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TikTok users can't upload anti-ICE videos. The company blames tech issues

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Re: TikTok users can't upload anti-ICE videos. The company blames tech issues

#211

Post by Cyph0n »

palmotea wrote: post #194
Cyph0n wrote: post #189

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The CCP angle is the PR version. From last year: https://www.axios.com/local/salt-lake-city/2024/05/06/senato... Note that there have been multiple instances over the past two years of high level ex/current officials repeating the same general point.

[flagged]

It’s January. My bad for not being as infallible as you are.

That’s not what Romney said. His - and the wider establishment’s - concern is that unsanctioned content is allowed to be treated the same as any other content.

Anyone knows that TikTok simply tailors your feed to your interests & interactions. But even this is not acceptable when it comes to topics the establishment doesn’t want disseminated.

And if they had undeniable proof that TikTok was boosting/manipulating such content, why haven’t they revealed it now that TikTok US is under US control?

But it’s okay to not be concerned. Just don’t come crying when the book burning starts.

Re: TikTok users can't upload anti-ICE videos. The company blames tech issues

#212

Post by thih9 »

lenerdenator wrote: post #171
embedding-shape wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Which used to be seen as "Ew, China has their own version? Crazy censorship" but after some time it seems like the US is aiming for the very same thing. Classy.

Case-in-point of why we shouldn't have approached China like we did over the last few decades. It normalized totalitarianism in some segments of Western society.

I guess rest of the world should take notes and adjust the approach to China and those segments of Westerd society where totalitarianism got normalized.

Re: TikTok users can't upload anti-ICE videos. The company blames tech issues

#213

Post by aprentic »

reliabilityguy wrote: post #42
mark_l_watson wrote: post #4

The forced US hosted tik-tok sale is all about hiding information from the US public that most people in the rest of the world have easy access to.

> the rest of the world have easy access to. Except for China, where TikTok is nothing like the TikTok for the rest of the world

A bunch of people around the world used 小红书 for months when they were worried about a twitter ban.

They got the same version of the app that people in China got. I haven't seen any formal studies but my impression, at the time, was that Chinese people were far better informed about the US than Americans were about China.

Re: TikTok users can't upload anti-ICE videos. The company blames tech issues

#214

Post by asveikau »

ericmay wrote: post #190
asveikau wrote: post #176

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Right now the Ellison family owns both CBS and the US version of TikTok, so sometimes the connection is kind of literal. But this complaint is pretty old, I think of Chomsky's Manufacturing Consent. (Setting aside his Epstein connections for a moment) The way we do censorship is much less the methods of a traditional totalitarian state and more like the private sector policing what is acceptable discourse.

The problem with Chomsky's argument is that you can't do anything about it. Every country, every group in power, democracy, republic, chiefdom, &c, is participating in manufacturing consent and even if you fight to gain power, once you gain power you wind up doing the same thing.

I'm not citing Chomsky with a claim that he's unassailable, just that it's a very old complaint. I also think he was right about a bunch of stuff, and wrong on others.

As for what he suggested, this is reminding me that I never read his work On anarchism. I heard him speak favorably about the anarchists in the Spanish Civil War. I also found that topic very interesting when I was getting a Spanish minor many years ago at college. I am sure many HN commenters will disagree that it's something to emulate.

Re: TikTok users can't upload anti-ICE videos. The company blames tech issues

#215

Post by jmyeet »

I predict a future showdown over Section 230 because "algorithms" are used to cheat on the safe harbor protections. Let me explain.

The general principle of Section 230 is that a platform provider isn't generally liable for user generated content. This was a key piece of legislation that enabled forums, Reddit and ultimately social media. The platform provider does have responsibilities like moderating illegal content and responding to legal takedowns, etc.

Alternatively if you produce and publish your own content you are legally liable. You can be sued for defamation, etc in a way that you can't if you simply host user generated content (unless you fail to adequately moderate).

