Welcome to Incremental Social! Learn more about this project here!
Check out lemmyverse to find more communities to join from here!

autotldr Bot ,

This is the best summary I could come up with:

The House Commerce Committee today voted 50-0 to approve a bill that would force TikTok owner ByteDance to sell the company or lose access to the US market.

If the bill passes in the House and Senate and is signed into law by President Biden, TikTok would eventually be dropped from app stores in the US if its owner doesn't sell.

These applications present a clear national security threat to the United States and necessitate the decisive action we will take today," she said before the vote.

Gallagher also said his bill puts the decision "squarely in the hands of TikTok to sever their relationship with the Chinese Communist Party."

While the bill text could potentially wrap in other apps in the future, it specifically lists the ByteDance-owned TikTok as a "foreign adversary controlled application."

An app would be allowed to stay in the US market after a divestiture if the president determines that the sale "would result in the relevant covered company no longer being controlled by a foreign adversary."

The original article contains 601 words, the summary contains 171 words. Saved 72%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!

KoboldCoterie ,
@KoboldCoterie@pawb.social avatar

I wonder if this could also be applied to games owned in whole or part by Tencent...

Zstom6IP ,

i hope they sell conan exiles to someone else, because then the shitty monitization that is destroying the game will end.

AnxiousOtter ,

Wishful thinking I'd wager.

Zstom6IP ,

yeah

funkyfarmington ,

Or websites? Like Reddit? No, never mind, that's silly talk.

EdibleFriend ,
@EdibleFriend@lemmy.world avatar

But....how will we dance to save Roe vs Wade now????

dohpaz42 ,
@dohpaz42@lemmy.world avatar

So when do they plan to do something about those domestic businesses trying to manipulate citizens of America?

Neato ,

Capitalism abusing citizens? Just fine.

"Communism" abusing citizens? Avengers, assemble!

Bishma , (edited )
@Bishma@discuss.tchncs.de avatar

They're prospective communists. Supposedly they're going to get there by 2050, but they just built a new massive luxury tower for their ultra wealthy so...

bionicjoey ,

It's just like Marx said: "If you do an oppressive oligarchy for 100 years, it magically transforms into communism"

beardown ,

If that were true then the United States would have been communist by now

Poem_for_your_sprog ,

More of a capitalistic dictatorship

Kusimulkku ,

I think they're more worried that it's a foreign corporation going after their citizens and not a domestic corporation.

boatswain ,

I mean, the domestic businesses are the ones who own Congress and are using it to get rid of a competitor.

kalkulat ,
@kalkulat@lemmy.world avatar

After the thousands of years of human history I've read about, getting rid of competitors seems to have been the primary concern of most of the ruling classes all over the world. Way back to Ur.

Num10ck ,

Rulers don't play fair, because power corrupts.

krashmo ,

While you're not wrong about double standards, anything that discourages the use of vapid social media platforms is a win in my book. Use whatever backwards logic you like to make it happen so long as it's effective.

trolololol ,

Well this goes into the direction of social media monopoly so I'm not sure

Vespair ,

He says, on a social media platform

aniki ,

Lemmy is a message board, not social media. Like fark or something awful. You have no idea who the duck i am. How is that social?

webadict ,

Users create and/or share content, check. Users discuss content, check.

Unless you think something is missing from that definition, Lemmy is social media. It is pseudonymous, but it is still social because of the users.

aniki ,

Since when did that define social media? That's the same thing as IRC. is IRC social media?

ICQ had message boards where people would chat about the news. Was that social media?

Again, fark is a place where people share content and discuss the news. Is that social media?

webadict ,

Yeah, I suppose those would. I wouldn't have thought it, but definitionally, it would be! I mean, heck, some of those are listed by Meriam-Webster! Isn't language neat? You learn something new every day.

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/social%20media

Vespair ,

My tiktok account is also anonymous.

spacecowboy ,

No it isn’t.

When you download the app you let them have the following information/data about you:

Purchases, location, contacts, search history, identifiers (!!), diagnostics, financial info, contact info, user content, browsing history, and usage data.

Please tell us how any of that is “anonymous”.

