As TikTok grows, so does suspicion • Hacker News Board

Re: As TikTok grows, so does suspicion

#101

Post by dqpb » Sun, Jul 10, 2022, 6:43 PM UTC

stale2002 wrote: post #61

dqpb wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> TikTok is technically not a Chinese company I guess the economist has it wrong then: > As the first consumer-facing app from China to take off in the West, TikTok is a source of pride in Beijing. But the app’s Chinese ownership makes politicians elsewhere uneasy about its tightening grip on their citizens’ attention

The point being here is that the company ownership is setup in a complicate way, that is different than just being straight up controlled by china. As in, there are apparently sub companies, that are in the US, not in china, that makes it different.

They’re headquartered in Beijing.

Re: As TikTok grows, so does suspicion

#102

Post by Drew_ » Sun, Jul 10, 2022, 6:44 PM UTC

nindalf wrote: post #54

tonymet wrote: post #5

they mention data harvesting and influencing public relations as risks, and both are worrisome . another more subtle but pernicious concern is the trivialization of entertainment (which started from a low bar ) tiktok is addictive and much of the content is low bar , slapstick and sexually suggestive thirst traps . there may be a good share of high quality content , but we all know time spent is on garbage. our grand…

This comment follows a pattern common in other comments criticising TikTok - the person says “this content I saw isn’t very good. Why would anyone spend their time watching X?” > sexually suggestive thirst traps Not realising that only they (and people with similar tastes) are seeing X. And it says more about them than it does about TikTok. There’s plenty of room for thoughtful critique of TikTok and it’s current/pot…

Yeah people who complain about Tik Tok being filled with X bad thing are spending their time engaging with X bad thing. There's A LOT of really good content on Tik Tok.

Re: As TikTok grows, so does suspicion

#103

Post by api » Sun, Jul 10, 2022, 6:44 PM UTC

bigcat12345678 wrote: post #73

crmd wrote: post #28

85% of US teenagers use tiktok. That's 85% of the future generation of US senators, Cabinet members, and Supreme Court justices, of police chiefs, civil rights activists, mayors, CEOs, etc. in their bedrooms right now consuming content curated by, and filming their lives and that of their friends, and uploading the video to data centers, that are controlled by a strategic adversary of the United States. This is, to p…

> 85% of US teenagers use tiktok. That's 85% of the future generation of US senators, Cabinet members, and Supreme Court justices, of police chiefs, civil rights activists, mayors, CEOs, etc. What's the basis of social elites are coming uniformly from the population? I think it's obvious that the social elites in all areas are predominantly from wealthy and affluent families. So the line of thinking of 85% teens corr…

So say it’s 50%. That’s not much better.

Re: As TikTok grows, so does suspicion

#104

Post by trasz » Sun, Jul 10, 2022, 6:44 PM UTC

ralusek wrote: post #80

dijit wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why do you think that's the case? Aside from the trade-war that's going on, which is pretty arbirary; The US has routinely spied on Europe, allowed backdoored technology to make it's way into the continent including to spy on government officials from another sovereign (allegedly allied ) nation. It's hard for me not to draw direct comparisons, because other than the surface level of "everything's fine, we have a com…

EU and US are both fundamentally liberal democracies and not adversarial. China is an authoritarian single party state which openly declares the US an enemy...

Because of course a two party system is fundamentally different from one party one :-D

Re: As TikTok grows, so does suspicion

#105

Post by bluepizza » Sun, Jul 10, 2022, 6:44 PM UTC

dijit wrote: post #60

crmd wrote: post #28

85% of US teenagers use tiktok. That's 85% of the future generation of US senators, Cabinet members, and Supreme Court justices, of police chiefs, civil rights activists, mayors, CEOs, etc. in their bedrooms right now consuming content curated by, and filming their lives and that of their friends, and uploading the video to data centers, that are controlled by a strategic adversary of the United States. This is, to p…

This might sound like a fallacious argument; but do you think the same about Europeans who consume almost exclusively US media and interact almost exclusively with US social media platforms? The US (famously) does not have Allies, only temporary allegiances. If you're discussing ties to government, Twitter and Facebook have members on their boards publicly who are sitting and/or former members of government including…

> The US (famously) does not have Allies, only temporary allegiances.

