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I like the systematic approach they have used, and am a bit scared by the results. In one way, it is not that surprising that a social media app is so tightly c

I like the systematic approach they have used, and am a bit scared by the results. In one way, it is not that surprising that a social media app is so tightly controlled and used as a tool by the Russian government to hide unpleasant parts of reality. But I think it is a bit surprising that TikTok hasn't met more criticism and resistance on this

philliphaydon 5y ago
I don't find it surprising at all. It's basically a propaganda platform. Can't decide if its worse than Twitter or not.
- pphysch 5y ago
  Does TikTok mark Washington's enemies with big "X-state affiliated media" warnings while omitting them for American-state affiliated media?
  - creato 5y ago
    I can’t speak for twitter, but every American publicly funded news organization I know of has that label on YouTube (PBS for one)
  - philliphaydon 5y ago
    Which media is controlled by the state in the US? Or are you implying the lack of 'Russia funded media' on Fox?
    - pphysch 5y ago
      Directly, USAGM controls VoA, RFE/RL, RFA, etc. Wikipedia allows these as "reliable sources". Twitter doesn't tag them. The current CEO of NPR is a former USAGM exec. PBS FRONTLINE has unprecedented access to interviewing top DoD/State officials for stories that advance their agendas. Interesting. Indirectly, all the establishment media has close ties to national security. NYT admitted that potentially sensitive stories need to get screened by the government before publishing. That's state control over media where it counts.
aaaaaaaaata 5y ago
Tool of the Chinese government, and secondary tool of other governments because they want to remain dominant to push their own agenda(s).
- bduerst 5y ago
  TikTok doesn't even exist in China. The parent Bytedance does, and their Chinese equivalent is Taiotao. Even the TikTok data servers exist in South Korea. This is an important distinction because there has been zero proof that TikTok is spying or is a tool for China, despite clickbait articles, memes, and accusations existing. This is the first time TikTok is being used observed to be used for government political censorship... And in Russia of all places.
  - qaq 5y ago
    China has being pushing Russian narratives on the war internally in state media. So I think you might be disproving the "is not a tool for China" part.
    - ClumsyPilot 5y ago
      I think the assumption was that it spies on users or does something more interesting that just pedestrial propaganda
      - qaq 5y ago
        The fact is it's verifiably used as a propaganda tool increases the chance it's used for other "special" needs too.
        ClumsyPilot 5y ago
        Well what do we have NSA for? President complains about a spying app for months, can't they get off their ass and check? Or are they only good at spying on Joe the piblic? Or maybe they checked but didn't find anything?
rvz 5y ago
Well thats what you get with a glorified 'recommendation' algorithm and now it can be used by governments and other unpleasant people in power to hide and control what is seen and unseen from its users. Hardly surprising there and expected. > But I think it is a bit surprising that TikTok hasn't met more criticism and resistance on this If the users are liking their new digital crack / cocaine on the platform and as long as the algorithm is happily manipulating them, then they will never criticise or complain about it, nor will they be able to distinguish between fact or fiction. Hence, I think many jealous governments, three-letter agencies and even ancient wizards want their reality distortion spells back from social networks like TikTok.
antattack 5y ago
It's a social media app. No one should expect news or hard facts from tik-tok. With that said - it would interesting so see what tik-tok looks like in China. Based on reports, Russian invasion is also heavily censored in China[0] [0]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jf55gMvwc00 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jf55gMvwc00
- htrp 5y ago
  Except for a certain demographic (somewhere around 22 and under), TikTok is news, entertainment, TV, and Socialization
  - ClumsyPilot 5y ago
    Kids have tictoc while the geneatrics have fox news
Fervicus 5y ago
I think everyone should also take a moment and question what we are seeing on our screens. How much of our social media apps are tightly controlled and used as a tool by our governments?
dncornholio 5y ago
How can we criticise a platform that picks content for you? It's doing exactly what it's supposed to do, pick content for you. Also it's a Chinese app. Working as intended! We did not need this war to make this obvious.
jabbany 5y ago
I mean this is exactly what you'd expect a capitalist company like TikTok (Bytedance) to do: cave to any local regulations in order to make more money, even if that means bowing to pressure of a dictatorship. What's truly unsettling is that in the world today we must contend with the conflict between achieving capitalist goals (more money) and ideological ones (democracy).
- not2b 5y ago
  Every company has to comply with local regulations or not operate in a country. The same applies to a nonprofit, non-capitalist collective. The alternative to that is fines, or in the case of more authoritarian governments, arrests and jailing of local employees. The choice is to either comply or leave the country, though in some countries it's possible to appeal to the courts. Though it's so bad in Russia now that it seems the only moral choice is to shut down services.

