Earlier quoted context omitted.
Maybe this soundbite applies in an information vacuum like North Korea or ironically, and to a lesser extent, China. But in an environment where there is too much information for people to process, and truth is drowned out by lies and nonsense on social media feeds, it works against society. It's bad enough that US based social media corporations are allowed to wash their hands of responsibility for the content on th…
> hostile government I don't recall us being at war or anything with China. For example, most of our crap is made there and shipped here with barely a look. If China were truly hostile and combative like everyone claims, they could literally import bombs and spies via those means. Is this just the Red Scare 2.0? I've had way more issue with American oligarchs and politicians fucking over America's values and our way…
TikTok preparing for U.S. shut-off on Sunday
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Re: TikTok preparing for U.S. shut-off on Sunday
#992"I would literally write my social security number on a sticky note and stick it to Xi Jinping's forehead than go back to using Instagram Reels" I saw this yesterday and it's hilarious but this is the feeling right now. TikTok has such a culture of authenticity and realness and Instagram is so phony and overly perfect (not to mention ads and so many bots and spam). It's like shutting down Reddit and telling everyone…
Re: TikTok preparing for U.S. shut-off on Sunday
#993Earlier quoted context omitted.
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".
Huawei has been caught stealing more than enough trade secrets to justify a ban. I'd be happy if they banned a lot more Chinese firms for that, or just in response to China's own bans. But TikTok seems to be uniquely about censorship.
Censorship, or protectionism because TikTok is eating the lunch of the big US social media?
Re: TikTok preparing for U.S. shut-off on Sunday
#994Re: TikTok preparing for U.S. shut-off on Sunday
#995Earlier quoted context omitted.
Reddit is the exact same - just a propaganda machine
I disagree. While I think there are definitely biases on Reddit, there is a difference between users, individual moderators, or even established sub policies having a political leaning versus an algorithmically masked propaganda machine like TikTok. Call me old fashion, but I put more faith in a profit seeking US company (recently public) with light government oversight than a foreign owned black box.
I compel you to find one single positive post about capitalism or the west. Count the number of anti-capitalist or blatant pro-ccp content posts.
One such - "Luigis game is about to be multiplayer" (reference to the recent murder of the insurance company ceo) with a video with the label "y'all look how the chinese are living" (compared to usa)
You also say you put faith in a profit seeking US company. Reddit is not a USA owned company.
Re: TikTok preparing for U.S. shut-off on Sunday
#996Earlier quoted context omitted.
The Reuters article says > Users who have downloaded TikTok would theoretically still be able to use the app, except that the law also bars U.S. companies starting Sunday from providing services to enable the distribution, maintenance, or updating of it. Are you sure that the website and the native mobile app use different CDNs, or a CDN which won't be affected by the ban?
I'm sure it's possible to serve the website entirely from outside the US. I suppose there's a chance it wouldn't be cost effective.
Re: TikTok preparing for U.S. shut-off on Sunday
#997> The outcome of the shutdown would be different from that mandated by the law. The law would mandate a ban only on new TikTok downloads on Apple or Google app stores, while existing users could continue using it for some time. Does anyone have thoughts on why TikTok would choose to stop for existing users? I.e. why would they choose to do more than the minimum required by the law? It's nice that they want to point p…
Political pressure. There are more Americans on TikTok than voted in the last election. I think the parent company is calculating that they can draw attention to the government taking away something the users love and turn that into political pressure to undo the law. We’ll see what happens, but I’d imagine they are right. Taking away the opiate of the masses has not worked out for governments in the past.
Re: TikTok preparing for U.S. shut-off on Sunday
#998Earlier quoted context omitted.
So what if a conflict breaks out and the CCP essentially use TikTok as a pathway directly into the brains of millions of Americans. Let's say they tweak the algorithm with a button press to create confusion and public discord when we should be united to protect taiwan. That's a possible tool of disinformation.
Counterbalance to misinformation is, just, information. Strengthen the institutions that provide valuable and quality information and use them as counter. Why aren't PBS and such institutions funded to produce shorts that inform users and put those on Tiktok et all?
Re: TikTok preparing for U.S. shut-off on Sunday
#999Earlier quoted context omitted.
So what if a conflict breaks out and the CCP essentially use TikTok as a pathway directly into the brains of millions of Americans. Let's say they tweak the algorithm with a button press to create confusion and public discord when we should be united to protect taiwan. That's a possible tool of disinformation.
This is so fucking sad. As a russian american who lived through russian transition from relatively free country to an authoritarian one I'm getting dejavu vibes here(Putin started with taking over of all independent news sources like newspapers/tv and radio channels etc). This is not up to the government or some other people to decide what I read, what I watch where I get my information/news from. America has a beaut…
The ban has nothing to do with the material, it has to do with the platform that is used to distribute and curate it. CCP by controlling the algorithm would allow it to do exactly what you say, at the push of a button.
Your comparison to Putin's Russia falls very short.