Vespair ,

Cool dude, you've identified that big corporations data farm.

Random bloke user with a vendetta still doesn't know who I am, and that's who I'm more worried about on the personal scale.

spacecowboy ,

Cool dude. Well you said your account is anonymous, and it isn’t. Words mean things.

QuaternionsRock ,

Your Lemmy account can likely be used to identify you, given a big enough data set.

Vespair , (edited )

Undoubtedly, especially since I haven't taken particular steps to obfuscate my identity here.

But as I said in a comment below, I'm more worried about some unhinged nutbag online randomly targeting me than being a person of interest by any nefarious groups or organizations.

SmilingSolaris ,

It is social media, just because your talking anonymously doesn't mean you aren't interacting socially. Jesus Christ your talking to people. Right now. Your being social media'd. Stop acting like your above it.

dohpaz42 ,
@dohpaz42@lemmy.world avatar

Bruh.

forms of electronic communication (such as websites for social networking and microblogging) through which users create online communities to share information, ideas, personal messages, and other content (such as videos)

Ghyste ,

As soon as the foreign businesses get better at harvesting data than the domestic ones, of course.

Aatube ,
@Aatube@kbin.melroy.org avatar

[Thread, post or comment was deleted by the author]

    •
    Dankry ,
    @Dankry@lemmy.world avatar

    They are. This just isn't an example of one.

    kadu ,
    @kadu@lemmy.world avatar

    [Thread, post or comment was deleted by the author]

    •
    just_another_person ,

    It can still be successful elsewhere. It's clearly about data sharing.

    kadu ,
    @kadu@lemmy.world avatar

    [Thread, post or comment was deleted by the author]

    •
    just_another_person ,

    Well if it's such a useful tool, it will do just fine in China, right? No biggie.

    kadu ,
    @kadu@lemmy.world avatar

    [Thread, post or comment was deleted by the author]

    •
    pycorax ,

    Isn't this in some way the same as how China bans a number of foreign companies from operating? I don't think doing the exact same thing is entirely fair but when others aren't playing by the same rules, it's a lot less black and white.

    rebelsimile ,

    I dunno what hill you’re trying to die on here. A stupid dancing app that provides a data collection platform by a foreign surveillance state is a plot on the Orville. Nobody is concerned with it competing with Google, Apple orYouTube. It’s so off-base. Google sucks anyway. If people are searching on TikTok it’s because it’s giving better results for them than Google. It’s about who is collecting the data.

    kadu ,
    @kadu@lemmy.world avatar

    [Thread, post or comment was deleted by the author]

    •
    rebelsimile ,

    No, I think it sets a bad precedent. I don’t think TikTok should be allowed in the US (if the US decides it doesn’t want it as they’re seeming to). Taking the property is going to cause a bunch of what you mentioned.

    fuzzyspudkiss ,

    I can't order Jimmy John's on my work computer anymore. Why? Because tiktok is blocked on our work network. What does tiktok have to do with Jimmy John's? Well I would have thought nothing expect it won't let you set your delivery option unless it's allowed to send data to analytics.tiktok.com.

    Why is a God damn sandwich shop sending my location to tiktok? No idea, but it's definitely not just the video app that's the problem.

    filister , (edited )

    I think here the point is that the US government seems to be not bothered by Meta's data collection which by the way has already been used by Cambridge Analytica to swing elections in favour of one of the opponents and most likely used on countless more occasions but it is now super worried about Tiktok.

    And what did they do against Meta? To the best of my knowledge nothing effective.

    If they do this they should apply the same measures against Meta and other companies but they don't. Which is disturbing.

    Same with Gaza and Israel. Hamas kills around less than 1 K civilians (mind you a lot of the killed on that first day were military), it is utter tragedy. Israel kills 30+K people, starves the local population, destroys almost completely the infrastructure and their homes and it is business as usual. And every now and then they are scorned to please their voting base while weapon sales to Israel are continuing. Replace Israel with Russia/NK/China or any other country the US considers hostile and they will have them sanctioned to hell, but since it is Israel, nothing of this is happening.

    At least have the fucking decency not to have double standards, because the rest of the world isn't blind or stupid.

