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One App – Two Worlds: This Is TikTok in Russia and Ukraine

nrk.no

41–50 of 371 posts

Re: One App – Two Worlds: This Is TikTok in Russia and Ukraine

#41
I feel like the article is dodging the reality of what they are asking: How many people are employed by TikTok in Russia? What is their responsability and how do they influence product decisions? What would happen if TikTok refuses to comply with local laws?

I’m not sure that sending local ad sales people who have no influence on the product, and depriving their family of their support is the ethical choice.

Re: One App – Two Worlds: This Is TikTok in Russia and Ukraine

#42
post #24

The dream of the internet as some sort of great democratizing force is already dead and buried, but for any who still believes, this must surely be the final nail in that coffin. Controlling the narrative is only a problem for existing democracies with press freedom. All bets are off once the threat model includes control of the media. So cherish your freedom of speech, and exercise and defend it. I don’t know what t…

To me TikTok is not the "internet" because no matter how much the app gives, the user doesn't own their content. You can still write anything in a blog that you own and have people see it. To me that freedom is the "internet".

I see this comment and others like it. It's important to also know where the mindshare is. Where are most average individuals spending most of their internet hours? It is likely not niche-blog.com. TikTok is quickly becoming "the internet" for all intenents and purposes for some people. It's also how some folks get their news, etc.

Re: One App – Two Worlds: This Is TikTok in Russia and Ukraine

#43
Isn't tiktok's whole thing that it shows you very personally curated content based on data about you including demographics and most users see different content? Wouldn't users from Ukraine and England or ones from Mexico and America also see different videos?

Are the Ukrainian videos actually unavailable in Russian TikTok if you search for them? It seems obvious that as you watch more non-war stuff (which might be the default based on the demographics) you'll see even less of them in the Russian account. And if you really can't see them even if you try (which the article doesn't even say as far as I saw) then isn't that the real news rather than the experiment that just shows how different demographics see different things on TikTok? What am I missing?

Re: One App – Two Worlds: This Is TikTok in Russia and Ukraine

#44
post #24

The dream of the internet as some sort of great democratizing force is already dead and buried, but for any who still believes, this must surely be the final nail in that coffin. Controlling the narrative is only a problem for existing democracies with press freedom. All bets are off once the threat model includes control of the media. So cherish your freedom of speech, and exercise and defend it. I don’t know what t…

China has been doing this for almost 2 decades.

Re: One App – Two Worlds: This Is TikTok in Russia and Ukraine

#45
>Ukrainian Nykolai gets to see men in military attire singing patriotic songs about loving Ukraine. Or talking about it being a man's duty to sign up for battle.

>Russian Alexei sees a man tripping over in the water, a puppy patting a duckling on the head and some funny, homemade costumes.

Is it just me or does the first one sound like propaganda and the second one sound like normal TikTok?

Re: One App – Two Worlds: This Is TikTok in Russia and Ukraine

#46
post #43

Isn't tiktok's whole thing that it shows you very personally curated content based on data about you including demographics and most users see different content? Wouldn't users from Ukraine and England or ones from Mexico and America also see different videos? Are the Ukrainian videos actually unavailable in Russian TikTok if you search for them? It seems obvious that as you watch more non-war stuff (which might be t…

The article indeed shows that certain Ukrainian tiktoks are not available to the Russian geolocated IPs.

Re: One App – Two Worlds: This Is TikTok in Russia and Ukraine

#47
post #24

The dream of the internet as some sort of great democratizing force is already dead and buried, but for any who still believes, this must surely be the final nail in that coffin. Controlling the narrative is only a problem for existing democracies with press freedom. All bets are off once the threat model includes control of the media. So cherish your freedom of speech, and exercise and defend it. I don’t know what t…

Exercising your freedom would start by not using such a closed platform where you have no control over the content you provide and are subject to arbitrary rules.

Re: One App – Two Worlds: This Is TikTok in Russia and Ukraine

#48

I like the systematic approach they have used, and am a bit scared by the results. In one way, it is not that surprising that a social media app is so tightly controlled and used as a tool by the Russian government to hide unpleasant parts of reality. But I think it is a bit surprising that TikTok hasn't met more criticism and resistance on this

It's a social media app. No one should expect news or hard facts from tik-tok.

With that said - it would interesting so see what tik-tok looks like in China. Based on reports, Russian invasion is also heavily censored in China[0]

[0]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jf55gMvwc00

Re: One App – Two Worlds: This Is TikTok in Russia and Ukraine

#49
post #43

Isn't tiktok's whole thing that it shows you very personally curated content based on data about you including demographics and most users see different content? Wouldn't users from Ukraine and England or ones from Mexico and America also see different videos? Are the Ukrainian videos actually unavailable in Russian TikTok if you search for them? It seems obvious that as you watch more non-war stuff (which might be t…

It is mentioned in the article:

"Via our Russian IP address, we try to search for some of the war videos that Ukrainian Nykolai has watched.

But they simply don’t appear. Someone doesn’t want us to see them.

Who?"

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