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TikTok is officially US-owned for American users, here's what's changing

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Re: TikTok is officially US-owned for American users, here's what's changing

#51

Post by manuelmoreale »

kelnos wrote: post #30
manuelmoreale wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’ll engage with this because I’m curious about your position. I’m not a TikTok user and I’m not American. All the other American controlled social media platforms are exactly like your China description from my point of view: it’s American agencies and data brokers mining it and American interests pumping it. Do you think a reasonable course of action is for us to force the sell of American platforms? I have no symp…

Not the person you're replying to, but: > Do you think a reasonable course of action is for us to force the sell of American platforms? Yes, absolutely. If your country's people believe that WhatsApp, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, etc. are a threat in the same way, they should take the same action. (Mind you, I don't believe for a second that this was the real motivation behind what's gone on with TikTok, but I think…

Personally I’m of the opinion that forcing sale and nationalization is not a good way to go about solving these issues.

I think one better way would be to make it so there are consequences for actions. And consequences should start flowing from the top but I know this is a dream and we live in a world where consequences for their actions are no longer a thing that exists if you have enough money.

Re: TikTok is officially US-owned for American users, here's what's changing

#52

Post by NoteyComplexity »

freddie_mercury wrote: post #33
NoteyComplexity wrote: post #7

What is the point of using short form content platforms as a consumer really? Just put the political stuff aside, they are often too short for any details over any topics if not straightly brainrot, ending up making people get distracted and lost patience easily. I never a fan of YouTube shorts and instagram reels either because of the same reason. Perhaps they are good for promotion, but as a user perspective, can a…

Your categorical error is that you think people are watching them to cover details in topics. They are a replacement for TV. You know, the thing that people used to watch for hours upon hours a day?

While I am reading others’ view points and enjoy it; perhaps just straight to the point to your point first.

Can you tell me what exactly THE ERROR when I want to find a single good thing about TikTok when I don’t understand it?

For your view point, you logic is the following for the good reason using TikTok:

“Addiction is bad, but many people are using it anyway, just like any media back in the days.”

Are you really sure you have answered A GOOD REASON of using TikTok? Sounds like a horrible argument for me. Addiction is a bad habit to begin with, it won’t magically validated just because the media has been changed.

Re: TikTok is officially US-owned for American users, here's what's changing

#53

Post by soulofmischief »

echelon wrote: post #17
NoteyComplexity wrote: post #7

What is the point of using short form content platforms as a consumer really? Just put the political stuff aside, they are often too short for any details over any topics if not straightly brainrot, ending up making people get distracted and lost patience easily. I never a fan of YouTube shorts and instagram reels either because of the same reason. Perhaps they are good for promotion, but as a user perspective, can a…

My wife loves TikTok. It introduces her to new fashion, new restaurants, new places to visit. Local, hyper local and hidden, and her favorite travel destinations. It's full of bite size tutorials. Tips and tricks. Genuinely useful stuff. Blogs and websites you'd find this stuff on are not as visual, not as well edited, and are hard to find or full of SEO spam. It's introduced her to all kinds of hobbies. Gen Z is all…

Veracity is cornerstone to a healthy internet, and it can be very impossible for someone to fact check things on tiktok if their one-stop shop for consuming things and finding information is also tiktok. Corroboration, validation etc. are something I can do (to best efforts) on my computer with applications and websites that help me do this.

Don't get me wrong, I like instagram for the political commentary; but the vibe is different, Instagram is a supplementary source and not a primary one. It's still not a perfect system either, for example Instagram doesn't allow clickable links which can really hamoer organization and spreading important information.

Re: TikTok is officially US-owned for American users, here's what's changing

#54

Post by nirui »

throw310822 wrote: post #46

I don't get why they sold it. If the Chinese government really had a say, simply refusing would have been a better option, as Trump would have never dared shutting off an app loved by hundreds of millions of voters.

Wrong.

The definitive factor here is whether the Chinese company wants to put themselves deep in the American political water. To any company, living under a crosshair alone is difficult enough, it becomes even more so when the company is foreign-owned.

The sell was a strategically correct decision by ByteDance, they made money out of it and they secured some future income, at least for a short while. But no app or service lives forever anyways, so it's still a good trade.

Whether or not the sell could benefit actual American users was never mattered.

Re: TikTok is officially US-owned for American users, here's what's changing

#55

Post by eudamoniac »

manuelmoreale wrote: post #26
eudamoniac wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, this is terrible. Before now it was fine, just Chinese intelligence agencies and data brokers mining it and Chinese interests pumping it full of human and bot sockpuppets to manufacture the consent of users to be more aligned with ideas that work best for the CCP's interests, but now it's just ruined.

I’ll engage with this because I’m curious about your position. I’m not a TikTok user and I’m not American. All the other American controlled social media platforms are exactly like your China description from my point of view: it’s American agencies and data brokers mining it and American interests pumping it. Do you think a reasonable course of action is for us to force the sell of American platforms? I have no symp…

I think it's reasonable if your governments don't want America to have your data. I don't personally care if China has my data but nor do I care if they are forced to divest. It's certainly "acceptable" if any country wants to do that.

