About TikTok
Added 2023-03-23 20:42:57 +0000 UTCI have only read summaries of arguments presented by our Congresscritters and news stories. I don't have the bandwidth to listen to the hearings. Here are my thoughts.
- Not only is the data gathered by TikTok available through other sources and readily purchased, but the information also goes even deeper.
- Own a smart TV? Did you connect it to the Internet? Did you opt out of tracking? Are you SURE you opted out of tracking? Your TV knows more about you than TikTok, and some of that data are controlled by foreign nations - like South Korea's Samsung.
- Two words - Cambridge Analytica - and Facebook is still around.
- Telegram is kind of sort owned by Russia, but the server technology...never mind.
- Two of the examples of failed moderators brought up today include videos that I have seen. Moderation of content on TikTok is a dumpster fire in a septic tank at the bottom of a sulfur mine. The complaints about moderation are incredibly valid.
- Full stop - in the case of COVID disinformation, there are Congresscritters sitting on that panel thinking, "that wasn't disinformation, and Fauci should be in jail." Eheml, your hypocrisy is showing Congresscritters.
- TikTok is not and has not been a "kids" dancing app and doing karaoke mash-ups since COVID struck in 2020, and a bunch of bored GenXs and Xennials got on the platform to check it out.
- There are 5 million US businesses that depend on TikTok for leads. We wouldn't have grown to what we are today without TikTok, right or wrong.
My bigger concern is, "where will people go?"
From what I have seen and heard, it won't be Facebook or Instagram. Zuckerberg is dreaming if he thinks banning TikTok will rescue Facebook or boost Instagram. Twitter is just - awful. The only thing Twitter has going for it is even with all of the changes and cuts by Musk, moderation is fairer. That leaves YouTube, which has content moderation just slightly better than TikTok.
It comes down to this. If the United States bans TikTok, international disinformation will thrive further. There is a vast number of creators that fight disinformation every day. Share science, news, and facts.
If the government truly believes that TikTok is just a listening post for China, I hate to break it to them, but a long list of US companies will happily share their information and profit off of it.
If TikTok is a national security risk, then release the information. I don't see what "state secret" is being broken that a source code analysis wouldn't reveal anyway. So tell us.
From my point of view, this feels more like silencing a platform that has created groups of communities that identify with each other, and I don't see that is a bad thing.
I'm literally on a Twitter hit list - LITERALLY - and I don't see Congress doing anything about it. It is insane enough that my life is interesting enough for the Russian RIA to have banned our news site a year ago today (heh).
Comments
I always find the USA hilarious when it comes to cases like this. Instead of having professionals work out proposals, inform the parliamentarians and then proceed you have professional idiots that believe in the most absurd nonsense make the decisions. And what's worse, they are allowed to directly benefit from their own decisions and knowledge. If anyone in government or parliament in my country would be involved in the stock trade that is even remotely connected to their work they'd be in prosecuted the same day. Contact with lobbyists has to be registered, gifts worth over 10 euros have to be registered. We over here in western europe are actually more then a bit worried about our big friend on the other side. Is everything going to be alright or should be we worried about Bull Run #3 happening sometime soon?
2023-03-24 08:08:41 +0000 UTCStates in general are misinterpreting their needs for control over the population, and I believe that the scenario in the US is not positive. What will prevent Trump from doubling down on these measures if he wins the election? In defense against something they cannot control, the internet, states are trying to use it for their benefit instead of educating citizens to understand the phenomenon, severely affecting the principles of freedom and democracy. What happens in China or Russia is predictable, but it is also happening in the West.
2023-03-23 22:43:20 +0000 UTCI don't think the conclusion you come to about it being an attempt to silence community and groups is fair. I may be reading inference that isn't there, but tiktok aren't a platform only used by the 'left' or liberals. It's just as utilised by both sides of the spectrum, closing the platform would also remove a space for the right as well. What is more likely is that this is a result of lobbying from the likes of Zuckerberg and other US based social media corporations to remove competition. Whether the campaign to demonsie TikTok is a direct intended part of that or a side-effect, who knows. But it is simply politicking to deflect from the real issues, as usual.
Luke
2023-03-23 22:43:11 +0000 UTC
