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The TikTok War

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Re: The TikTok War

#201

Post by newen »

monadic2 wrote: post #85
newswasboring wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> What wrong with people smiling, laughing and dancing? There is nothing wrong in it, but there isn't much alluring there too. Its available from so many other platforms.

Really? Almost the entirety of where I see this is people recording and re-uploading content from tik tok onto Twitter. It’s certainly a distinct communication culture. I mean “Instagram dance” was never a thing the way “Tik tok dance” is a thing.

I think the dances came from musical.ly, which part of Tiktok used to be. Then, it's just people doing what other people are doing, one upping each other, trying to get popular, etc. Same social media stuff and Tiktok's recommendation algorithm is really good, so people get into it really quickly.

Re: The TikTok War

#202

Post by bigbob2 »

xapata wrote: post #183
moron4hire wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Where the hell have you been for the last 4 years? That's been the only conversation about Facebook. EDIT: Mark Zuckerberg had to appear before Congress in 2018 specifically to address Facebook disseminating propaganda!

> Mark Zuckerberg had to appear before Congress in 2018 Exactly. Whereas with TikTok the government is pushing the propaganda.

That's not really a fair comparison though. If FB was pushing US propaganda in China, there would have been no such hearing in the US. That's more equivalent to what TikTok is doing.

Re: The TikTok War

#203

Post by pjc50 »

chvid wrote: post #84
nix23 wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Hacker News all look seriously dated in comparison Yes please make a movie about your next it projekt ;) I even hate repair-videos on youtube, it's slow and lame, the fix-it manuals are 1000s times better (since i know what a torx is and that most screws open counter-clock-wise)

I just might. Seriously. Social media for techies - what will that look like in ten years? Like HN? Or more like TikTok ...

Not having images on HN is occasionally annoying, but mostly it's a feature not a bug.

I have a suspicion that HN will outlast TikTok, but it'll take a decade to find out.

Re: The TikTok War

#204

Post by RandallBrown »

addflip wrote: post #74
manishsharan wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Instagram seems to be evolving into Home Shopping Network or QVC.

That's a great way to put it. I couldn't quite put my finger on it but that's totally what is happening on IG. A lot of DTC brands have basically saturated my feed. I'm not sure how much longer this can continue without losing engagement. Anecdotally my own interest in IG has been waning the past year almost to the point of deletion.

Are you following these brands or is it just too many ads?

Re: The TikTok War

#205

Post by Johnjonjoan »

magnio wrote: post #106
mochialex wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

How exactly does using TikTok help China silence millions of camped Uyghurs? If we all switched to Facebook would their voices be heard?

No. However you would probably still be able to talk about them on your social media in five years.

I'm genuinely curious if posts relating to China's treatment of Uyghurs are already meeting censors on tik tok.

Re: The TikTok War

#206

Post by hoytschermerhrn »

magicnubs wrote: post #123
analyte123 wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Something about Tiktok, whether the algorithm or the sheer volume of content, seems to discourage the sort of look-at-me envy-bait narcissistic posturing that is so common on Instagram. To be popular on Tiktok you actually have to do stuff (even it's fairly banal like dancing or telling stories), not just be (or pretend to be) someone. I found it funny that the author of this post is trying to defend liberal values l…

> Something about Tiktok, whether the algorithm or the sheer volume of content, seems to discourage the sort of look-at-me envy-bait narcissistic posturing that is so common on Instagram. I haven't used Tiktok, but from what I understand you can only post videos taken using the phone's camera and they can only be edited using whatever filters are available within the app, effectively limiting how manipulated or manuf…

FYI it is possible to upload a video edited in a 3rd-party app (i.e After Effects) in lieu of using the tools available within TikTok itself.

Re: The TikTok War

#207

Post by FooBarWidget »

scottLobster wrote: post #174
La1n wrote: post #141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure, people who downvote you are unintelligent or paid shills. You cant even imagine that you might be wrong, or people have different opinions?

No, but people who post the same logical fallacies again and again (almost like they're getting them off a list somewhere) and never address the actual argument probably are. It's like pointing out that POC living at higher latitudes likely need Vitamin D supplements because the sunlight isn't intense enough for darker skin to produce enough Vitamin D naturally, because that's how melanin works. Then someone jumps in…

Nah, I think you're being too paranoid. I see plenty of less-China-critical (not even pro-China) comments get downvoted, and China-critical comments upvoted.

Also, CCP shills are a nice myth but they don't operate overseas. The real shills serve a very different purpose: they are hired by local governments to cheat the central government into giving them promotions, by showing the central government comments from "happy citizens".

Re: The TikTok War

#208

Post by netcan »

xapata wrote: post #183
moron4hire wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Where the hell have you been for the last 4 years? That's been the only conversation about Facebook. EDIT: Mark Zuckerberg had to appear before Congress in 2018 specifically to address Facebook disseminating propaganda!

> Mark Zuckerberg had to appear before Congress in 2018 Exactly. Whereas with TikTok the government is pushing the propaganda.

This is the sort of thing I meant in my original comment.

"The chinese government use tiktok for propaganda" is an effective call to action. Once you form an opinion on tiktok, the FB equivalents will start to to stand out.

The CCP use tiktok for propaganda. Lobbying firms & individual candidates use FB for campaign. In terms of transparency, manipulativeness, political impact, morals and such... not that different.

Tiktok made sure to suppress HK protests, because they're directly controlled by the ccp. Many US firms (eg NBA) were also influenced by the CCPs desire to suppress support of the HK protest. Tiktok hired and greased many Democratic & Republican "staffers" to lobby for them. They grease pockets. Don't all large companies do that? Tiktok shares your data with the ccp. Facebook sells your data, sometimes to political actors. Meanwhile, the NSA help themselves.

The differences between tiktok and FB may get a ball rolling. ITLT, the similarities will come into play.

Re: The TikTok War

#209

Post by zzzcpan »

giantrobot wrote: post #180
zzzcpan wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a private company, it's very unlikely for them to outright push government propaganda. They'll probably just censor "political activism" on the platform altogether and someday if government establishes tighter control of the platform they might be forced not to censor some of it, like things that undermine the US government.

Large "private" companies in China are not private as you would think of them in the West. The Chinese government or the CCP will own outright or through holding companies shares in a company. So even at the most benign the government or CCP will have influence in a company's governance. Executives and upper management will always be outwardly enthusiastic about all Chinese government/CCP talking points and decisions…

It takes a lot to produce and push government propaganda. It would require a tech company to essentially turn into a government run news organization if they were to do it. Which kind of defeats the purpose of even having different businesses, rather than all of them being propaganda producing news outlets.

Re: The TikTok War

#210

Post by kube-system »

xapata wrote: post #186
kube-system wrote: post #152

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, this is the trade war everyone is talking about. Note: TikTok doesn't write Chinese law, so they're not the ones being anti-competitive, even if they benefit from it.

I'd call it an information war, rather than a trade war.

Restrictions on foreign-owned companies operating domestically in China applies to many industries -- this is not something unique to TikTok, information companies, or even tech companies. This is something that is often discussed in regards to trade negotiations.
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