Re: TikTok is officially US-owned for American users, here's what's changing

#56

Post by NoteyComplexity »

echelon wrote: post #17
NoteyComplexity wrote: post #7

What is the point of using short form content platforms as a consumer really? Just put the political stuff aside, they are often too short for any details over any topics if not straightly brainrot, ending up making people get distracted and lost patience easily. I never a fan of YouTube shorts and instagram reels either because of the same reason. Perhaps they are good for promotion, but as a user perspective, can a…

My wife loves TikTok. It introduces her to new fashion, new restaurants, new places to visit. Local, hyper local and hidden, and her favorite travel destinations. It's full of bite size tutorials. Tips and tricks. Genuinely useful stuff. Blogs and websites you'd find this stuff on are not as visual, not as well edited, and are hard to find or full of SEO spam. It's introduced her to all kinds of hobbies. Gen Z is all…

Thank you for your thoughtful story!

This is the reason why I have raised this question, as I don’t really understand why people are so into this platform since I don’t enjoy short form contents.

Perhaps just because it is short, with properly use, TikTok can discover many niche topics that we probably don’t know.

Does it change my decision of using this platform? Probably not because I prefer longer and slower paced contents, but I could at least know that TikTok is not just about brainrots or random people dancing like many people as claimed, at least now I know there are people finding their passion in this platform or discovering new place to explore.

Re: TikTok is officially US-owned for American users, here's what's changing

#57

Post by NoteyComplexity »

kelnos wrote: post #27
echelon wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My wife loves TikTok. It introduces her to new fashion, new restaurants, new places to visit. Local, hyper local and hidden, and her favorite travel destinations. It's full of bite size tutorials. Tips and tricks. Genuinely useful stuff. Blogs and websites you'd find this stuff on are not as visual, not as well edited, and are hard to find or full of SEO spam. It's introduced her to all kinds of hobbies. Gen Z is all…

> The news breaks almost immediately on TikTok Not arguing against the rest of your comment, but I find the concept of "breaking news" to be generally terrible for society. News outlets should wait until they have enough information to present an event as accurately as possible, but the rush to be the one that gets there first means this is often not the case. And I expect this goes double for randos publishing on Ti…

That’s true. I think the bigger problem is that many people seems to misuse the term, making any news a “breaking news” but oftentimes, it doesn’t.

The only valid use for “breaking news” imo, are disasters.

Re: TikTok is officially US-owned for American users, here's what's changing

#58

Post by petterroea »

smt88 wrote: post #31
petterroea wrote: post #29

It's great that Americans can now enjoy being surveiled by private companies instead of possibly being surveiled by a government. What a great improvement

Do you feel there's no difference between being surveilled by Oracle and being surveilled by the CCP? They're both terrible, but do you really think they're equivalent? There's also the issue of the algorithm being used for propaganda, which (again) is also terrible in the hands of either party, but with potentially very different outcomes.

Just reflecting more on this, can't you argue the whole cambridge analytica scandal was a case of private surveilance being used to affect an election through targeted propaganda? Same with brexit?

Sure, a political party is not a government, but surely capitalism-flavored mass surveilance has the same capabilities, and the buyers seem to have similar incentives to good 'ol government surveilance and propaganda.

Re: TikTok is officially US-owned for American users, here's what's changing

#59

Post by NoteyComplexity »

ronsor wrote: post #8
NoteyComplexity wrote: post #7

What is the point of using short form content platforms as a consumer really? Just put the political stuff aside, they are often too short for any details over any topics if not straightly brainrot, ending up making people get distracted and lost patience easily. I never a fan of YouTube shorts and instagram reels either because of the same reason. Perhaps they are good for promotion, but as a user perspective, can a…

> What is the point of junk food? The answer to this is the same as the answer to your first question.

Just because it is addictive?

I don’t see this is a good reason to use TikTok.

Re: TikTok is officially US-owned for American users, here's what's changing

#60

Post by throw310822 »

nirui wrote: post #54
throw310822 wrote: post #46

I don't get why they sold it. If the Chinese government really had a say, simply refusing would have been a better option, as Trump would have never dared shutting off an app loved by hundreds of millions of voters.

Wrong. The definitive factor here is whether the Chinese company wants to put themselves deep in the American political water. To any company, living under a crosshair alone is difficult enough, it becomes even more so when the company is foreign-owned. The sell was a strategically correct decision by ByteDance, they made money out of it and they secured some future income, at least for a short while. But no app or s…

I wasn't talking about Bytedance's point of view, but that of the Chinese government. As a private company without state backing, I agree that selling might have been the best decision to maximise their profits. But could have been politically advantageous for China to veto the sale- even if the platform were politically neutral- because it was basically untouchable, as was already proven by years of delay. They might have used it as a bargaining chip, and then I'd be curious to know what they got back.
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