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As TikTok grows, so does suspicion

economist.com

301–310 of 653 posts

Re: As TikTok grows, so does suspicion

#301
post #115

I am really annoyed at how we (EU) and the US treat chinese companies and citizens. We (europeans and americans) cant do really anything in China, we have essentially no rights and cant really conduct business. Unlike chinese who are pretty much granted all of that when they want to immigrate or conduct business in EU/US.

>We (europeans and americans) cant do really anything in China We - Europeans and pretty much anyone who's not an American - can't do really anything in US.

> can't do really anything in US

Can you elaborate?

Re: As TikTok grows, so does suspicion

#302
A lot of concerns are focusing on (person) -> (tiktok) -> (CCP) data flow. What about the reverse information flow?

A foreign political party tuning the algorithm to affect public opinions? I think this is even more impactful than data snooping. It's also a lot harder to detect and prevent.

Re: As TikTok grows, so does suspicion

#303
post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

TikTok is the only social media app I use anymore. I didn’t even change my default ‘user12345’ account nor have I linked anything to it. I also consume it differently than I used to do the others, by going maybe once per week or two and binge for a couple of hours. It fills me with joy and ideas just as you say.

How is it social media then?

How is it not social media? It’s literally media that is distributed in a social way.

Re: As TikTok grows, so does suspicion

#305
post #251
post #243

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Social media addiction is a very real thing and tiktok does it better than any of its competitors.

I've heard this but it doesn't match my experience at all. I see far more addictive behaviour on facebook or twitter (or, hell, HN).

Have you used tiktok? There’s nothing about it that isn’t addictive.

Facebook, Twitter, and HN hold a different behavior because they are used for asynchronous communication between general users while TT is full of parasocial relationships between the created and fans. FB and Twitter also offer more utility than TikTok, an example being small businesses using Facebook and Twitter instead of a website.

Re: As TikTok grows, so does suspicion

#306
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 acce…

China doesn't exactly limit its activities to people within its borders. There are reports of Uighurs speaking up who get harassed after fleeing the country and speaking up: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-56563449

Five men were charged with stalking and harassing Chinese dissidents in the US, including by seeking to derail the election bid of a congressional candidate: https://www.asiafinancial.com/five-charged-with-harassment-o...

Re: As TikTok grows, so does suspicion

#307

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You would be surprised if you polled non-US, non-China citizens about what country is the biggest geopolitical threat to the world. Wait, I don't even need to talk in conditionals. I Googled it and apparently it has indeed been done several times, and the results are what I expected. https://brilliantmaps.com/threat-to-peace/ https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/may/05/us-threat-demo...

okay, go poll Ukrainians, Poles, Czechs, ...

Didn't the states just pull out of Afghanistan after 20 years of occupation? Or is that last years news?

20 Years!

Edit: Downvotes, whats the best way to deal with colossal failure... pretend like it never happened. Afghanistan, huh? what are you talking about.

Re: As TikTok grows, so does suspicion

#308
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.

The FCC commissioner just point out there is no firewall between Chinese engineers from rifling through and copying all the data from the “USA based” servers. It defies belief that anyone thinks that the CCP isn't doing exactly that lol and building up dossiers on every TikTok member. For example just find all the MAGA leaning people and try to convert them over to CCP terrorist cells. I mean I'm not a CIA analyst, b…

Make America Great Again conservative "China virus" people are very much not aligned with Chinese communist party terrorist cells, and I don't see how anyone could believe they are unless you mentally lump everybody you don't like into a single bucket.

Re: As TikTok grows, so does suspicion

#309

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

You would be surprised if you polled non-US, non-China citizens about what country is the biggest geopolitical threat to the world. Wait, I don't even need to talk in conditionals. I Googled it and apparently it has indeed been done several times, and the results are what I expected. https://brilliantmaps.com/threat-to-peace/ https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/may/05/us-threat-demo...

No post body was provided.

Re: As TikTok grows, so does suspicion

#310
post #305
post #251

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've heard this but it doesn't match my experience at all. I see far more addictive behaviour on facebook or twitter (or, hell, HN).

Have you used tiktok? There’s nothing about it that isn’t addictive. Facebook, Twitter, and HN hold a different behavior because they are used for asynchronous communication between general users while TT is full of parasocial relationships between the created and fans. FB and Twitter also offer more utility than TikTok, an example being small businesses using Facebook and Twitter instead of a website.

> Have you used tiktok? There’s nothing about it that isn’t addictive.

I tried it for a week or so, found it not very interesting and gave up.

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