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As TikTok grows, so does suspicion

economist.com

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Re: As TikTok grows, so does suspicion

#271

Post by gardenhedge »

voisin wrote: post #177
gardenhedge wrote: post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So what is the social aspect if you're not connected with anyone?

This is a valid point. I am not the poster you are responding to but the top level poster. I too don’t follow people I know and perhaps that’s the difference from the social platforms. In that regard it is more like YouTube, but unlike YouTube, the algorithm isn’t radicalizing me other than making me want to learn guitar again. So what is it about YouTube that makes people more likely to become radical incels willing…

I disagree with the premise of the question with regards to YouTube and TikTok.

Re: As TikTok grows, so does suspicion

#272

Post by RONROC »

mkl95 wrote: post #212

TikTok is the most successful espionage operation of the 21st century so far, and it is based on a simple idea - people will happily give away their data and privacy if you consistently entertain them. In my opinion the application should be shut down as soon as possible, but there are many lessons to learn from it. And most of them have little to do with technology.

What people are afraid to say is that the United States arguably has a bad enough rap sheet as China, but still, even with its shortcomings, it's still not China.

And yes, China bad.

Re: As TikTok grows, so does suspicion

#273

Post by [deleted] »

Calvin02 wrote: post #223
madeofpalk wrote: post #216

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a non-US, non-Chinese citizen, is there something that makes TikTok espionage and Facebook not? Or is it just "china scary"?

Yes. China and Russia are the biggest geopolitical threats to the world. It is surprisingly that simple. While the US and the western governments have their issues, they are still largely law abiding. China, however, is not. Additionally, under Xi, it has become more authoritarian and more willing to undo the rules based order that has someone kept the world somewhat sane since WWII. I don’t know why anyone would be…

[deleted]

Re: As TikTok grows, so does suspicion

#274

Post by starfallg »

option wrote: post #264
lmm wrote: post #249

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> While the US and the western governments have their issues, they are still a largely law abiding. Perhaps on an internal level. But for those of us in third countries what matters is how they act outside their borders, and the US is doing considerably more dronestriking of their political enemies than China is. (And even if you just look at domestic aspects, the relevant area is one of the exceptions. The NSA seems…

you conveniently left Russia out of your “acting outside of their borders” discussion… In case you haven’t noticed they started a bloody war in Ukraine this year.

Or CCP troops engaging in bloody border skirmishes with shovels.

Re: As TikTok grows, so does suspicion

#275

Post by [deleted] »

Drew_ wrote: post #102
nindalf wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

[deleted]

Re: As TikTok grows, so does suspicion

#276

Post by ok123456 »

est31 wrote: post #173
Ekaros wrote: post #154

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

The shorts browser UI is a clone of the tiktok UI. I don't really like either, they could have innovated at least a little by introducing more powerful video controls like the seeking shortkeys that work on youtube for example. But it wasn't built to appeal me (or you), but other parts of the population, people who prefer tiktok like experiences. For me personally, the reason to use shorts every now and then is becau…

They prefer tiktok's content and recommendation system.

Just trying to recreate some of the UI aspects of it is just cargo culting.

Re: As TikTok grows, so does suspicion

#277

Post by Miner49er »

bko wrote: post #259
shikoba wrote: post #217

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is because China is the enemy. When it's Facebook or Google strangely it's never an issue. Moral is always a facade for international economic war. And some people fall for it.

I think there's a difference between a private company having my data and an adversarial government. The company has a clear motive, profit. They're lawful neutral. An adversarial government may be chaotic evil. I don't know why this isn't obvious. Wasn't everyone freaking out just a few years ago when Russian government was manipulating people with political groups on Facebook? And that's even with Facebook's earnes…

I'm the opposite. I would much rather have the CCP have my data then a US based company like FB. Unless I travel to China, what are the CCP going to do to the average American with their data? Whereas, in the US, the data could be used in the future to prosecute me for my political views or whatever with law changes.

Re: As TikTok grows, so does suspicion

#278

Post by chaostheory »

groffee wrote: post #255
chaostheory wrote: post #224

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What data are we exactly giving Tiktok? I would agree with it being called a propaganda platform, but I’m not sure about it being a surveillance platform.

You can't sign up with just an email, you need third party integration like Twitter, and surprise, you need to give TikTok full access to your account. Still pretty entertaining though.

That’s not true. You can signup without Twitter, Google or Facebook accounts. I signed up with just my email

https://www.tiktok.com/signup

Also just because they use Twitter to sign in, it doesn’t mean they have access to any private data.

Re: As TikTok grows, so does suspicion

#279

Post by colinsane »

mkl95 wrote: post #212

TikTok is the most successful espionage operation of the 21st century so far, and it is based on a simple idea - people will happily give away their data and privacy if you consistently entertain them. In my opinion the application should be shut down as soon as possible, but there are many lessons to learn from it. And most of them have little to do with technology.

> it is based on a simple idea - people will happily give away their data and privacy if you consistently entertain them.

there’s the individual-level view, and the state-level view.

i, as an individual, don’t really care if China has my location data or shopping data. what are they going to do with it? they can exert soft power over me: propaganda; distort my worldview a bit.

meanwhile, if my own government has access to this same data, i suffer direct consequences. my odds of getting arrested for nonviolent crime (e.g. political activism; buying drugs online) go way up when my govt surveils me: far less so when it’s a foreign govt doing this.

it doesn’t have so much to do with individuals making foolish tradeoffs over their own interests IMO: the way espionage plays into this is as an alignment gap between individual and state interests.

Re: As TikTok grows, so does suspicion

#280

Post by Barrin92 »

Calvin02 wrote: post #223
madeofpalk wrote: post #216

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a non-US, non-Chinese citizen, is there something that makes TikTok espionage and Facebook not? Or is it just "china scary"?

Yes. China and Russia are the biggest geopolitical threats to the world. It is surprisingly that simple. While the US and the western governments have their issues, they are still largely law abiding. China, however, is not. Additionally, under Xi, it has become more authoritarian and more willing to undo the rules based order that has someone kept the world somewhat sane since WWII. I don’t know why anyone would be…

>Yes. China and Russia are the biggest geopolitical threats to the world. It is surprisingly that simple.

You may want to consult the so called 'global south' on that question who represents the majority of people on the planet and seems to have quite a different impression. Undoing America's 'rule based order' isn't a geopolitical threat to the world, it's a geopolitical threat to the US. Why would billions of people on earth be afraid of living in a world where their countries have actual influence? You may want to get used to the fact that you're not going to get to define what's 'sane' for everyone for much longer.

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