it’s not. all social media has the same risks but tiktok is obviously the worst because it’s Chinese.
I guess a video platform with content identical to youtube is bad if it’s Chinese.
Comment on Desperate TikTok lobbying effort backfires on Capitol Hill
marx2k@lemmy.world 6 months ago
Question…
I don’t use tiktok. I have a Twitter account. Why is tiktok bad while a privately owned social media platform (twitter) that’s partially financed by Saudi Arabia and Qatar not bad?
Nima@leminal.space 6 months ago
TheFriar@lemm.ee 6 months ago
Well, it is slightly different. The reason TikTok poses a different type of problem with people’s addiction is the tailoring of the content.
All social media uses a basic port for people to come on and find others, but mainly create their own space. And even that was addictive and harmful to mental health. But it also gave people a route to alter their interactions with the app.
TikTok, on the other hand, tailors everything that happens when you open the app. You don’t get to follow people, change the flavor of content you’re seeing. You open the app, and the algorithm is all that dictates what you’re scrolling through.
I don’t know where I stand on this. I think all social media should die out. It’s killing discourse, it’s creating hate, it’s misinforming people like never before. It’s radicalizing people and generally making everyone stupider and less able to conceive of, let alone discuss nuance. And without nuance, we are truly fucking doomed. It’s far too easy to manipulate people with regular social media, and TikTok has turned all of those problems into an art form. It’s literally like a perfect little brainwashing machine. I’ve seen people use it on the train. They’re like…zombies.
On the other, it’s shocking to me to see a representative claim that having their constituents…call their offices and, yknow, participate in the process is portrayed as being “weapon used against America.”
It’s like a rock and a hard place. Firstly, TikTok is poisoning the minds of people. It’s like social media on steroids, and social media was already having a profoundly negative effect. On the other, it’s always dicey when taking things away from people “for the good of America.” Like…where was this attitude when instagram and Facebook were weaponized against the American people? Like, didn’t they prove it was used to sway elections here and in the UK? Why the uneven hand? Because they like demonizing foreigners and they protect white rich people weaponizing their wealth.
So yeah, maybe it’s the right move, but in context, it’s so blatantly favoritism shown to the evil fuckers causing harm for their own ends.
Nima@leminal.space 6 months ago
actually you do get to tailor your experience on tiktok. you can absolutely follow people. you even have the option to have the algorithm that’s tailored to your liked content (fyp) or specifically look at a feed of your followed accounts.
You said that tiktok tailors every bit of what happens on the app.
I have some news for you… so does youtube and every other social media platform out there.
people who don’t use tiktok seem to not really understand that 95% of the content on it is from youtube or shares creator spaces with youtube and other social media. my fyp and follows are mostly artists, musicians, funny people, animal videos and I even get some news as well.
tiktok is weirdly villanized by those that don’t even use the app.
I agree with you that social media is bad, but tiktok isn’t really the world ending propaganda machine it’s portrayed to be. I don’t know if I’d consider funny videos and anime edits to be “poisoning the minds of people”.
eclipse@lemmy.world 6 months ago
My problem is with the influence that a hostile foreign state actor has with TikTok.
Google is an independent company; I’m 99% certain their motivation is to make money and I’m confident their algorithms are tailored purely for engagement and profit. Whilst I’m sure they have some back room deals with US intelligence organisations I suspect that it’s a case of providing data vs providing influence (though I would not rule it out).
TikTok is controlled by the Chinese government. That’s not up for debate; if you have an entity in China it has to work that way. Imagine the damage they could do if they actively decided to increase, for example, messages of reunification with Taiwan in their algorithm by just 1% on a global scale. That frightens me and I’m not convinced it isn’t happening already on specific topics of concern to China’s foreign policy.
And that’s putting aside the amount of data that the Chinese are getting without even exerting any influence. They can likely discern worldwide sentiment on a range of topics and adjust political posture accordingly.
I’m not saying Google is perfect. I hate social media in general for the way it’s warping the zeitgeist. But I personally consider TikTok to be a huge threat to the world.
Maggoty@lemmy.world 6 months ago
You don’t actually use Tiktok do you?
pineapplelover@lemm.ee 6 months ago
Tik tok spies much more
I forgot the link but I recall in android it shows it can have a shit ton of permissions
abhibeckert@lemmy.world 6 months ago
Because China has a long and proven track record of using social media to harm democratic processes.
For example - they just used social media to flood the US government with complaints by people who don’t even understand what they’re complaining about.
isles@lemmy.world 6 months ago
Later Thursday, Pentagon press secretary Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder said that the balloon not only did not transmit data back to China – it never collected any.
“We’re aware that it had intelligence collection capabilities, but it was our – and it has been our – assessment now that it did not collect while it was transiting the United States,” Ryder said
vinyl@lemmy.world 6 months ago
Link leads to “page unavailable”
isles@lemmy.world 6 months ago
Thanks, I had stripped out too much link metadata, it’s working now.
Maggoty@lemmy.world 6 months ago
That’s because the next couple balloons were launched by schools in the US and Canada. There was more than one balloon.
marx2k@lemmy.world 6 months ago
Will it, though?
Traister101@lemmy.today 6 months ago
Twitter is also bad
linearchaos@lemmy.world 6 months ago
I personally don’t really mind TikTok. But the algorithm is a bit too addictive. The short form 30 second content consumption format is slowly eroding our attention span.
SmilingSolaris@lemmy.world 6 months ago
But that’s not the cause for a ban here.
Buelldozer@lemmy.today 6 months ago
Twitter / X gets railed on nonstop. Where are you getting the idea that anyone thinks it’s not “bad”?!
marx2k@lemmy.world 6 months ago
Link me to where congress is forwarding a bill to van twitter
jkrtn@lemmy.ml 6 months ago
Why would they try to ban software from US billionaires no matter how bad it is for Americans? They know who writes their checks.
lightnegative@lemmy.world 6 months ago
I mean, the US government isn’t unfairly singling it out for one…
Potatos_are_not_friends@lemmy.world 6 months ago
To me, that’s the only complaint I have about this, that they’re singling out Tiktok.
But, im not against it because the US has always singled out “the biggest guy” to set a precedent, which then causes all tbe smaller social media platforms to get their shit together. From Microsoft, to Google, to Facebook.