4 ms·

> TikTok is the generation that is most malleable to propaganda in a way that can undermine an entire generation Citation needed. Come on.

dfischer 6y ago
Every statement doesn’t need a citation. Come on. Propaganda is real. If you don’t think that all social networks are mechanisms to imprint minds you’re either idealist or compromised. Yawn to the downvotes. Keep them coming. Your naïveté is plain.
- CraigJPerry 6y ago
  So why not focus on Facebook? Why not do something meaningful, anything, with a company which is actually beholden to us law? Seems like targetting the biggest bang for buck would be a good place to start and THEN move on to others, no?
  - dfischer 6y ago
    It’s not mutually exclusive. Facebook is complicit. TikTok however is specifically a unique entity on its own. The demographics that use it are of critical interest to persuade additionally the data is directly at risk of being used as information warfare on increasingly elevated state cyber warfare tactics. Follow the trail of information. Look into what’s going in across the stack hardware to software to networks. There’s a massive shift the past couple years.
    - bkor 6y ago
      Facebook has been used for misinformation for a significant longer amount of time. Usually I get annoyed when people say something like "but what about X", but in this case it's a case of one company often being proven to manipulate, distort, etc (Facebook) vs a possibility that another company might do that.
      - dfischer 6y ago
        It’s not a possibility that another company is doing it, it’s about the state actors involved in doing it and otherwise unknown parties. In the end it’s no specific company that is responsible as the aggregate whole of all data available and the mechanisms to algorithmically control content is the sophistication of manipulation going on today.
082349872349872 6y ago
My optimistic side says that if 60 second short videos were ideologically useful, CIA (or your favourite "They") would have weaponised them back in the 1960s[1]. My pessimistic side says they probably are, and maybe they even did. https://www.thinkbox.tv/research/thinkbox-research/a-matter-of-time-the-importance-of-time-length-in-tv-advertising/ https://www.thinkbox.tv/research/thinkbox-research/a-matter-... [1] CIA didn't exist before 1947, so it would have to have been a different they for late 1920s, or even a different medium for "Remember the Maine!" Bonus blog: https://joshuaspodek.com/north-korean-propaganda-our-advertising-part-1 https://joshuaspodek.com/north-korean-propaganda-our-adverti...
- dfischer 6y ago
  Most definitely cia has a history with manipulating information. But at the point of information, how do you know what to even trust at any level? Evidence can be provided for anything. Information and disinformation all at the same time. This is only increasing - how will anyone be able to sort themselves out? I’m not so sure it’s possible. https://youtu.be/IQPsKvG6WMI https://youtu.be/IQPsKvG6WMI Also 60 seconds of video is a ton of information. And it’s not just one video at a time. The total session aggregated per user per active user is way higher than that. These are behaviors where users use the app all day. Their entire worldview is based on the content within the social network experience.
  - 082349872349872 6y ago
    thoughts on sorting oneself out, albeit with difficulty: seek variety of manipulated information: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24600424 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24600424 systematically analyse received information: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23897577 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23897577 analyse especially source levels: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24459177 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24459177 compare https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24403135 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24403135 and remember we may have evolved big energy-guzzling brains in order to see through primate politics.
    - 6y ago

dfischer 6y ago

Every statement doesn’t need a citation. Come on. Propaganda is real. If you don’t think that all social networks are mechanisms to imprint minds you’re either idealist or compromised. Yawn to the downvotes. Keep them coming. Your naïveté is plain.

CraigJPerry 6y ago
So why not focus on Facebook? Why not do something meaningful, anything, with a company which is actually beholden to us law? Seems like targetting the biggest bang for buck would be a good place to start and THEN move on to others, no?
- dfischer 6y ago
  It’s not mutually exclusive. Facebook is complicit. TikTok however is specifically a unique entity on its own. The demographics that use it are of critical interest to persuade additionally the data is directly at risk of being used as information warfare on increasingly elevated state cyber warfare tactics. Follow the trail of information. Look into what’s going in across the stack hardware to software to networks. There’s a massive shift the past couple years.
  - bkor 6y ago
    Facebook has been used for misinformation for a significant longer amount of time. Usually I get annoyed when people say something like "but what about X", but in this case it's a case of one company often being proven to manipulate, distort, etc (Facebook) vs a possibility that another company might do that.
    - dfischer 6y ago
      It’s not a possibility that another company is doing it, it’s about the state actors involved in doing it and otherwise unknown parties. In the end it’s no specific company that is responsible as the aggregate whole of all data available and the mechanisms to algorithmically control content is the sophistication of manipulation going on today.

082349872349872 6y ago

My optimistic side says that if 60 second short videos were ideologically useful, CIA (or your favourite "They") would have weaponised them back in the 1960s[1]. My pessimistic side says they probably are, and maybe they even did. https://www.thinkbox.tv/research/thinkbox-research/a-matter-of-time-the-importance-of-time-length-in-tv-advertising/ https://www.thinkbox.tv/research/thinkbox-research/a-matter-... [1] CIA didn't exist before 1947, so it would have to have been a different they for late 1920s, or even a different medium for "Remember the Maine!" Bonus blog: https://joshuaspodek.com/north-korean-propaganda-our-advertising-part-1 https://joshuaspodek.com/north-korean-propaganda-our-adverti...

dfischer 6y ago
Most definitely cia has a history with manipulating information. But at the point of information, how do you know what to even trust at any level? Evidence can be provided for anything. Information and disinformation all at the same time. This is only increasing - how will anyone be able to sort themselves out? I’m not so sure it’s possible. https://youtu.be/IQPsKvG6WMI https://youtu.be/IQPsKvG6WMI Also 60 seconds of video is a ton of information. And it’s not just one video at a time. The total session aggregated per user per active user is way higher than that. These are behaviors where users use the app all day. Their entire worldview is based on the content within the social network experience.
- 082349872349872 6y ago
  thoughts on sorting oneself out, albeit with difficulty: seek variety of manipulated information: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24600424 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24600424 systematically analyse received information: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23897577 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23897577 analyse especially source levels: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24459177 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24459177 compare https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24403135 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24403135 and remember we may have evolved big energy-guzzling brains in order to see through primate politics.
  - 6y ago