121–130 of 426 posts
Earlier quoted context omitted.
how does this differ from newspapers, books and the spoken word?
Newspapers aren't nearly as effective at keeping attention indefinitely/at every opportunity, nor at controlling what you read next.
Social media access to user data (whether foreign or domestic) is bad, but it is a distraction from the real evil: behavioral management at scale. When you can target specific demographics and control what they see 8-10 hours of the day, you can change what they think, say, do, and most importantly, how they vote. People are literally being programmed (euphemistically, "conditioned") by the specific triggers and stim…
how does this differ from newspapers, books and the spoken word?
None of which is to say newspapers are great. After all, Murdoch honed his skills in print media first. Just that they are nowhere near as effective as online
I know there's a legitimate, serious discussion to be had here, but anecdotally all of my TikTok stream is cooking and memes. I'm pretty sure that's based on my viewing habits, because I love cooking and memes, but it does make these serious claims humorous at times.
Im more curious what tiktok data amouts to and how it could be used by CCP. I’ve heard of bans of Tiktok use by politicians and army bases and such. Without sensitive location data to some specific users but solely the young sharing memes, I wounder how CCP could use that data… Not a Tiktok user myself, if anyone could illuminate me on this it’s be great. For example does tiktok have direct messages from users to use…
Let's pretend I hire two people: The first is a private detective, the other is an entertainer.
The private detective is able to follow you around and watch everything you do. They know when you eat, when you sleep, and even when you poop. They know who you talk to and for how long. They know everything that interests you and bores you, down to the microsecond (knowing what makes you pause). The PI gets to know you pretty well and honestly, probably better than many close friends.
The entertainer is your main source of entertainment. They offer a wide variety of things and they're highly addictive and prevent you from being bored. Since they are a major part of your day, they are a major influence of the information that you consume. Be this in comedy, politics, academic information, or whatever. That all depends on what interests you that day.
Now I've hired these two people and am able to direct them. The PI are my eyes and ears, the entertainer are my hands. If I want to make the most profit off of you I can make deals with McDonalds and get the entertainer to influence you that way (maybe do comedy bits about burgers) and the PI can track how interested and influential the entertainer is. Allowing us to refine our techniques on a personal level. On the other hand, if I am interested in politics I can do the same. I know what makes you afraid. I know what makes you sad. I know what makes you angry. I know what makes you feel good.
Now we're just looking at you, a single person here. But I have a billion PIs and entertainers. I know all your friends, family members, and even your crushes. I know how close all these bonds are because I'm doing to them what I am doing to you. Consider this and then tell me that I don't have influence over you. I am a significant part of your environment. You may have free will, but you are also a product of your environment.
> My naive assumption is that Tiktok is a meme sharing platform and timesink
And that's why I have influence over you. The less important you think it is, the more influence I have since your guard is down. Same way comedians crack people up.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I know there are about a billion articles in Western media claiming this, but what's the actual evidence?
Uh the FBI arrested people, evidence will come out in trials. What’s the point of your comment?
TikTok is allegedly staffed with dozens of ex-FBI, CIA, and US State Department officials who moderate content[1]. Somehow PRISM and the closed-doors FISA court hearings, Lavabit, etc seem to be collectively memory-holed by USians. Nowadays their anxiety about state surveillance is reserved for the "CCP". 1. https://www.mintpressnews.com/tiktok-chinese-trojan-horse-ru...
TikTok is allegedly staffed with dozens of ex-FBI, CIA, and US State Department officials who moderate content[1]. Somehow PRISM and the closed-doors FISA court hearings, Lavabit, etc seem to be collectively memory-holed by USians. Nowadays their anxiety about state surveillance is reserved for the "CCP". 1. https://www.mintpressnews.com/tiktok-chinese-trojan-horse-ru...
I would be extremely surprised if a state-actor like China couldn’t access most US company data at will. If you can invest several billions and have thousands of people working to create a breach, no company is safe, not even AWS or Microsoft. In this case, that’s even way easier, the company is Chinese, the CCP can have this access lawfully, is this something unexpected? I’m much more concerned by the laziness of mo…
I would have been unsurprised if the US government hadn't already forced them to host with Oracle a year or two ago supposedly to prevent exactly this from happening. Is Larry Ellison a Chinese spy? He would probably have to either be complicit or criminally negligent to allow this to happen given he was given the contract precisely for this reason. I'm also reminded of that fake story from the WSJ about American chi…