Where do y’all stand on TikTok?

[sekker]

$tevie wrote:
Frankly, I think this is just innate racism and xenophobia, exacerbated by the fact that China is a pretty shitty country. But I don't think the danger is any worse than the danger we face every day from every other app in the world. Is it really worse for the Chinese to know you went to Kroger's than it is for Facebook, Twitter, Apple, Samsung, NextDoor, AT&T, Amazon, Walmart, and Candy Crush to know you went to Kroger's?

Yes, it is FAR worse. The CCP wants TikTok for more than pure financial gain.

[pdq]

$tevie wrote:
Frankly, I think this is just innate racism and xenophobia, exacerbated by the fact that China is a pretty shitty country. But I don't think the danger is any worse than the danger we face every day from every other app in the world. Is it really worse for the Chinese to know you went to Kroger's than it is for Facebook, Twitter, Apple, Samsung, NextDoor, AT&T, Amazon, Walmart, and Candy Crush to know you went to Kroger's?

^this.

[sekker]

pdq wrote:
[quote=$tevie]
Frankly, I think this is just innate racism and xenophobia, exacerbated by the fact that China is a pretty shitty country. But I don't think the danger is any worse than the danger we face every day from every other app in the world. Is it really worse for the Chinese to know you went to Kroger's than it is for Facebook, Twitter, Apple, Samsung, NextDoor, AT&T, Amazon, Walmart, and Candy Crush to know you went to Kroger's?

^this.
I find this false equivalency quite interesting. They really are not the same.

[vision63]

We have a madman running the number one communications app/company. He doesn't have to mine any data to influence an army to assemble into action to go to war destroying the greatest democracy the earth has ever seen.

What can China do to me that Americans aren't already doing?

[$tevie]

vision63 wrote:
We have a madman running the number one communications app/company. He doesn't have to mine any data to influence an army to assemble into action to go to war destroying the greatest democracy the earth has ever seen.

What can China do to me that Americans aren't already doing?

Yep.

And if someone could come on here and specifically tell me what the Chinese are going to do with our data that is so terrible, that would be great. Just repeating over and over that it could be terrible is not a thesis, let alone a supporting claim to your thesis.

[sekker]

$tevie wrote:
And if someone could come on here and specifically tell me what the Chinese are going to do with our data that is so terrible, that would be great. Just repeating over and over that it could be terrible is not a thesis, let alone a supporting claim to your thesis.

I feel like this issue demonstrates how powerful social media is.

The most obvious way TikTok was used to influence politics was how the Israel/Hamas war was covered. Compared to other US-based social media platforms and postings like Reddit, TikTok had a 10x higher favorable coverage for Hamas. TikTok has claimed it was because of viewers, it's not. Here's a good description.

https://www.semafor.com/article/10/27/20...nti-israel

How is China involved, you ask? China wins by adding discord across the board.

I am not going down the rabbit hole of claiming conspiracy. It's a fact that TikTok data from the US gets to China. https://www.forbes.com/sites/alexandrale...72d1b32708

[$tevie]

I am most certainly aware of the influence social media has on politics. Elon is over on X shadow banning liberals, and removing their followers by the hundreds, and playing all sorts of other tricks on liberals, even as he reposts right wing and anti-semitic and anti-vaccine crapola with approving remarks. And yet we are worried about TikTok, which officially takes no positions on these topics.

And I'm not saying that China has no data. I am asking for EXACTLY what we think they are going to do with this data?
Are they going to follow us around the internet showing us ads for everything we've ever looked at online, and forcing us to log into their site in order to hit Like on youtube, and have access to our calendar and our map searches and our emails? Oh wait, that's Google!

[Speedy]

I’m not a user of TikTok although if they allowed nudity…

[sekker]

$tevie wrote:
I am most certainly aware of the influence social media has on politics. Elon is over on X shadow banning liberals, and removing their followers by the hundreds, and playing all sorts of other tricks on liberals, even as he reposts right wing and anti-semitic and anti-vaccine crapola with approving remarks. And yet we are worried about TikTok, which officially takes no positions on these topics.

And I'm not saying that China has no data. I am asking for EXACTLY what we think they are going to do with this data?
Are they going to follow us around the internet showing us ads for everything we've ever looked at online, and forcing us to log into their site in order to hit Like on youtube, and have access to our calendar and our map searches and our emails? Oh wait, that's Google!

All could be true. But if our data remains in the US, then we could - if we wanted to - add real regulation. But once it's outside the US, we have no power to handle misbehavior.

There is a clear false equivalency being used that misses this key point. TikTok is NOT the same as google.

[Acer]

But if our data remains in the US, then we could - if we wanted to - add real regulation. But once it's outside the US, we have no power to handle misbehavior.

The horse left that barn long ago.