4 ms·

Sure, but in the case of TikTok, there's one less intermediary in the chain trying to hack your voting decisions.

nickthegreek 6y ago
Are people using the same TikTok that I am? There is currently a single skippable ad when I open the app (that appears maybe 75% of the time). Other than that, its a bunch of people under the age of 35 doing skits.. What am I supposed to be worried about when it comes to election engineering here?
- Frost1x 6y ago
  I suspect if I were TikTok, I could keep track of the skits you watch and start directing similar skits with subtle political messages towards you in their place. If I were really nefarious, I might be able to professionally produce skits that look amature that are essentially well designed propoganda. I've never used the app but I'm sure they also request location information and a lot of people agree, so I can make a reasonable guess for most people where their home location and corresponding voting districts are. Also, over time, the type of media delivered may subtly shift anyways. When I started using Facebook, it required a .edu domain to register and focused on listing your courses, finding peers in your courses, campus events, and so forth. Now, it looks absolutely nothing like that, yet I still have a Facebook account (which I rarely check but thats another story, many of my peers appear to still actively use it). For now it's a bunch of silly videos, maybe it won't always be that way. You may be lured into a platform, grow accustomed to it and the convenience of a user base, then slowly go along for the ride as the platform shifts direction. Perhaps you may be vigilant of this (the reason I stopped using Facebook many years ago), however, a large portion of people may not. Now, whoever manages TikTok has a direct route of information to a wide group of people providing they don't upset them or a competitor doesn't lure them away.
  - nickthegreek 6y ago
    What young pretty American is making that subtle political content that china will start to slowly move me towards? I gotta be honest, the potential for abuse so much less than facebook as it is a video medium. Their best attack vector is to use that information outside of tiktok by trying to target ads on other American owned platforms like Facebook, Instagram or Google.
  - chvid 6y ago
    Pantomime to Trump speeches is thing on TikTok. This one went viral outside the app: https://www.tiktok.com/@whatchugotforme/video/6819061413877763334 https://www.tiktok.com/@whatchugotforme/video/68190614138777... Other than that apparently TikTok'ers were behind the small show up at the last Trump rally - though I don't quite understand that one. Anyway. Compared to Twitter, Facebook or Reddit, the levels of politics on TikTok is tiny and done in a much less agressive way.
- dfxm12 6y ago
  The data about you it mines from your phone. I think this is the most recent security hole detected: https://www.forbes.com/sites/zakdoffman/2020/06/26/warning-apple-suddenly-catches-tiktok-secretly-spying-on-millions-of-iphone-users/#797845db34ef https://www.forbes.com/sites/zakdoffman/2020/06/26/warning-a...
malux85 6y ago
Well, that's a load off my mind

Are people using the same TikTok that I am? There is currently a single skippable ad when I open the app (that appears maybe 75% of the time). Other than that, its a bunch of people under the age of 35 doing skits.. What am I supposed to be worried about when it comes to election engineering here?

Frost1x 6y ago
I suspect if I were TikTok, I could keep track of the skits you watch and start directing similar skits with subtle political messages towards you in their place. If I were really nefarious, I might be able to professionally produce skits that look amature that are essentially well designed propoganda. I've never used the app but I'm sure they also request location information and a lot of people agree, so I can make a reasonable guess for most people where their home location and corresponding voting districts are. Also, over time, the type of media delivered may subtly shift anyways. When I started using Facebook, it required a .edu domain to register and focused on listing your courses, finding peers in your courses, campus events, and so forth. Now, it looks absolutely nothing like that, yet I still have a Facebook account (which I rarely check but thats another story, many of my peers appear to still actively use it). For now it's a bunch of silly videos, maybe it won't always be that way. You may be lured into a platform, grow accustomed to it and the convenience of a user base, then slowly go along for the ride as the platform shifts direction. Perhaps you may be vigilant of this (the reason I stopped using Facebook many years ago), however, a large portion of people may not. Now, whoever manages TikTok has a direct route of information to a wide group of people providing they don't upset them or a competitor doesn't lure them away.
- nickthegreek 6y ago
  What young pretty American is making that subtle political content that china will start to slowly move me towards? I gotta be honest, the potential for abuse so much less than facebook as it is a video medium. Their best attack vector is to use that information outside of tiktok by trying to target ads on other American owned platforms like Facebook, Instagram or Google.
- chvid 6y ago
  Pantomime to Trump speeches is thing on TikTok. This one went viral outside the app: https://www.tiktok.com/@whatchugotforme/video/6819061413877763334 https://www.tiktok.com/@whatchugotforme/video/68190614138777... Other than that apparently TikTok'ers were behind the small show up at the last Trump rally - though I don't quite understand that one. Anyway. Compared to Twitter, Facebook or Reddit, the levels of politics on TikTok is tiny and done in a much less agressive way.
dfxm12 6y ago
The data about you it mines from your phone. I think this is the most recent security hole detected: https://www.forbes.com/sites/zakdoffman/2020/06/26/warning-apple-suddenly-catches-tiktok-secretly-spying-on-millions-of-iphone-users/#797845db34ef https://www.forbes.com/sites/zakdoffman/2020/06/26/warning-a...

malux85 6y ago

Well, that's a load off my mind