Comment on YSK TikTok Is Harming Children at an Industrial Scale. We know this because we obtained messages from TikTok engineers and executives

• krashmo@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

  Its perfectly relevant to my point, which is that the government is already involved in the sort of behavior we’re discussing. If we accept that preventing societal damage, or promoting social well being, or whatever else you want to call it, is a part of what the government exists to do, then why would something like preventing mega corporations from ruining the development of children fall outside its purview?

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  • chicken@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨11⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    I accept that providing social commons which are largely independent from culture and belief is the legitimate purview of the government, but there should be a line right there because when governments manipulate their populations to think or behave a certain way it usually isn’t towards the best interests of the people.

    Which isn’t to say that nothing should be done to prevent mega corporations manipulating people, I just don’t think that should come in the form of things like, for instance, what they’ve actually done with TikTok since this article was written, which is mandate the creation of a US specific version that is obligated to be increasingly friendly to the propaganda interests of the current regime.

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    • krashmo@lemmy.world ⁨10⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      I think that any solution in the form of a formal government regulation will be subject to that kind of corruption, and real solutions need to be found elsewhere.

      I think that’s a fair statement as it relates to the current US government but I don’t think that’s a valid general philosophy. I agree that our current priority should certainly be to implement a government that can be trusted to regulate things effectively. If that isn’t taken care of first then the rest doesn’t matter. As evidenced by, well, everything happening right now haha. Still, the ultimate goal should be government action on this topic because we cannot solve the problem at an individual level. Some people can have better outcomes than others but there’s no level playing field without government intervention.

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      • chicken@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨9⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

        I agree that our current priority should certainly be to implement a government that can be trusted to regulate things effectively

        I don’t, limiting the danger it poses to us and guaranteeing civil liberties should be a higher priority.

        Still, the ultimate goal should be government action on this topic because we cannot solve the problem at an individual level. Some people can have better outcomes than others but there’s no level playing field without government intervention.

        To me what a level playing field would look like for social media would be mostly about the government no longer doing harmful things, enforcement of the DMCA in particular comes to mind. Exercising more control over who can use which parts of the internet and how, is obviously incredibly dangerous especially given that we know it is possible for a government like the current one to come to power.

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