKKKkkkk1 wrote: post #25

You know something is broken when the CEO of Facebook chooses to apply himself to lobbying the government to ban his competitors instead of building a better product.

In fairness, though, the CEO of Facebook hasn't built a better product in almost two decades. Instead, his company's growth has been based on brilliant (and occasionally very shady) acquisitions.

Re: Mark Zuckerberg Stoked Washington’s Fears About TikTok

#48

Post by op03 »

filleduchaos wrote: post #15
TMWNN wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was wondering about that too. For those claiming that Trump is mad at TikTok[1] because kpop fans on the site sabotaged the Tulsa campaign rally by signing up for (free) tickets, a) How do you know that said sabotage was 100% organic and not something TikTok manipulated its algorithms to encourage? b) Even if said sabotage were 100% organic, does the fact that this was done on a Chinese platform cause concern? c) H…

d) Do you ask the same questions of American social media and its effects on other countries' politics?

The volume has been rising on that ever since Trump got elected and Brexit happened. It will keep rising. Have no doubt.

Its a matter of time before Zuckerberg faces the music. The Tech firms arent the only power centers in the US. And the other power centers aren't waiting around to bow and bend to them. Which is how you get a Rockerfeller or a Gates or a Ma Bell to bend. That track record exists.

I think the issue is still about what we want social media to be. What changes do we want to see etc. These things aren't fully clear for all sides to get behind. When that happens Zuckerberg will go the way Gates went.

I still trust the US to do this much more than I trust the govts of Russia/China/India etc to. They dont have a track record of doing anything about monopolies other than sharing in the profits. The EU has tried but really doesn't have the teeth. So its really upto the US to reign it in.

Re: Mark Zuckerberg Stoked Washington’s Fears About TikTok

#49

Post by tmpz22 »

MengerSponge wrote: post #47
KKKKkkkk1 wrote: post #25

You know something is broken when the CEO of Facebook chooses to apply himself to lobbying the government to ban his competitors instead of building a better product.

In fairness, though, the CEO of Facebook hasn't built a better product in almost two decades. Instead, his company's growth has been based on brilliant (and occasionally very shady) acquisitions.

There was nothing brilliant about buying two obviously successful apps: Instagram and WhatsApp.

Re: Mark Zuckerberg Stoked Washington’s Fears About TikTok

#50

Post by blfr »

jussij wrote: post #42
blfr wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why is it not when Facebook ads purchased by foreigners are considered to be?

In the former case all the teenagers did was send in an RSVP indicating they would attend knowing full well they would not be doing so. In the later case foreign entities were spreading misinformation in an attempt to undermine candidates, in they hope they could change the outcome of an election. The later was a direct attack on the election process, the former was a direct attack on the president's ego.

Sending false RSVPs is exactly spreading misinformation to undermine a candidate by making his support seem smaller than it is through crowding out real potential participants.

Don't get me wrong. I think it's pretty funny but I don't think this option is available to someone lamenting Facebook ads.

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