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TikTok preparing for U.S. shut-off on Sunday

reuters.com

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Re: TikTok preparing for U.S. shut-off on Sunday

#971

Post by penjelly »

spencerflem wrote: post #67

Given how easy it is for China to buy US data legally from data brokers and how similar the functionality of TikTok and YouTube Shorts, I feel like the only explanations are: 1. The govt is mad that a foreign company is outcompeting a domestic one Or more likely, given that there are so many other industries that didn't get a ban: 2. The govt is mad that they have control over the narrative on Facebook but do not on…

it's been said many times, it's a national security risk, and it is very obviously one. Tiktok has already gone against the wishes of the US, there's evidence Chinese engineers accessed Tiktok data hosted in the US (related: project Texas). It's so easy to sway public opinion when you own the largest megaphone to the people... That's literally what's happening right now on tiktok.

Re: TikTok preparing for U.S. shut-off on Sunday

#972

Post by hxegon »

pkkkzip wrote: post #390
morkalork wrote: post #220

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Which makes all the positive comments about rednote hilarious. It's like two proles in 1984 talking one another about how they're gonna defect from Oceania to Eastasia because citizens are treated just so much better there!

Again I note the distinctive lack of self-awareness from the demographic that is moving away from TikTok to a communist country value harboring app like RedNote The Rednote or "Xiaohongshu" in Chinese is literally referring to the Mao Zedong's propaganda book the modern counterpart being "Xi's Book of Thoughts" It's frightening how much young Americans hate their own country and the values that have allowed them this…

Do you think mayyybeeee this hate stems from how young americans are treated and a complete lack of representation? Red note censors stuff about Chinese politics, they are surprisingly accepting of LGBTQ etc, and it's nice to talk with people from other countries you don't normally have interactions with. It's really not that hard to understand.

Re: TikTok preparing for U.S. shut-off on Sunday

#973

Post by leptons »

lupire wrote: post #773
leptons wrote: post #446

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is it actually Instagram Reels that is inauthentic, or is it the content that people post there? The Instagram Reels service is just that - a service people can use to post videos, same as TikTok. It's the people who choose to use the service that cause it to seem inauthentic, not the service itself. If everyone migrated from TikTok to Reels overnight, then wouldn't Reels become more "authentic"?

The content doesn't matter. There's more than a lifetime supply of I'll relevant kinds of content on both platforms. The algorithm for curating your feed matters.

"The algorithm" doesn't matter as much as you think it does. If all the videos have metadata, it's quite simple to suggest another video to someone if they just watched a similar video. I watch how my wife uses TikTok, and "the algorithm" is hit or miss. Most of the time it's a hit, but that's because the metadata from the preceding videos (and how long she watched them, or didn't) makes it easy to figure out what she'll most likely want to watch next. Without metadata, there is no "algorithm", and with metadata, it's trivially easy for anyone to produce "an algorithm" that does the same thing, maybe even better than TikTok does it now. I mean, if you do a search about how to put on makeup, then the next 10 videos you see are going to be about how to put on makeup - that isn't exactly an irreplaceable algorithm.

Re: TikTok preparing for U.S. shut-off on Sunday

#974

Post by karakot »

randomopining wrote: post #693
gaoshan wrote: post #556

Banning individual apps in this manner is wrong, IMO. In a country where concepts like freedom of speech and restrictions on government censorship are not insignificant considerations (in theory, at a minimum) a decision like this is unfortunate. China bans apps... tons of apps... in order to maintain strict control over the content and identity of users. This strategy is not something the US should be mimicking. The…

So what if a conflict breaks out and the CCP essentially use TikTok as a pathway directly into the brains of millions of Americans. Let's say they tweak the algorithm with a button press to create confusion and public discord when we should be united to protect taiwan. That's a possible tool of disinformation.

This is so fucking sad. As a russian american who lived through russian transition from relatively free country to an authoritarian one I'm getting dejavu vibes here(Putin started with taking over of all independent news sources like newspapers/tv and radio channels etc). This is not up to the government or some other people to decide what I read, what I watch where I get my information/news from. America has a beautiful concept of free speech, stick to it. I personally think that TikTok is a brain rot, but I still don't want any government involvement into this. Don't like it? - Don't use it.