    Zorsith ,
    @Zorsith@lemmy.blahaj.zone avatar

    As I recall they got Zuckerberg on stand and did their best "rabble rablle rabble" at him, with a few decent questions mixed in, then nothing.

    FiniteBanjo ,

    Facebook was forced to pay 5 Billion USD in an FTC fine.

    Zorsith ,
    @Zorsith@lemmy.blahaj.zone avatar

    Good to hear! Love it when a megacorp gets the screws now and again, wish it happened more frequently (specifically to ISPs who took government funds for fiber infrastructure)

    FiniteBanjo ,

    TBH even if it happens a lot people still won't hear about it in the news.

    NateNate60 ,

    Yes, you have pointed out the subtext that was there all along and pretended like it's some new argument.

    It is about the data sharing. The US doesn't like companies sharing data with countries that it views as its geopolitical rivals. Big surprise, am I right?

    MinorLaceration ,

    Seriously. Don't cover your eyes and pretend you can't see why the government treats US companies different than companies that are directly in the hands of adversaries. They might not care if Meta uses it to profit off of us, but they certainly do care if China will use it to achieve an advantage over us, militarily or otherwise.

    FiniteBanjo ,

    Facebook / Meta was forced to pay 5 Billion USD in an FTC fine over how they used data.

    Goronmon ,

    I'm surprised that people are surprised that a country would favor it's own businesses versus foreign ones.

    I'm also unsure of which countries act differently from this.

    trolololol ,

    I'm not surprised but I'm still outraged at the amount of hypocrisy they are pulling off out of this one.

    trolololol ,

    And if foreign politics won't take care of it call the CIA and tell it they're hiding oil under the presidents house.

    NateNate60 ,

    Ah yes, the US, where no foreign company is allowed to be successful.

    Such unsuccessful or banned foreign companies include Samsung, LG, Sony, Toyota, Nissan, Honda, Aldi, Shell, Siemens...

    RiikkaTheIcePrincess ,
    @RiikkaTheIcePrincess@pawb.social avatar

    Ahhh....hmm. Kindof a point-and-shoot sort of thing, isn't it? Blow away/take over (well, "unrelated parties may buy," ha ha) any app associable with Russia, North Korea, Iran, or China 🤔 'Course, they can edit that list too.

    Nah, I'm sure nothing could possibly go wrong. US government never abuses powerful, broad powers it gives itself 😃👍

    dephyre ,
    @dephyre@lemmy.world avatar

    Can the US Lawmakers do anything about the US companies harvesting my data and selling it off… please?

    Potatisen ,

    Yes, they can make more money from it.

    soggy_kitty ,

    Can they? Completely wrong question.

    "Will they" is what you wanted to ask but the answer is still firmly no

    FiniteBanjo ,

    Honestly it might be "Can they" given how partisan issues like industry regulation are.

    Maggoty ,

    This was a committee vote. The bill now must advance to the floor, pass a vote there, then go through the same process in the Senate.

    Many bills are passed out of committee but are never given an actual vote.

    captainastronaut ,
    @captainastronaut@seattlelunarsociety.org avatar

    Especially in the least productive congress in US history, the odds of any actual vote are low.

    FiniteBanjo ,

    Technically, while that might have been true at the end of 2023, the US House of Representatives of the 118th congress have voted 796 times with 126 items passed, according to Govtrack.us with at least ten vetoes by the POTUS.

    So not really the worst by any measure.

    Maggoty ,

    But also not functional by modern measures.

    FiniteBanjo ,

    Yeah for sure I'd love to see more progress. I'm glad at least the House Republicans have taken a very brief break from impeaching their own speaker on repeat.

    Maggoty ,

    Oh that's coming. He had the audacity to applaud Biden. His days are numbered.

    Nacktmull ,
    @Nacktmull@lemmy.world avatar

    Tik Tok pushes so much toxic content towards children and teenagers it should be shut down in my opinion.

    Sl00k ,

    The can very easily apply to every single social media.

    Nacktmull ,
    @Nacktmull@lemmy.world avatar

    Yes but unlike Facebook and other platforms, Tik Tok is aimed at and consumed by minors specifically.

