Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

TikTok’s Poison Pill

calnewport.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

281–290 of 430 posts

Re: TikTok’s Poison Pill

#281

Post by notacoward »

> we just might be left with more breathing room for smaller, more authentic, more human online engagements.

HAHAHAHAHA no. What we'll end up with is a different behemoth or small set of behemoths indistinguishable in their behavior from predecessors. Meet the old boss, same as the old boss. (The longer I live, the more prescient that verse seems.) And in this case, the behemoth will be in a country that is even more willing than the US to exert control over such companies. Not really a great deal for anyone except TikTok's owners.

Re: TikTok’s Poison Pill

#282

Post by drewda »

When I read that article in the New Yorker, I did find it odd that a long piece all about video platforms didn't mention YouTube. I can see that the writer wants to make a more specific argument about "social graph" vs. "public" approaches to social media platforms. But YouTube is such a successful version of the latter.

Re: TikTok’s Poison Pill

#283

Post by nonameiguess »

nixcraft wrote: post #5

There is lots of talk going around TikTok, especially now geopolitics has been added to this kind of discussion due to ongoing tensions between two giants. Instead of banning or removing the TikTok app, how about the US government put a firm privacy policy that forbids TikTok, Microsoft, Apple, Facebook, Twitter and co from collecting excessive data on users? That would be a better solution, IMHO. Let users download…

I don't want to personally malign you and I'm not gonna downvote, but it's irritating to me that this is currently the top comment. I noticed exactly the same thing yesterday where a top comment was explicitly commenting on a completely different article from the one in the link that the commenter had read the week prior about a similar topic.

What you wrote here has nothing to do with the linked article. The article doesn't discuss what American government policy is or should be toward TikTok. It's entirely about the business implications of Facebook potentially losing a competitive edge from its social graph if it adopts TikTok's content model that does not use a social graph.

You've hijacked that topic to talk about a completely different and more divisive topic du jour that is already discussed every other time TikTok comes up.

Re: TikTok’s Poison Pill

#284

Post by MichaelCollins »

TechBro8615 wrote: post #233
jrm4 wrote: post #187

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Great if you're able to do that easily. Please understand that some of the most brilliant minds in the world get up in the morning usually somewhere in California, and work many hours in the day, and their literal job is to figure out how to subvert this.

Unfortunately regulations will always be one step behind. Asking for them is victim mentality. We’re responsible for our own choices. Everyone might get addicted to TikTok for some period. But everyone needn’t stay addicted to TikTok. (Of course I use “TikTok” as a placeholder for any infinitely consumable feed of targeted content.) Regulation has a place. For example, an obvious and easy win would be to pass a bill…

> Unfortunately regulations will always be one step behind. Asking for them is victim mentality.

Is this a self-serving idea you apply only to the industry you work in, or is this a general principle you apply to all industries? Do you feel this way about the petroleum and chemical industries? The pharmaceutical industries? Food processing? The nuclear industry?

Are all industrial regulations instances of 'victim mentality', or only those that apply to your industry?

Re: TikTok’s Poison Pill

#286

Post by angryasian »

ethanbond wrote: post #268
kn0where wrote: post #266

Earlier quoted context omitted.

America is more Brave New World than 1984; people can protest the government, but if that protest rarely overcomes the inertia of the status quo, does it even matter?

Yes of course it matters. Is it sufficient? Probably not. But it’s a substantial improvement over not being able to e.g. protest the government. Anyway, our government isn’t designed to be steered by protest but by voting, which despite all its flaws does shift inertia.

> isn’t designed to be steered by protest but by voting

Even voting within states are completely rigged with gerrymandering and popular vote means nothing in national elections.

Re: TikTok’s Poison Pill

#287

Post by angryasian »

nonameiguess wrote: post #283
nixcraft wrote: post #5

There is lots of talk going around TikTok, especially now geopolitics has been added to this kind of discussion due to ongoing tensions between two giants. Instead of banning or removing the TikTok app, how about the US government put a firm privacy policy that forbids TikTok, Microsoft, Apple, Facebook, Twitter and co from collecting excessive data on users? That would be a better solution, IMHO. Let users download…

I don't want to personally malign you and I'm not gonna downvote, but it's irritating to me that this is currently the top comment. I noticed exactly the same thing yesterday where a top comment was explicitly commenting on a completely different article from the one in the link that the commenter had read the week prior about a similar topic. What you wrote here has nothing to do with the linked article. The article…

agree, I wish this discussion was less about politics and more of the impact on social media

Re: TikTok’s Poison Pill

#288

Post by dahfizz »

nixcraft wrote: post #5

There is lots of talk going around TikTok, especially now geopolitics has been added to this kind of discussion due to ongoing tensions between two giants. Instead of banning or removing the TikTok app, how about the US government put a firm privacy policy that forbids TikTok, Microsoft, Apple, Facebook, Twitter and co from collecting excessive data on users? That would be a better solution, IMHO. Let users download…

And what do you do when tik tok violates the privacy policy? You're not changing the geopolitics at all.

Re: TikTok’s Poison Pill

#289

Post by MichaelCollins »

tobylane wrote: post #159
jensensbutton wrote: post #151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Name another big tech plugged directly into the Chinese Government.

Huawei, but I think your question was about social media platform owners. Other platform owners are bad, I don’t need them to be equal to China before doing something about it.

> Other platform owners are bad, I don’t need them to be equal to China before doing something about it.

I agree. But by the same token, we don't need to do something about the others before doing something about TikTok. Where would we be today if we accepted the argument that before addressing tobacco companies we must first address alcohol companies, and before addressing alcohol companies, we must first address tobacco companies?

Arguing that X shouldn't be regulated because Y is not yet regulated is never a legitimate argument.

Re: TikTok’s Poison Pill

#290

Post by boomchinolo78 »

nonrandomstring wrote: post #42
nixcraft wrote: post #5

There is lots of talk going around TikTok, especially now geopolitics has been added to this kind of discussion due to ongoing tensions between two giants. Instead of banning or removing the TikTok app, how about the US government put a firm privacy policy that forbids TikTok, Microsoft, Apple, Facebook, Twitter and co from collecting excessive data on users? That would be a better solution, IMHO. Let users download…

> Just make one rule for all. This is the correct solution of winning the moral high ground. What Russia has been doing for several decades (see Yuri Bezmenov [1]) is leveraging the "west's" inner discontent. Every time a Watergate or Snowden happens it's a gift to them. It exposes our 'hypocrisy', and failure to live up to our own democratic standards. That fuels the narrative of the western nations as corrupt. We'r…

It's more than a narrative for sure.
Post reply on HN