Far from me to defend American imperialism, but this is not true, is it? The USA has a decent list of long standing alliances, that include a variety of countries: Japan, Australia, Canada, UK, South Korea, among others.

Re: As TikTok grows, so does suspicion

#106

Post by djantje » Sun, Jul 10, 2022, 6:45 PM UTC

crmd wrote: post #28

85% of US teenagers use tiktok. That's 85% of the future generation of US senators, Cabinet members, and Supreme Court justices, of police chiefs, civil rights activists, mayors, CEOs, etc. in their bedrooms right now consuming content curated by, and filming their lives and that of their friends, and uploading the video to data centers, that are controlled by a strategic adversary of the United States. This is, to p…

I think the danger is way more in the addictive part.

It is al interessting, and the users are a nice research group.

But here in the Netherlands, 25% of the young people have the chance to become illiterate (yes become, reading/writing/communication skills dropping after primary and/or high school), part of it is the mobile phone, part of it social status and background.

Re: As TikTok grows, so does suspicion

#107

Post by api » Sun, Jul 10, 2022, 6:47 PM UTC

ectopod wrote: post #21

China passed a law a couple of years ago requiring all Chinese companies to give the government live access to their databases. Is TikTok exempt? If not, statements that the government hasn't requested any data are misleading. They don't need to.

Even if TikTik claims to be exempt I would not believe it.

I would also assume that US police and intelligence have access to Facebook, Google, etc. regardless of what anyone says.

End to end encrypted or it is not private. No exceptions.

Re: As TikTok grows, so does suspicion

#108

Post by trasz » Sun, Jul 10, 2022, 6:47 PM UTC

ConstantVigil wrote: post #95

dijit wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This might sound like a fallacious argument; but do you think the same about Europeans who consume almost exclusively US media and interact almost exclusively with US social media platforms? The US (famously) does not have Allies, only temporary allegiances. If you're discussing ties to government, Twitter and Facebook have members on their boards publicly who are sitting and/or former members of government including…

Not the person you are asking, but I think I have a point that can help shed some light on the matter. I'm going to be speaking from the Canadian side of things, and so I'll be saying 'We' a lot due to the US and Canada tending to trade alike in a lot of ways AFAIK. Ultimately, it all boils down to known trajectories. The EU and other places in the general area such as the UK, are all known to have histories of their…

No post body was provided.

Re: As TikTok grows, so does suspicion

#109

Post by Quillbert182 » Sun, Jul 10, 2022, 6:47 PM UTC

throwaway4good wrote: post #59

crmd wrote: post #28

85% of US teenagers use tiktok. That's 85% of the future generation of US senators, Cabinet members, and Supreme Court justices, of police chiefs, civil rights activists, mayors, CEOs, etc. in their bedrooms right now consuming content curated by, and filming their lives and that of their friends, and uploading the video to data centers, that are controlled by a strategic adversary of the United States. This is, to p…

TikTok's data centers are in the US.

That doesn’t mean China can’t access the data, and we have no guarantees that there aren’t copies of all that data in China.

Re: As TikTok grows, so does suspicion

#110

Post by bluehorseray » Sun, Jul 10, 2022, 6:47 PM UTC

winternett wrote: post #78

analyst74 wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For successful YouTubers, the money coming from YT is actually not their primary income, one YouTuber publically said YT payout is ~1/4 of their total revenue. Their other main sources of revenue includes brand deals, affiliates, product/merc sales and direct donation. Tiktokers are generally following YouTuber model in how they monetize their content, minus Ads revenue share.

If Microsoft said "Come work for us every day for free, you may get brand deals!" Would anyone with talent, skills, and self respect jump to do it? Working for free at a large and quite profitable company? The problem is that because of how perception can be manipulated on social platforms based on that success illusion. It makes people think that the success comes just for creating simple content, and trumps one's a…

Umm people definitely don't consider posting on tiktok "labor" like you're suggesting. a) It's fun, and b) they're getting social status / minor celebrity status. Even if there was no chance of making any money I can guarantee you people would still try to grow a following.

Posting tiktoks =/= working a 9-5 at Microsoft