    Lulzagna ,

    How?

    aniki ,

    Advertising.

    Lulzagna , (edited )

    Source? Examples?

    I tried googling, can't find anything that supports these claims

    Edit: third party advertisers abusing tiktoks advertising algorithms is not on topic to the original comment that tiktok itself specifically targets children, and tiktok has addressed these issues.

    You can downvote all you want, but I've still not been provided any proof that tiktok specifically targets or intends their platform to be for children.

    I'm not dismissing the original claim. I'm genuinely curious, but I need logical discourse, not users with mental illness going off on complete tangents.

    If you have any cognitive thought or opinionated source that tiktok is a bad faith actor towards the safety or health of children, I'd love to read it. My company builds software, so knowing the failings of tiktok to protect children is in my interest.

    aniki ,

    https://appradar.com/blog/how-to-use-tiktok-ads-for-mobile-games

    Lulzagna ,

    Unrelated

    aniki ,

    Directely relevant to advertising on tiktok.

    aniki ,

    Didn't look very hard

    aniki ,

    https://devforum.roblox.com/t/how-to-successfully-grow-your-game-ft-senseideveloper-vikinglaw-promoting-and-advertising-your-game/2535279

    Lulzagna ,

    Unrelated

    aniki ,

    Directely relevant to advertising on tiktok.

    Same ,

    The fact that you can advertise to children on tiktok doesn't mean that the platform specifically exists to cater to young children.

    aniki ,

    I think it does.

    aniki ,

    https://www.tiktok.com/business/en-US

    Lulzagna ,

    Unrelated - this is just a business tiktok page

    aniki ,

    Directely relevant to advertising on tiktok.

    aniki ,

    https://www.forbes.com/sites/emmawoollacott/2022/06/22/tiktok-agrees-to-improve-protections-for-children/?sh=11be59fe459b

    Lulzagna ,

    This is about advertising to children within the platform and how tiktok intends to protect unethical advertising to children

    aniki ,

    Again - take the L.

    Demuniac ,

    I'm sorry you are getting downvoted, because technically you are right. TikTok will never claim to aim at children or advertise as such because they know they can't provide a safe environment and will open themselves up to lawsuits.

    Nudding ,

    If you're the type of person who needs a verbal admission of guilt before you can see wrong doing, I guess.

    Lulzagna ,

    Tiktok's stance is rather meaningless because they'd never admit wrongdoing. I'm more curious how does tiktok target children with their platform? How do they lure them to it and why?

    Then the conversation becomes: What standards should social media platforms be accountable to?

    aniki ,

    https://www.tiktok.com/business/en-US/blog/privacy-updates-improved-data-control-transparency-tools

    Lulzagna ,

    Again, this supports tiktok protecting children

    aniki ,

    No -- it's ticktok eventually capitulating to pressure to do anything at all. Just admit you're wrong. It's ok

    aniki ,

    https://techcrunch.com/2022/06/22/tiktok-eu-consumer-protection-commtiments/

    Lulzagna ,

    Again, this is not relevant to the original comment.

    This is about how advertising was abused to target children.

    It honestly sounds like you unjustifiably hate the platform and are throwing every nonsensical argument.

    You've provided zero justification that tiktok as a company purposely targets children or designs their application specifically for children.

    aniki ,

    I tried googling, can’t find anything that supports these claims

    aniki ,

    https://www.cbsnews.com/news/facebook-instagram-tiktok-snapchat-children-advertising-2022-harvard-study/

    Should I keep finding relevant links for you or do you feel sufficiently foolish enough?

    Lulzagna ,

    Unrelated

    aniki ,

    I tried googling, can’t find anything that supports these claims

    GeneralVincent ,

    The comment was

    Yes but UNLIKE Facebook and other platforms, Tik Tok is aimed at and consumed by minors specifically.

    That study shows the opposite. YouTube benefited from minors over 2.5 times more than TikTok. And it shows every other platform is benefiting similar amounts. In fact, Snapchat has half the number of monthly users as tiktok but has almost identical ad revenue from minors. All the major social media platforms suck and are trying to take advantage of us, especially kids

    aniki ,

    I'm not arguing it's only tiktok. They all fucking suck. The question was how does TikTok benefit off children and the answer is advertising. That's a fact.

