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U.S. investors, Trump close in on TikTok deal with China

wsj.com

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Re: U.S. investors, Trump close in on TikTok deal with China

#561

Post by amatecha »

deadbabe wrote: post #470
amatecha wrote: post #272

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Use Fediverse/ActivityPub, XMPP (maybe matrix), IRC. Use protocols, not "apps"/"platforms". Stop using corporate-owned centralized services. Well, unless you like being the subject of exploitation and manipulation of course.

The nuance of protocols vs apps though is lost on the masses. Most people just want to stare at reels or be stared at in reels. This means that the only people you will encounter in protocols will be privacy freak type nerds and “normal” people you might actually feel better interacting with or watching are on popular apps.

Word. Leaving the made-to-be-accessible/engaging hyper-capitalistic walled gardens requires some initiative and/or agency, which unfortunately only the minority of people are willing to bother with. Either way, I like to make it more broadly known: there are, in fact, alternatives. Ask a geek near you to try out some neato stuff that isn't trying to make you spend all your money and/or isn't trying to manipulate your beliefs etc.

But yeah if the normal people are where all the ads and spam and nazis are, I'm fine being a weirdo :)

Re: U.S. investors, Trump close in on TikTok deal with China

#562

Post by Foobar8568 »

giancarlostoro wrote: post #505
glenstein wrote: post #485

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Is there something so overwhelmingly devious about the TikTok format in particular that the government has to supervise it? Well, yes, for starters. I think there's a pretty strong consensus from people on all sides that there's no more addictive algorithm than the TikTok one. It's the beneficiary of powerful network effects, it created those effects for itself with a superior app, but nevertheless it is a distingui…

I think its pretty obvious how and why, every other platform copied the key parts of Tik tok, youtube has shorts, and others have their own rendition. What they all miss is that this IS Tik Tok its not some additional part of Tik Tok. It's a simple UI that gives you endless content you like, they tag all the content in a meaningful way behind the scenes, and then the recommendation engine works to feed you more of wh…

Pinterest but for short videos.

Re: U.S. investors, Trump close in on TikTok deal with China

#563

Post by klipt »

tsunamifury wrote: post #126
johnisgood wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The Chinese government sees workers as grist for the mill, not something to be cared for. I think this is universal, but perhaps China indeed may be worse.

There is a significant difference in a population of 70 million educated workers who need to be maintained for high performance and 400 million low skill workers who are highly replaceable. I am trying to make no judgement here, just explaining then 'motivational environment' This math of course is in flux to a degree we haven't seen in maybe 1000+ years though right now.

> 70 million educated workers who need to be maintained for high performance

But what if AI surpasses human skill and now you have need for 0 educated workers. Not good for human citizens...

Re: U.S. investors, Trump close in on TikTok deal with China

#564

Post by VectorLock »

delfinom wrote: post #410
vehemenz wrote: post #399

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Board will include one U.S. government–appointed director. In other words, one's data will now be under the scrutiny of amoral radicals who have decided to target people for political speech.

We are slowly becoming Communist China. Won't be long until all companies will be required to have a party office.

US bought a big stake in Intel; the US is quickly attempting to replicate China's system of State Capitalism. If you can't beat em, join em, I guess.

Re: U.S. investors, Trump close in on TikTok deal with China

#565

Post by Pxtl »

gpt5 wrote: post #205

Key details: 1. New, US-specific TikTok App, separate from the main TikTok app in content and users. 2. 80% owned by a U.S. investor consortium led by Oracle, Silver Lake, and Andreessen Horowitz, 20% by Bytedance. 3. Board will include one U.S. government–appointed director. 4. All U.S. user data would sit on Oracle infrastructure in the US. 5. Algorithm will be initially licensed, but has to be reengineered to comp…

> Oracle... Horowitz

tl;dr: the entire US media is now controlled by men who've bent the knee to Trump and have demonstrated that theyre willing to take an activist editorial role.

Re: U.S. investors, Trump close in on TikTok deal with China

#566

Post by Pxtl »

slg wrote: post #520
staticautomatic wrote: post #407

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Seems obvious to me that this is so the government can force the platform to silence users who are critical of the government.

You're right, it seems obvious. Considering the number of self-professed "free speech absolutists" I have encountered on this site over the years, I'm surprised at how much benefit of the doubt others are giving this.

I'm not. The last few years have made it very clear what the actual political goals of the VC-tech world are. I was as disappointed as anybody, but I'm not surprised anymore.

Re: U.S. investors, Trump close in on TikTok deal with China

#567

Post by asdff »

slg wrote: post #512
asdff wrote: post #398

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You aren't voting against anyone. You either vote for someone or you take yourself and your vote out of the picture and ceed political control to more passionate people. That is what they are doing, "I will let the most passionate people choose our leader and I stand by their choice" not "I don't like anyone."

How can you possibly feel comfortable ascribing a motive to over a hundred million people? You didn't answer the question on why this interpretation is more valid than mine.

I'm not ascribing a motive. They might believe whatever to justify their inaction. I'm just outlining the actual effect of their choice, which is quite literally to allow for others to choose.

Re: U.S. investors, Trump close in on TikTok deal with China

#568

Post by lmm »

aurareturn wrote: post #508
jcarrano wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When you reach the point of choosing the lesser evil, you might just as well uninstall TikTok.

If you're a Chinese citizen, use all American services and hardware if you can.

And vice versa!

Re: U.S. investors, Trump close in on TikTok deal with China

#569

Post by tsimionescu »

gexla wrote: post #552
mullingitover wrote: post #494

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This seems like the microwaved corpse of the original 2020 deal. Bytedance keeps all the IP, sells Oracle the nearly worthless right to operate the US infra. They can't even call their franken-app Tiktok. The US user data already sits in the US but they'll expect everyone to forget about that so they can brag about this token win. They'll probably get what they really want, which is an admin console for the algorithm…

It will be interesting to see how this plays out though. People follow the money. Investors wouldn't be interested if they didn't see the value. If the new app can snag the network effects, then it will win. What is TikTok worth without the US audience?

> People follow the money. Investors wouldn't be interested if they didn't see the value.

The value may well be in currying favor with the Trump regime, not in the actual deal for itself. If you can lose a few billion on becoming best friends with an increasingly authoritarian leadership, you may well get much more power and future opportunities from that.

Re: U.S. investors, Trump close in on TikTok deal with China

#570

Post by sporkxrocket »

SilverElfin wrote: post #500
sporkxrocket wrote: post #477

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The people who have been very vocal about forcing US ownership of TikTok have also been very, very open about their Zionism on social media. A16z has been pushing for this hard since the start of the genocide. Zionists blame "TikTok" for their opposition. They even call the younger people who don't support Israel the "TikTok Generation". This along with the consolidation of other US media assets under Zionist control…

> This along with the consolidation of other US media assets under Zionist control Conspiracy theory.

CNN, CBS, TikTok, Zionist bot networks. You can’t argue with facts.
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