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As TikTok grows, so does suspicion

economist.com

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Re: As TikTok grows, so does suspicion

#151

Post by marcosdumay »

beebmam wrote: post #99
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…

The Chinese government owns all of its businesses. In the US/EU, businesses are independently owned by private individuals.

You mean to say that the US government isn't spying on data held by large US companies?

Re: As TikTok grows, so does suspicion

#152

Post by mrtksn »

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 do agree about the risk and that cuts both ways, it's why EU and Russia and other countries are taking some precautions about the US companies and govt access to their citizens data.

On the other hand, TikTok is a result of the stagnant US-made social media platforms. TikTok did innovate and gained its market share fair and square.

As I said it multiple times before, I hope US takes the EU approach, that is, regulating the data access and not the Chinese approach of banning.

US is facing this issue for the first time and it is a touchy topic. But please consider the implications, what happens if each political block chooses the banning/blocking approach? Do you want to live in a world with each country having its own separate internet?

A lot of people are quick to rise the pitchforks and believe in the US superiority but ironically they demand government solution upon free market failure. I was genuinely scared about the future of the internet when the Trump admin tried to force acquisition by US tech giant or App Store ban over TikTok. What a relief when it failed.

Re: As TikTok grows, so does suspicion

#153

Post by shrimp_emoji »

trasz wrote: post #104
ralusek wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

... + the liberal institutions + the non-totalitarianism + the actual, real life democracy + historical and political context + ... :D

Re: As TikTok grows, so does suspicion

#154

Post by Ekaros »

HaZeust wrote: post #118
ok123456 wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah they stuck "shorts" on the homepage so that anyone who visits "youtube.com" has to see them. That's not actual engagement.

Well the real slimy thing they did was make posts under a minute on YouTube default to a Short.

And the browser UI is quite pointless for them... Why even have that? Is it only there to increase the metrics?

Re: As TikTok grows, so does suspicion

#155

Post by BuyMyBitcoins »

mrtksn wrote: post #152
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 do agree about the risk and that cuts both ways, it's why EU and Russia and other countries are taking some precautions about the US companies and govt access to their citizens data. On the other hand, TikTok is a result of the stagnant US-made social media platforms. TikTok did innovate and gained its market share fair and square. As I said it multiple times before, I hope US takes the EU approach, that is, regula…

Correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t TikTok essentially just a more developed version of Vine?

I remember Vines taking off in popularity before it being shut down for a reason I never fully understood.

Re: As TikTok grows, so does suspicion

#156

Post by jokethrowaway »

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 feels too incompetent to try to manipulate other countries and it feels more like they have a bad culture and they export it to European countries (where kids in half broken and sad schools dream of partying in cool fraternities).

China, on the other hand, sounds perfectly capable and willing of manipulating our society to make it weak and broken, while at the same time forbidding the same content in their land.

I'd argue it even predates tiktok and it could explain why media and politicians are so much worse than 30 years ago. The other explanation is that we got complacent, and all great empires need generational weakness before collapsing.

Probably there's a bit of truth in both.

Re: As TikTok grows, so does suspicion

#157

Post by shbooms »

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.

> As in, there are apparently sub companies, that are in the US, not in china,

Sure, the US "sub companies" are located physically in the US and managed day-to-day by US-based employees but they are still owned by a Chinese parent company meaning at the end of the day, they still report to managers/executive in China and are obligated to follow directions given to them by people working for Chinese parent company. If the Chinese government cotrols the Chinese parent company then they, by definition, control the US-based company as well.

Re: As TikTok grows, so does suspicion

#158

Post by shrimp_emoji »

woodruffw wrote: post #140
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 would be debased by the poor and foreign morals of James Joyce, if only we could get them to read Ulysses.

Something must be done. Oh, wait: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_v._One_Book_Call...

Re: As TikTok grows, so does suspicion

#159

Post by deanCommie »

bluepizza wrote: post #105
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…

> 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.

It may be true but if it's true it's true for all allyships.

Look at the history of Europe and observe the shifting trends of alliances.

Re: As TikTok grows, so does suspicion

#160

Post by mrtksn »

BuyMyBitcoins wrote: post #155
mrtksn wrote: post #152

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I do agree about the risk and that cuts both ways, it's why EU and Russia and other countries are taking some precautions about the US companies and govt access to their citizens data. On the other hand, TikTok is a result of the stagnant US-made social media platforms. TikTok did innovate and gained its market share fair and square. As I said it multiple times before, I hope US takes the EU approach, that is, regula…

Correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t TikTok essentially just a more developed version of Vine? I remember Vines taking off in popularity before it being shut down for a reason I never fully understood.

And where is Vine now? Nothing is blank sheet new, everything is building on top of something and iterates and the truth is, when the US-made social media consolidated on politics and glamour photos TikTok came up with something fun and creative and apparently people love it.
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