    GeneralVincent ,

    But the original comment you replied to (edit: not that you replied to, the comment you replied to was replying to a user saying that) WAS saying it's only, or at least primarily, Tiktok.

    I only commented because, especially among the reddit and fediverse demographic, there's a fervent dislike of TikTok specifically. I think some people have lost sight of the larger issue, that TikTok is a symptom and not the disease. But it's an easy target because of its early reputation as a dance app for younger users, its alleged ties to the CCP, and its popularity.

    aniki ,

    https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2023/11/tiktok-risks-pushing-children-towards-harmful-content/

    Lulzagna ,

    Unrelated, and you provided links that tiktok has worked to prevent this behavior from advertised

    aniki ,

    https://fivechannels.com/not-just-for-kids-the-ultimate-guide-to-advertising-on-tiktok/

    Lulzagna ,

    Unrelated to original comment

    aniki ,

    I tried googling, can’t find anything that supports these claims

    aniki ,

    https://gizmodo.com/tiktok-slammed-in-europe-over-hidden-advertising-to-kid-1846277642

    Are you a GOP candidate? You seriously couldn't find any of these links?? I didn't even use Google.

    Lulzagna ,

    Unrelated to original comment

    Please find two brain cells to rub together to understand the context of the original comment. You've gone on a complete nonsensical tangent akin to mental illness

    aniki ,

    You just ignore anything you don't like. Go back to Beijing and tell Poobear you failed.

    VirtualOdour ,

    I have to say they provided a lot of links and were unable to show anything relevant so i was tempted just to assume they're crazy but I try not to base anything on crazy people even negatives so I looked it up

    Looking at TikTok creator ages, figures are skewed towards a younger demographic. Young adults (18-24 years) make up over half of the creators (52.83%). While under 18s make up a comparatively low 27.47%

    I don't know how accurate these are but the article said they're sourced from tiktok

    A lot of people want a big bad to blame for everything and tiktok is it for a lot of people, but yeah I don't really think their claim is correct

    Lulzagna ,

    Agreed. We're both being downvote because we're not part of the hive mind.

    Most of the links provided are about how children were easy to advertise to and TikTok was not properly protecting them. That's a completely different discussion than "tiktok is targeting children".

    I want to be a supporter of keeping children safe, but I don't think banning tiktok will help anything other than create 5 new platforms that will make letting kids safe even harder

    Edit: that last argument is a straw man, but you get the point

    aniki ,

    No seriously -- did you even try or did you just want to bloviate online to randos for... no reason at all?

    aniki ,

    You just ignore anything you dont like. You're not arguing in good faith.

    Nacktmull , (edited )
    @Nacktmull@lemmy.world avatar

    By design. Especially the format (short video clips) and the optimization for being used on phones (not computers) makes it attractive for kids.

    63% of Americans between the ages of 12 and 17 used TikTok on a weekly basis

    Report Estimates One-Third of TikTok Users Are Children Age 14 and Under

    TikTok reportedly has 18 million users who are 14 or younger, renewing concerns for children's safety

    A Third of TikTok’s U.S. Users May Be 14 or Under, Raising Safety Questions

    I tried googling, can’t find anything that supports these claims

    Seriously? it took me one google search to find an endless list of such articles. Also, did you not notice all the kids outside filming Tik Tok dances with their phones, it has been going on for many years now, how is it possible you did not notice it?

    Lulzagna ,

    Kids using tiktok and tiktok specifically targeting children to use their platform are distinctly different. Just because kids use tiktok doesn't mean it's because they were lured there. Those metrics only identify that tiktok is popular among youth, which is not an indication of malice whatsoever.

    I appreciate your opinion, but short video clips on Mobile devices are nothing inherent to children. Now if tiktok was giving you pokemon for signing up or posting of their platform, then there'd be a valid argument that they're targeting children. (I feel like there was a pokeball collaboration with tiktok once, but I can't find a source to support it)

    Getting back to the original context - the argument that Tiktok should be shut down because "it's short videos on mobile platforms that's popular among teens" is lunacy. Everyone is throwing shade at me and not realizing how absurd their argument is.

