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TikTok shares your data more than any other app and it’s unclear where it goes

cnbc.com

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Re: TikTok shares your data more than any other app and it’s unclear where it goes

#291

Post by friedman23 »

beepbooptheory wrote: post #285
friedman23 wrote: post #282

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> What is the propaganda they want to push? To what end? Propaganda is not just about "pushing" a message but also about smothering discussion. In fact, pushing a message via something like Tiktok is ham fisted, what the Chinese government can do instead is stifle any discussion related to topics that they consider "dangerous". For example, shadow banning any tiktok videos related to the Uighur genocide. They can bla…

But then isn't this circular? They create the app to harvest the data to help them stifle the conversation they have made possible by creating the app in the first place!

You are assuming that the platform would not exist if the company didn't create it. But if tiktok doesn't exist the discussion would just happen somewhere else. I should also say that I'm not suggesting that tiktok was created for the sole purpose of pushing propaganda from its inception.

Re: TikTok shares your data more than any other app and it’s unclear where it goes

#292

Post by hhjinks »

acconrad wrote: post #272
friedman23 wrote: post #234

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Explicit evidence of Tiktok sharing information with the Chinese government is not needed because there is already sufficient evidence that 1. The Chinese government does not deserve our trust. 2. All Chinese businesses are extensions of the Chinese government. The default assumption should be that your information is being sent to China and that China is using Tiktok as an extention of their propaganda arm.

What can be asserted without evidence can also be dismissed without evidence: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hitchens%27s_razor

Nothing is being asserted. Statements 1 and 2 are truths, and from those two truths, we arrive at an ounce of prevention that we'd be wise to heed, whether our assumption is correct or not.

Re: TikTok shares your data more than any other app and it’s unclear where it goes

#293

Post by ipaddr »

beepbooptheory wrote: post #279
friedman23 wrote: post #234

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Explicit evidence of Tiktok sharing information with the Chinese government is not needed because there is already sufficient evidence that 1. The Chinese government does not deserve our trust. 2. All Chinese businesses are extensions of the Chinese government. The default assumption should be that your information is being sent to China and that China is using Tiktok as an extention of their propaganda arm.

People are talking about the other parts pretty well, but the idea of a "propaganda arm" seems a little funny to me. What is the propaganda they want to push? To what end?

Why do countries use propaganda? Why do companies use it? Why do people use it?

Because changing what is important to a group or people can make pushing your agenda easier.

What would be important to China's propaganda wing? Most important would be to maintain control over China and downplaying anything that reflects negatively. So controlling negative speech or shifting blame to someone else if a covid virus is discovered to original from territory you control would be important.

Tiktok's algo focuses on keeping you occupied in a state of mind where you zone out.

Re: TikTok shares your data more than any other app and it’s unclear where it goes

#294

Post by sidlls »

comboy wrote: post #175
sidlls wrote: post #136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm in my mid-40s: there's nothing deep or mysterious to "get" about TikTok. It's short-form video snips/vignettes, mainly of people showing off for their friends, trying to cash in on short-lived audio trends and meme pipelines, and sometimes both. It reminds me of the kind of bravado/showing off my peers in middle- and high-school did: because that's essentially what it is. Edit for more context: I happen to be dat…

I'm not much younger and tried it after some HN thread. Basically the algorithm is really good, as it should be on more platforms. So if you don't like memes and dance and beauty contents, you won't get that. It can be just DIY videos, niche musicians and short science videos if that's what you want to see. I don't think it's shallow. I've learned a lot from it. It just gives you what you want to watch and what you w…

The algorithm is really good! At overfitting. Snark aside, what you describe is short form videos intended to show off or cash in to a trend: that it’s not stupid cat videos, or dance-offs or whatever doesn’t change that.

Re: TikTok shares your data more than any other app and it’s unclear where it goes

#295

Post by hhjinks »

beepbooptheory wrote: post #285
friedman23 wrote: post #282

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> What is the propaganda they want to push? To what end? Propaganda is not just about "pushing" a message but also about smothering discussion. In fact, pushing a message via something like Tiktok is ham fisted, what the Chinese government can do instead is stifle any discussion related to topics that they consider "dangerous". For example, shadow banning any tiktok videos related to the Uighur genocide. They can bla…

But then isn't this circular? They create the app to harvest the data to help them stifle the conversation they have made possible by creating the app in the first place!

The conversations would've been held elsewhere. Control the biggest platform, people gravitate there, shut down the topics you don't like, pay big names to visit the Forbidden City.

Re: TikTok shares your data more than any other app and it’s unclear where it goes

#297

Post by kornhole »

Why does this and many similar articles frame the debate around comparing different corporate and government influenced social media platforms without mentioning free community run social media as an alternative? https://fediverse.party/

Re: TikTok shares your data more than any other app and it’s unclear where it goes

#298

Post by curiousmindz »

chrischen wrote: post #239
friedman23 wrote: post #234

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Explicit evidence of Tiktok sharing information with the Chinese government is not needed because there is already sufficient evidence that 1. The Chinese government does not deserve our trust. 2. All Chinese businesses are extensions of the Chinese government. The default assumption should be that your information is being sent to China and that China is using Tiktok as an extention of their propaganda arm.

Technically all businesses with a large interest inside X jurisdiction will have leverage against it in some way. For example Microsoft had to hand over its Windows source code to China. By extension of that leverage you can assume that jurisdiction has some control over it. In US it could be national security letters issued to TikTok. In China it could be their equivalent issued to someone physically on their soil.

To be clearer, Microsoft has a program allowing most governments to inspect the source code of Windows. This is not specific to one country.

Re: TikTok shares your data more than any other app and it’s unclear where it goes

#299

Post by nicce »

kornhole wrote: post #296

Articles such as these frame the debate around comparing different corporate and government influenced social media and never mention free social media as an alternative. https://fediverse.party/

Very few services are actually totally free or with neutral purpose. On larger scale, it is really hard.

Re: TikTok shares your data more than any other app and it’s unclear where it goes

#300

Post by ipaddr »

wbsss4412 wrote: post #281
friedman23 wrote: post #234

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Explicit evidence of Tiktok sharing information with the Chinese government is not needed because there is already sufficient evidence that 1. The Chinese government does not deserve our trust. 2. All Chinese businesses are extensions of the Chinese government. The default assumption should be that your information is being sent to China and that China is using Tiktok as an extention of their propaganda arm.

Post Snowden leaks, one could pretty much say the same about any American tech giant.

It is a little different with the nsa tapping the underwater cable trying to steal info where in China they create an internet where they hire millions of people to watch every conversation happening in real time.

One couldn't say the same.. at all.

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