philliphaydon 5y ago

I don't find it surprising at all. It's basically a propaganda platform. Can't decide if its worse than Twitter or not.

pphysch 5y ago
Does TikTok mark Washington's enemies with big "X-state affiliated media" warnings while omitting them for American-state affiliated media?
- creato 5y ago
  I can’t speak for twitter, but every American publicly funded news organization I know of has that label on YouTube (PBS for one)
- philliphaydon 5y ago
  Which media is controlled by the state in the US? Or are you implying the lack of 'Russia funded media' on Fox?
  - pphysch 5y ago
    Directly, USAGM controls VoA, RFE/RL, RFA, etc. Wikipedia allows these as "reliable sources". Twitter doesn't tag them. The current CEO of NPR is a former USAGM exec. PBS FRONTLINE has unprecedented access to interviewing top DoD/State officials for stories that advance their agendas. Interesting. Indirectly, all the establishment media has close ties to national security. NYT admitted that potentially sensitive stories need to get screened by the government before publishing. That's state control over media where it counts.

aaaaaaaaata 5y ago

Tool of the Chinese government, and secondary tool of other governments because they want to remain dominant to push their own agenda(s).

bduerst 5y ago
TikTok doesn't even exist in China. The parent Bytedance does, and their Chinese equivalent is Taiotao. Even the TikTok data servers exist in South Korea. This is an important distinction because there has been zero proof that TikTok is spying or is a tool for China, despite clickbait articles, memes, and accusations existing. This is the first time TikTok is being used observed to be used for government political censorship... And in Russia of all places.
- qaq 5y ago
  China has being pushing Russian narratives on the war internally in state media. So I think you might be disproving the "is not a tool for China" part.
  - ClumsyPilot 5y ago
    I think the assumption was that it spies on users or does something more interesting that just pedestrial propaganda
    - qaq 5y ago
      The fact is it's verifiably used as a propaganda tool increases the chance it's used for other "special" needs too.
      - ClumsyPilot 5y ago
        Well what do we have NSA for? President complains about a spying app for months, can't they get off their ass and check? Or are they only good at spying on Joe the piblic? Or maybe they checked but didn't find anything?

rvz 5y ago

Well thats what you get with a glorified 'recommendation' algorithm and now it can be used by governments and other unpleasant people in power to hide and control what is seen and unseen from its users. Hardly surprising there and expected. > But I think it is a bit surprising that TikTok hasn't met more criticism and resistance on this If the users are liking their new digital crack / cocaine on the platform and as long as the algorithm is happily manipulating them, then they will never criticise or complain about it, nor will they be able to distinguish between fact or fiction. Hence, I think many jealous governments, three-letter agencies and even ancient wizards want their reality distortion spells back from social networks like TikTok.

antattack 5y ago

It's a social media app. No one should expect news or hard facts from tik-tok. With that said - it would interesting so see what tik-tok looks like in China. Based on reports, Russian invasion is also heavily censored in China[0] [0]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jf55gMvwc00 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jf55gMvwc00

htrp 5y ago
Except for a certain demographic (somewhere around 22 and under), TikTok is news, entertainment, TV, and Socialization
- ClumsyPilot 5y ago
  Kids have tictoc while the geneatrics have fox news

Fervicus 5y ago

I think everyone should also take a moment and question what we are seeing on our screens. How much of our social media apps are tightly controlled and used as a tool by our governments?

dncornholio 5y ago

How can we criticise a platform that picks content for you? It's doing exactly what it's supposed to do, pick content for you. Also it's a Chinese app. Working as intended! We did not need this war to make this obvious.

jabbany 5y ago

I mean this is exactly what you'd expect a capitalist company like TikTok (Bytedance) to do: cave to any local regulations in order to make more money, even if that means bowing to pressure of a dictatorship. What's truly unsettling is that in the world today we must contend with the conflict between achieving capitalist goals (more money) and ideological ones (democracy).

not2b 5y ago
Every company has to comply with local regulations or not operate in a country. The same applies to a nonprofit, non-capitalist collective. The alternative to that is fines, or in the case of more authoritarian governments, arrests and jailing of local employees. The choice is to either comply or leave the country, though in some countries it's possible to appeal to the courts. Though it's so bad in Russia now that it seems the only moral choice is to shut down services.