    I'm not acting in bad faith either. I don't care about the fate of tiktok, but I'm seeing a trend of vilification without proper logical discourse. It's disconcerting to say the least.

    Nacktmull ,
    @Nacktmull@lemmy.world avatar

    I respect your opinion and don't think you are arguing in bad faith. However, I think you are missing the central point. Which -in my opinion- is that a social media platform that turns out to have extremely negative effects on society and especially kids, should get shut down. If it happens with intent or without is not particularly relevant as far as I see it. I apologize if my initial comments were phrased in any misleading way, I am not a native speaker so I sometimes miss the finer nuances of certain formulations.

    Lulzagna ,

    No need to apologize, you're the first person to actually calmly and willingly discuss the topic without completely dismissing being disagreed with.

    I know you're not the originally comment I was replying to, but you conveniently moved the goal posts. The context of the entire conversation is whether TikTok specifically should be shut down because it targets children for it's own gain. You're now arguing that social media in general has negative impact on society and children, which I agree with, but is completely skewing the conversation and was, in no way, the central point of the discussion.

    So your opinion is that all social media platforms that deem to have negative affects on society should be shut down? Do you not see what's wrong with that? You're saying humans can't decide whether or not they want to use social media. You should understand how absolutely absurd that is - that is a completely dystopian totalitarian dictatorship idea. It sounds like a chapter in 1984.

    StevenSaus ,
    @StevenSaus@midwest.social avatar

    Unlike? I think you mean they're JEALOUS of TikTok's appeal to minors...

    Nacktmull ,
    @Nacktmull@lemmy.world avatar

    What I mean is that Facebook for example is aimed at and consumed by older adults in the first place. Most young people in fact see it as a boomer platform.

    ccdfa ,

    When I was a kid and Facebook was new, I remember everyone wanting an account. The way I see it, Facebook just kept those users who wanted it when it was new. Who's to say that the same won't be true of TikTok later?

    Nacktmull ,
    @Nacktmull@lemmy.world avatar

    Who’s to say that the same won’t be true of TikTok

    Who knows but we are talking about the negative effects TikTok has on society right now.

    Krauerking ,

    I think people forget that Meta owns Instagram which is known to have a very young user base.

    They are even currently Suing the FTC because they want to monetize minors more

    Linkerbaan ,
    @Linkerbaan@lemmy.world avatar

    The only social platform that doesn't try to actively censor Pro-Palestinian voices. What a coincidence that it's suddenly a security risk.

    Big ups to Rathbone https://www.tiktok.com/@rathbonemakesmusic/video/7289906736847129902

    scorpionix ,
    @scorpionix@feddit.de avatar

    Suddenly? It's been labeled Chinese spyware since day one.

    Linkerbaan ,
    @Linkerbaan@lemmy.world avatar

    And Twitter, Instagram and others are American spyware. The timing is very interesting since TikTok was the only platform not censoring Palestinians into oblivion especially at the start of the Genocide. Even now you can see a drastic difference in recommended content between TikTok and American based platforms. Which is a major reason that the youth reacts a lot different than boomers.

    Full control of social media must be held. Free speech btw

    mPony ,

    others are American spyware

    The M.O. of American business has always been clear: The internet exists to enrich the already-powerful. All Internet systems must be considered a possible vector for mission-critical business communication. As such, EVERY message sent over the internet must be viewable by those who might benefit from seeing it. Every phone call must be interceptable and traceable. Every new business idea must be known. Every new competitor must be stifled or bought out. Every piece of information which could be used to coerce or force compliance / silence must be gathered. If there is insufficient leverage then leverage must be manufactured.
    Yes this sounds like paranoid hyperbole. but it explains pretty much everything.

    Linkerbaan ,
    @Linkerbaan@lemmy.world avatar

    The classic "Freedom of speech except for platforms that say mean things about us".

    At least China is open about their censorship

    S_204 ,

    Ya, the site being abused by Iran, China and Russia isn't a problem. Nope not at all

    https://blogs.microsoft.com/on-the-issues/2024/02/06/iran-accelerates-cyber-ops-against-israel/#:~:text=This%20marked%20the%20first%20Iranian,UAE%2C%20UK%2C%20and%20Canada.