REcommendation algorithms (including news feeds) effectively allow a platform provider to select what content gets distributed and what doesn't. All algorithms express biases and goals of humans who create those algorithms. It's not a black box. It is a reflection of the company's goals.

So if you wanted to produce content that's, for example, only flattering to the administration even if you outright lie, you can be sued. But what if your users produce any content you want but you only distribute content that is favorable to the administration? At the same time, you suppress anti-administration content and content creators. It's the same end result but the latter has Section 230 protections. And it really shouldn't.

This isn't hypothetical. The Biden administration revived the dead Trump 1 Tiktok ban to suppress anti-Israel content [1][2][3].

What I find most funny about all this is that the American administration--both parties--are doing the exact thing they accuse China is possibly doing in the future.

[1]: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/11/10/tiktok-faces-renew...

[2]: https://www.internetgovernance.org/2024/03/18/yes-its-a-ban-...

[3]: https://x.com/snarwani/status/1725138601996853424

Re: TikTok users can't upload anti-ICE videos. The company blames tech issues

#216

Post by mekdoonggi »

antonymoose wrote: post #166
mekdoonggi wrote: post #138

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A NYT columnist Jamelle Bouie suggested (in jest) that the next Democrat administration send armed IRS agents to gated communities in Florida, to "investigate tax fraud". But this is exactly why all citizens should be concerned about the infringement of rights happening in Minnesota. If it is allowed without prosecution, you are next.

Why would anyone be opposed to the IRS catching tax cheats? This seems like such a bone-headed take. In any case it’s also historically illiterate, the IRS has long been used as a political weapon, infamously against “Tea Party” activists.

"Why would anyone be opposed to deporting criminals" is verbatim what I've read from conservative commenters.

That isn't the issue being discussed. This is illustrating that armed, masked goons as a political weapon is a pandora's box that will get turned against everyone, regardless of status. Some people just don't care about the violence in Minnesota because it isn't happening to them.

Re: TikTok users can't upload anti-ICE videos. The company blames tech issues

#218

Post by wat10000 »

gruez wrote: post #92
wat10000 wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because the concept of limiting state power for when the other side takes power is not in the American political vocabulary.

The difference here is that unlike expanding the NSA or DHS, control of tiktok doesn't pass to the next administration, because it's held in private hands.

> Why risk [TikTok] falling into the other party's control

> control of tiktok doesn't pass to the next administration

Huh?

Re: TikTok users can't upload anti-ICE videos. The company blames tech issues

#219

Post by AlienRobot »

MattDaEskimo wrote: post #137

It feels like federated networks with open-sourced feed algorithms are the best path forward. If AI removes any technical limitations, and automates content management, what's stopping a content creator from owning what they create and distributing it themselves? How can centralization continue to survive?

Do you actually believe anything you just wrote?

If TikTok falls TikTokers will just use another centralized app.

Content creators don't have peertube instances for a reason.

Re: TikTok users can't upload anti-ICE videos. The company blames tech issues

#220

Post by ericmay »

asveikau wrote: post #214
ericmay wrote: post #190

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem with Chomsky's argument is that you can't do anything about it. Every country, every group in power, democracy, republic, chiefdom, &c, is participating in manufacturing consent and even if you fight to gain power, once you gain power you wind up doing the same thing.

I'm not citing Chomsky with a claim that he's unassailable, just that it's a very old complaint. I also think he was right about a bunch of stuff, and wrong on others. As for what he suggested, this is reminding me that I never read his work On anarchism . I heard him speak favorably about the anarchists in the Spanish Civil War. I also found that topic very interesting when I was getting a Spanish minor many years a…

I think I have that book but haven't read it. I did read Manufacturing Consent but it has been some time. I didn't mean to imply that he was unassailable, just had that critique of that general point.

I think his writing is very interesting, in general, and it always helps expand the mind to new or reframed ideas.

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