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TikTok preparing for U.S. shut-off on Sunday

reuters.com

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Re: TikTok preparing for U.S. shut-off on Sunday

#71

Post by zzzeek »

SiempreViernes wrote: post #53
zzzeek wrote: post #33

noahpinion has a great post [1] on this today and he points out the interesting observations we can make: 1. because it's "Beijing" who is tasked with deciding whether or not TikTok can be sold makes it extremely clear Bytedance is not an independent private company the way it would be the case in the US. They are legally required to obey CCP directives [2] 2. Beijing had every opportunity to sell the application off…

Some Japanese tried to buy one the these supposedly perfectly "independent private compan[ies]", and the US president said no, but that's completely different I'm sure.

right instead Biden ordered US Steel to close and cease all operations, just like Beijing is doing to TikTok. /sarcasm

there is no comparison between these events

Re: TikTok preparing for U.S. shut-off on Sunday

#72

Post by pjc50 »

ToucanLoucan wrote: post #32
Rhapso wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Politicians realized just how powerful the corporate surveillance and propaganda system is, and they don't want to share it with China.

This guy gets it. They don't care about anyone's privacy, save their own. This is yet more coddling of American industry, bought and paid for by generous political donations to keep the scaaaary Chinese apps from stealing honest, hard working red-blooded American's data... so that American apps can steal honest, hard working, red-blooded American's data.

It's not a coincidence that this comes along with similar cybersecurity/anticompetitive pushes against Chinese routers, drones, and EVs.

Re: TikTok preparing for U.S. shut-off on Sunday

#73

Post by SiempreViernes »

throwaway287391 wrote: post #31

Given that (as the article mentions) the ban essentially only directs Google/Apple to remove the app from their US stores, what's the rationale on ByteDance's part to immediately revoke existing US users' access? My naive assumption was they'd want to keep it going and support the current dead version of the app for as long as possible to continue squeezing US revenue for at least a few more months until that becomes…

As far as I know there's no real calculation, it would just be for revenge.

ByteDance is very pissed about how they are being treated and so they would rather burn it all down than hand it over to some American.

Re: TikTok preparing for U.S. shut-off on Sunday

#74

Post by palata »

spencerflem wrote: post #67

Given how easy it is for China to buy US data legally from data brokers and how similar the functionality of TikTok and YouTube Shorts, I feel like the only explanations are: 1. The govt is mad that a foreign company is outcompeting a domestic one Or more likely, given that there are so many other industries that didn't get a ban: 2. The govt is mad that they have control over the narrative on Facebook but do not on…

Totally. I find it very interesting that we tend to criticize China for their protectionism, but as soon as something out-competes US companies, it gets banned: Huawei, DJI, TikTok.

Of course it cannot be said like this, because "free speech" and "democracy", so the official reason is "national security".

Re: TikTok preparing for U.S. shut-off on Sunday

#75

Post by polytely »

drcongo wrote: post #9

Can anyone enlighten me as to what this TikTok ban is supposed to be about? It feels a bit satanic panic from a distance.

According to the people gunning for it seems to be mostly about controlling what content Americans can see in order to keep public opinions in line with foreign policy goals. (i.e. pro Israel)

>While data security issues are paramount, less often discussed is TikTok’s power to radically distort the world-picture that America’s young people encounter. Israel’s unfolding war with Hamas is a crucial test case. According to one poll, 51% of Americans between the ages of 18 and 24 believe that Hamas’s murder of civilians was justified—a statistic notably different from other age cohorts. Analysts have attributed this disparity to the ubiquity of anti-Israel content on TikTok, where most young internet users get their information about the world

from:

https://www.hawley.senate.gov/sites/default/files/2023-11/Ha...

Re: TikTok preparing for U.S. shut-off on Sunday

#76

Post by donatj »

palata wrote: post #49
donatj wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a casual observer, I don't understand why YouTube Shorts isn't the obvious successor? The UI is better than TikTok ever was and a lot of the most popular creators are already mirroring their content there?

I don't use TikTok, but my understanding is that they are just a lot better than anyone else with the algorithm. Somehow where Meta built a social graph, TikTok built a graph of videos (no need to know who you are, they can just suggest videos based on other videos you watch). And it's apparently difficult to catch up (presumably because they have more users so more data to make better predictions). That would, IMO,…

I'm skeptical that the algorithm is actually "better" and it's not just that the end users have fed TikTok a ton more data points about their personal likes and dislikes.

Of course an app you have used for thousands of hours is going to know you better than the one you tried for half an hour

Re: TikTok preparing for U.S. shut-off on Sunday

#77

Post by alp1n3_eth »

zzzeek wrote: post #33

noahpinion has a great post [1] on this today and he points out the interesting observations we can make: 1. because it's "Beijing" who is tasked with deciding whether or not TikTok can be sold makes it extremely clear Bytedance is not an independent private company the way it would be the case in the US. They are legally required to obey CCP directives [2] 2. Beijing had every opportunity to sell the application off…

A forced sale would essentially gut them of their proprietary algo, which is leagues ahead of anything YT or Insta has. This algo and the associated TikTok assets can still be used a billion different ways around the world and in other apps.

Why would they ever want to help create an international competitor that could compete with them? I don't think any business would want to do that. Obviously the CCP has a level of access if they want it to data hosted in China, that's how it works with every company that has a physical location there.

Re: TikTok preparing for U.S. shut-off on Sunday

#78

Post by zzzeek »

mytailorisrich wrote: post #66
zzzeek wrote: post #33

noahpinion has a great post [1] on this today and he points out the interesting observations we can make: 1. because it's "Beijing" who is tasked with deciding whether or not TikTok can be sold makes it extremely clear Bytedance is not an independent private company the way it would be the case in the US. They are legally required to obey CCP directives [2] 2. Beijing had every opportunity to sell the application off…

> That Beijing would rather close TikTok entirely, rather than sell it, shows how deeply important it is to Beijing that TikTok does not come under the control of another nation, including the US I don't think it is important because of how 'powerful' a tool it is. I think it is more than being forced to sell it would be losing face and a humiliation (a la 19th century's Inequal Treaties). Also, they don't have to se…

why did they sell Grindr when presented with an identical set of constraints / demands ?

Re: TikTok preparing for U.S. shut-off on Sunday

#80

Post by alp1n3_eth »

andybak wrote: post #14
milesward wrote: post #2

...Good?

I don't think TikTok shutting down is great for its users (of which I am one). There are genuine areas of concern but I have concerns about US based social platforms as well. It's hard to unpick these thoughts and it's harder to decide what a good outcome would look like.

Looking at a lot of user's feeds, its algo doesn't feel as "rage-baity" as the ones from YT or Insta. Even normal platforms, like FB and Twitter push rage bait to the top. TikTok seems to avoid those pitfalls in a lot of cases.
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