    FlyingSquid ,
    @FlyingSquid@lemmy.world avatar

    Bytedance needs to figure out which congresspeople Meta has been bribing.

    PsychedSy ,

    Need to donate a couple hundred mil to Bill and Melinda Gates foundation and see if he'll give up his strategy.

    Serinus ,

    Oh man, is this a game? Are we supposed to name all the reasons this is dumb? The first two are obvious.

    PsychedSy ,

    MSFT was famous for not taking lobbying seriously until they started getting anti-trust action against them. They quickly became good at it.

    jaschen ,

    Good. Fuck them and all social media controlled by any big mega corp. But fuck the CCP especially.

    Zuberi ,

    This insinuates that the CPC owns TikTok lmao

    nxdefiant ,

    https://web.archive.org/web/20191127235720/http:/news.cpd.com.cn/n3559/201904/t20190425_836599.html

    They don't have to own it when they can make it do whatever they want.
    You won't find critical analysis of anything important on Chinese tik tok.

    Aghast ,

    Well the CCP does exert considerable control over TikToks parent company ByteDance. The CCP has already utilized data from TikTok to track protestors and other "dissidents"

    https://apnews.com/article/tiktok-china-bytedance-user-data-d257d98125f69ac80f983e6067a84911

    No the CCP does not own Tik Tok but it might as well own it.

    Unfortunately this situation is not unlike what the US government likely does. However, hopefully this precedence building policy recognizes that data privacy from 3rd party entities is needed. Will that standard be applied to US companies? Not likely any time soon but I'm optimistic.

    reverendsteveii ,

    https://www.businessinsider.com/fbi-uses-instagram-etsy-linkedin-to-find-george-floyd-protester-2020-6#:~:text=In%202016%2C%20for%20example%2C%20the,a%20way%20to%20track%20protesters.

    It's fucked that an authoritarian government would use social media to track and arrest protestors. I'd love to believe that this is a move toward transparency and protecting people but I think it's a lot more likely to be a "nobody exploits social media to manipulate and repress my citizenry except me, and maybe the boy" situation.

    Misconduct ,

    [Thread, post or comment was deleted by the author]

    •
    Aghast ,

    There is no evidence that it is banned. ByteDance just made the same app for the PRC market

    https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/is-tiktok-banned-in-china/

    TheFriar ,

    The fucked up thing is they don’t seem to have a problem with rich 1%ers owning and manipulating millions of people. Only when it’s the Chinese. Facebook, Twitter, instagram are just as harmful. Although the delivery method of the content isn’t exactly “tailored” on those services like TikTok. I dunno how I feel about this. I mean, I think all social media services should die out. This just seems like an uneven hand.

    blanketswithsmallpox ,

    Don't let perfect be the enemy of good.

    TheFriar ,

    This is a really great way of putting it. I’d never heard that before, but it’s a truly apt way of summarizing one of the biggest problems I have with fellow leftists. However, I think I’d argue this is a slightly different situation.

    Yeah, it’s a start toward something good. But it’s still sticky in its spirit.

    It’s sort of similar to the complaint against incrementalism. It’s true, incrementalism is not a healthy solution to the problems we face. But fighting against good steps forward because you’re against the concept of incrementalism is…foolish…right? Or is it? Because sinking our efforts into incrementalism takes away effort from broad advancement. And incrementalism has been our MO since forever. And it’s only brought us further down the road to ruin.

    But, again, fighting good incremental changes is nonsense. I dunno, it’s a nuanced issue and I’m not even sure how I feel about it. It’s interesting. And as someone who doesn’t use the more “standard” social media and never has, I’m all for erasing social media from existence. I’ve seen what it did to everyone in my life, and I was the perfect age for every step of social media’s growth: xanga/livejournal in middle school, MySpace in middle school/early high school, and then Facebook came about in my senior year, instagram in college and while i traveled in my early 20s…but I was an anti-anything-popular emo kid and goddamn I’m glad I was. But I also saw first hand how much social media changed my interactions with everyone in my life. It wasn’t pretty. People were addicted, constantly being just floored that I wasn’t on FB, countless people threatening to make me a Facebook page? It was severely strange behavior. And now tiktok is like all of that on goddamn super steroids. But it’s less people shoving it down my throat, and more just completely sucked in by it. Which is honestly scarier.