Re: TikTok preparing for U.S. shut-off on Sunday

#975

Post by crystal_revenge »

hxegon wrote: post #821
crystal_revenge wrote: post #766

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> TikTok has such a culture of authenticity and realness I'm shocked how easily manipulated people are by social media. The vast majority of TikTok content is very intentionally produced, largely to attempt to generate revenue or, at the very least, to feed ones ego. The "real" people you see on there are all, to different degrees of success, actors. Nearly all of the spontaneous/I can't believe this happened!/caught…

> This movement to 小红书 is also, surprise surprise, not some spontaneous movement. The people at 小红书 have intentionally be working on becoming a TikTok replacement for awhile now. Provide literally one source for this. literally any source.

They completely revamped the UX from being essentially an instagram clone focusing on pictures and written content, to increasingly a tiktok clone focusing on browseable short form video?

Are you going to need similar evidence if I claim that YouTube has been working on being a TikTok replacement as well? It's pretty clear that YouTube created the "shorts" feature as an attempt to allow TikTok creators to trivially repost content.

Re: TikTok preparing for U.S. shut-off on Sunday

#976

Post by gaoshan »

karakot wrote: post #974
randomopining wrote: post #693

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So what if a conflict breaks out and the CCP essentially use TikTok as a pathway directly into the brains of millions of Americans. Let's say they tweak the algorithm with a button press to create confusion and public discord when we should be united to protect taiwan. That's a possible tool of disinformation.

This is so fucking sad. As a russian american who lived through russian transition from relatively free country to an authoritarian one I'm getting dejavu vibes here(Putin started with taking over of all independent news sources like newspapers/tv and radio channels etc). This is not up to the government or some other people to decide what I read, what I watch where I get my information/news from. America has a beaut…

Totally agree with this.

Re: TikTok preparing for U.S. shut-off on Sunday

#977

Post by krainboltgreene »

moi2388 wrote: post #891
krainboltgreene wrote: post #398

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> One thing that would make social media much better, is forcing providers by law to ensure everybody sees the same content. This sounds terrible. I don't want to see the same content as everyone else. A good chunk of Youtube right now is rightwing content that I don't have to see.

You won’t. You will still see the videos from the channels you subscribed to. It’s just that everybody subscribing to that particular channel most get the same information from it; the same videos, the same comments, the same likes/dislikes

I'm going to blow your mind, but at one point you weren't subscribed to the channel. You found that channel likely through the algo.

Re: TikTok preparing for U.S. shut-off on Sunday

#978

Post by barfingclouds »

cvoss wrote: post #208
jdlyga wrote: post #115

"I would literally write my social security number on a sticky note and stick it to Xi Jinping's forehead than go back to using Instagram Reels" I saw this yesterday and it's hilarious but this is the feeling right now. TikTok has such a culture of authenticity and realness and Instagram is so phony and overly perfect (not to mention ads and so many bots and spam). It's like shutting down Reddit and telling everyone…

The US gov's intention was not at all to shut down TikTok. It was to force ByteDance to sell it. The fact that ByteDance is opting for a shutdown instead is a huge PR stunt, and their unwillingness to sell under the circumstances kinda proves their whole First Amendment claims are made in bad faith. Something deeper is going on, and it's not about your social security number.

Yeah it’s about that algorithms could radicalize the population or turn them against each other

Re: TikTok preparing for U.S. shut-off on Sunday

#979

Post by solumunus »

jdlyga wrote: post #115

"I would literally write my social security number on a sticky note and stick it to Xi Jinping's forehead than go back to using Instagram Reels" I saw this yesterday and it's hilarious but this is the feeling right now. TikTok has such a culture of authenticity and realness and Instagram is so phony and overly perfect (not to mention ads and so many bots and spam). It's like shutting down Reddit and telling everyone…

Imagine outing yourself as someone who uses these mind numbing apps.

Re: TikTok preparing for U.S. shut-off on Sunday

#980

Post by dpig_ »

I_AM_A_SMURF wrote: post #467
ergonaught wrote: post #366

US citizens do not want this. Every news article descending into tangents on any other point than that is part of why we can't have nice things. The whole country has turned into some sort of lower primate improv troupe where whatever stupid thing comes up gets a "Yes and let's" diversion instead of an adult in the room standing up and cutting the crap.

We certainly _do_ want this. I think the fact that we let a foreign company own a social media platform in the first place is preposterous. As others have said, we would never let the CCP own a TV broadcast, why should we let china own a major social media platform? That's just absurd.

For most of the world, your platforms are already foreign-owned.
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