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As TikTok grows, so does suspicion

economist.com

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Re: As TikTok grows, so does suspicion

#571

Post by trasz »

lmm wrote: post #260
trasz wrote: post #222

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>given that abortions were forced to maintain the one child policy until [citation needed]. Various accounts I've seen claimed it was more like a financial fine; forced abortions sound like Zenz-type fabrication.

Officially there was only the massive financial incentive. However local officials also had financial incentives to keep birth rates low in their areas, and many of them resorted to more direct coercion, which is widely thought to have been a not entirely unintended consequence.

That sounds plausible. Do we have any stats on this?

Re: As TikTok grows, so does suspicion

#573

Post by shikoba »

phyrex wrote: post #261
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.

How are they “The Enemy”? Are they coming and killing Americans or is it just generic xenophobia?

Economically speaking China is the enemy of occident, probably bigger than Russia.

Re: As TikTok grows, so does suspicion

#574

Post by throwawaymaths »

pastacacioepepe wrote: post #569
throwawaymaths wrote: post #509

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm all about criticizing the us for the drone striking it's doing (and how our media underreported it -- try getting stats of how many strikes Obama delivered, you can only get straight answers about individual regions, not a totalled number). I think the reason the US gets a pass in the international political zeitgeist is that it's motives serve a greater peace. In the past imperial powers have largely used their…

> I think the reason the US gets a pass in the international political zeitgeist is that it's motives serve a greater peace lol, PLEASE The US Has Been at war 225 out of 243 years since 1776

You didn't read the whole thing. The point is: Europe has not since WWII. That is definitely machinations of the us at work. Whatever shitty motives the us had pre-wwii, like fighting wars on behalf of dole, something has changed, and if you don't understand that and take the lazy mindset that "history never changes" you're gravely mistaken, and in fact you won't be served well in general.

Re: As TikTok grows, so does suspicion

#575

Post by lmm »

josephcsible wrote: post #469
lmm wrote: post #465

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The relationship is complex and contingent, but generally the host country will be making a range of concessions to the US (e.g. ceding land, giving US troops a range of indemnities, agreeing to purchase weapons systems from the US). It may not be profitable for "the US" as an abstract whole, but the US is not a unitary entity; it's very profitable for the largest lobbying organisations in the US (Lockheed etc.).

I believe it's profitable for Lockheed, etc., but isn't that at the expense of the American taxpayers? And doesn't the foreign location usually make money from the base being there?

> I believe it's profitable for Lockheed, etc., but isn't that at the expense of the American taxpayers?

It's generally both - they're getting both American and foreign taxpayers to pay for their stuff.

> And doesn't the foreign location usually make money from the base being there?

If you're only looking at the direct impact of the base, sure, it tends to mean there are a bunch of young American men with money to burn around (though they also tend to be a not entirely positive influence in terms of e.g. sexual assaults). But the full package of obligations that goes with it tends to add up to something that's costly for both sides, and the people with the supply contracts are the only real winners.

Re: As TikTok grows, so does suspicion

#576

Post by formerkrogemp »

bko wrote: post #263
Al-Khwarizmi wrote: post #248

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The thing is that "government = bad" is typical American mindset. As another non-US, non-Chinese citizen, the fact that those megacorporations are independent from the government makes it worse, not better. At least governments respond to their people (especially in the case of democracies, much less so for authoritarian governments, but they still have to worry a minimum to avoid revolution). Corporations respond to…

When Facebook starts opening concentration camps, I'm likely to agree with you. > especially in the case of democracies, much less so for authoritarian governments, but they still have to worry a minimum to avoid revolution What do you think is more likely to still be relevant in 100 years from now, China or Facebook? I think a 'revolution' is more likely to affect Facebook than China

> When Facebook starts opening concentration camps, I'm likely to agree with you

I wonder. If your product is used to recruit soldiers, spread propaganda, disseminate hate speech, and organize and deploy said concentration camps or their equivalent, are you liable and culpable? If you've known for years and done next to nothing about sectarian violence and genocide, are you still blameless? When moderation could have been hired and trained for an immaterial amount of profit? SEA wages are notoriously low in dollar terms. Poorly implemented machine learning models don't suffice to halt genocide. Greed, ignorance, malevolence, sloth, arrogance. Take your pick.

https://abcnews.go.com/Business/wireStory/kill-facebook-fail...

https://www.globalwitness.org/en/campaigns/digital-threats/r...

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/15/technology/myanmar-facebo...

Re: As TikTok grows, so does suspicion

#577

Post by macmuras »

pastacacioepepe wrote: post #568
arroz wrote: post #493

Earlier quoted context omitted.

oh yeah China is engaging (though not declaring) economic war with Australia but ok keep pretending Australia doesn’t want US protection

Since when do you need military bases to defend against economic war? Furthermore, the US is waging economic war on half the world since I have memory of it, isn't it time the rest of the world starts to protect themselves?

All types of wars are tied together. Military intervention can be a next step when you are not getting things done any other way.

Re: As TikTok grows, so does suspicion

#578

Post by macmuras »

pastacacioepepe wrote: post #563
option wrote: post #349

Earlier quoted context omitted.

ask Ukrainians whether they want US bases and whether they want to be part of Nato

> ask Ukrainians whether they want US bases and whether they want to be part of Nato That doesn't make it right. Ukrainians are scared right now, that's not the right mental state to take decisions that will trap you for decades or more into a state of subjection to the US. Also I don't care wether they want or not, the US must not expand further or we're basically asking for them to rule the world even more then the…

This exactly the moment that Ukrainians would like to make quick decision given information at hand. Other countries are making sam choice (e.g. Sweden, Finland).

I am from Eastern Europe and closer ties with US, although have a price, are the preferred option.

Soldiers should be judged accordingly, but it’s an incident and not US supported norm.

I think you don’t get sentiment from this part of the world.

Re: As TikTok grows, so does suspicion

#579

Post by zthrowaway »

SMVS wrote: post #467
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"?

As an ex FAANG, nothing could be more true. TikTok is just continuing what Silicon Valley started, only they're better at it. Having seen what US tech companies have done with my data, I'd much rather it was in the hands of the Chinese.

China bot galore. Lol.

Re: As TikTok grows, so does suspicion

#580

Post by bmarquez »

ugjka wrote: post #405
lmm wrote: post #310

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

It took me a month before TT actually figured out my interests. For some reason it thought I would be absolutely interested in the local content of Latvia (where i live)

I created a TikTok account with a VPN and for the first few days most of the content was tailored towards the faraway city that the VPN IP address pointed to. Geolocated IP is one of the few pieces of info TT has initially, so not surprised they rely on it.
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