    S_204 ,

    Tik tok is at the root of so many of the social issues we're facing today. It's absolutely worse than Facebook, although both need to be addressed.

    Zuberi ,

    How?..

    EncryptKeeper ,

    It has a huge hold over our youth today, even folks up to 30. It’s so ubiquitous it’s used as a replacement for Google to find new information including political.

    Problem is it’s absolutely chock full of misinformation and propaganda, which doesn’t just exist on the platform, but is actively pushed on American youth today.

    Randomgal ,

    It's full of misinformation and propaganda unlike... You know... All those super reliable objective sources of information that you use?

    EncryptKeeper ,

    Oh yes VERY unlike those. Anything that can be traced and verified, aren’t read to you by an AI voice or a white person claiming to be an American while trying very hard to suppress an Eastern European or East Asian accent. Another good trait to have would be anything that isn’t verifiably false.

    Randomgal ,

    You know the algorithm shows you what you interact with the most... Right?

    EncryptKeeper , (edited )

    It sure does, but it doesn’t only show you what you interact with the most. It shows you lots of other stuff too. The exact algorithm of which neither you or I are privy to so don’t get too cocky thinking you have it all figured out. After all “interacting with” can be something as small as lingering on a video just a bit too long. One second longer than your usual average view time. That’s all it takes for an algorithm to decide it’s worth it to push more content like it at you. And given that it’s a priority goal for propaganda, bots, and misinformation posters to craft their video in a way to maximize your engagement, that’s a trivial thing to accomplish.

    Algorithms are by design, a way to remove your agency in finding information for yourself, and instead give the platform control over the information you see. This is very handy and even innocent when you just want to see memes that you personally think are funny, but very dangerous when it’s used to mislead you or influence your behavior and thinking. And most people aren’t smart or tech savvy enough to know how any of this works, which makes them very easy to manipulate.

    Krauerking ,

    Well that and whatever will keep you addicted and hopefully spending money.
    Rage, bias confirmation, propaganda that hits the class or group you belong to. And the more you trust it the more they can use that trust.

    nomous ,

    Among other things.

    If it only showed you what you interacted with the most it'd be less of an issue but that's not how it works. Thats not even how it works on YouTube.

    S_204 ,

    Thanks for proving why that platform is just so damned dangerous. The ignorance it inspires is shocking.

    Same ,

    Sorry but this is giving 'old man yells at clouds' energy. How is tiktok any worse than any other social media platform? They're all echochambers filled with misinformation, it just what happens when you get a lot of people online.

    S_204 ,

    That you're trying to 'they're all the same' bs shows how ignorant many people are on this. They're not all the same, this one is especially bad and it's not JUST because it turns you into a fucking retard when you use it.

    Zuberi ,

    Lemmy.world has horrible takes as usual when it comes to censorship of a platform lmao

    SmilingSolaris ,

    Who knew the magical word was China to turn everyone here into a meta lapdog

    oatscoop ,
    @oatscoop@midwest.social avatar

    I'm pretty confident in saying the majority of users here don't like meta either -- the userbase on lemmy is predominantly people trying to avoid corporate social media.

    ByteDance and Meta both privacy nightmares, it's just a question of what fucked up things they doing with the data.

    SmilingSolaris ,

    That is true, and we can bemoan the privacy concerns of tiktok and meta and such but this right here isn't a fix to privacy. It's just a change in who is abusing it. In that case, Id like to keep it with the Chinese. They have less control over my life than America already does. Let's spread it out a little bit lol.

    pantyhosewimp ,

    In this case, my enemy’s enemy is also an enemy. Life ain’t easy for a poor righteous teacher.

    ItsMeSpez ,

    The red menace has always been a winner.

  • All
  • Subscribed
  • Moderated
  • Favorites
  • •
  • random
  • technology@lemmy.world
  • incremental_games
  • meta
  • All magazines
    •