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>Why is this? I replied to the parent comment by accident, but: That's the kind of content that survives the crucibles of Chinese censorship, "Creative and Jo
by dirtyid 6y ago
>Why is this?
I replied to the parent comment by accident, but:
That's the kind of content that survives the crucibles of Chinese censorship, "Creative and Joyful" opiate for the masses. This is an often overlooked aspect of Chinese social media / content filtering philosophy that has coalesced over time - block out the bad and divisive while elevating mundane joys. It's how the 50c operates, it floods the airwaves with small happy platitudes and avoids debates because engaging and challenging controversial topics (especially politics) is how toxicity is produced. It's counterproductive to even try. It's why TikTok's content policy is designed to protect the status quo, often misinterpreted as being pro-Beijing when it's broadly pro-establishment. The last thing Chinese social media platforms is designed to do is to start revolutions, encourage radicalization or sectarianism among impressionable audiences, things western social media platforms are dealing with now, and why they were blocked in China in the first place. That said, I guess it's possible for TikTok to be weaponized to sow division, but why would they need to when the whole of western media sphere is doing so already.
IMO the style has it's place, whole of China has no choice but to live under it, but in the west, a plurality of content management philosophies calibrated for different audiences is good. There's lessons in managing toxicity to learn from TikTok even if it gets banned.
- dzhiurgis 6y agoI see plenty conspiracy theories, pseudoscience and quack medicine on TikTok. Way way way more than on other platforms. Less of traditional politics, blm and similar stuff tho.
- analyte123 6y agoThis is a good point, although I suspect most people don't really want to see the toxicity. People are always complaining that they can't make certain things go away on Facebook even though they're constantly telling it "I don't want this". The one time I can remember where someone got "cancelled" on Tiktok, most of the criticism was carried out on other platforms like Twitter and Youtube ("Nurse Holly" if you're curious). I'd try to see how well Tiktok's recommendations can identify "toxic sectarian flame wars", but I don't want to clutter up my feed (which is 90% not in English anyway).
- dirtyid 6y agoEnough people LOVE drama and toxicity to perpetuate reality TV and online beef culture. Many of my hobbyist communities have been affect at some point in the last few years. I personally enjoy some of the drama (powerlifting/bodybuilding), but I just don't want them to shit where they eat and keep it off the platforms for their OG non-drama content. It's nice to have moderated space away from all that. I have my private communities, but I think TikTok is attempting to bring that feel to a larger scale. It's problematic if that's all there is like Chinese firewall. But when there's many media options, it's a nice spot of respite.
- Lammy 6y agoAh, good to know I “misinterpreted [it] as pro-Beijing” when it’s actually just “broadly pro-establishment” and put in place by the establishment in Beijing. Totally different.