5 ms·

This is a great visual and concrete example of how easily a narrative can be controlled. This is but one example of a larger systemic issue with media in the 2

This is a great visual and concrete example of how easily a narrative can be controlled. This is but one example of a larger systemic issue with media in the 21st century, and an issue with how people consume that media. Virtually every platform is like this, not just TikTok. It's not like TikTok tries to present itself as a neutral, unbiased source. Their whole premise is delivering "highly curated" content to you as fast as possible. The problem is that people have accepted that as normal and it's doing horrible things to the world. There's a reason everyone feels like we're the most divided we've ever been...and it starts with things like this. As far as the war in Ukraine is concerned, this is just like classic WW2 propaganda but turned up to 11 due to the nature of how fast and easy it is to spread [mis]information these days.

ec109685 5y ago
This where sanctions could be used. TikTok is profiting by keeping this neutered version up in Russia, so US government could prohibit making money in US until they take it down in Russia.
- blaser-waffle 5y ago
  Tik Tok is Chinese -- and was raged against by Trump for that reason -- and would constitute picking a fight with the CCP. That's a big ole can of worms to open up while running other big-deal sanctions and playing the brinkmanship game with Russia.
  - sharken 5y ago
    Absolutely, it's tempting to go after China as well using the saying, If you're not with us, you're against us. But the current strategy of appealing to China to at least not help Russia in any way, is the best outcome. And thankfully China has opted to pursue a rather novel way of fighting COVID, which prevents them from getting stronger economically.
latchkey 5y ago
Speaking of controlled narratives, I'd like to see the source code to their bots so that this experiment can be reproduced. I'm not saying that they didn't just make up the article, but how do we know? How do we know their bots didn't have bugs in them that pushed the results in favor of the tone of the article?
- AlbinoDaffy 5y ago
  While no the answer you are expecting, but the answer nonetheless. If you have android phone (or android emulator wink wink, nudge nudge), you can install modded TikTok client[1], which has a bunch of settings. The one you are looking for is "- Remove most of regional restrictions". Change your region to russland, and try scrolling it for yourself. If you are an advanced enough programmer, you can check out the changes made to the app in the github repository[2]. Bots may be prejudice to the war content in terms of how they watch videos and how they scroll through them, and as such changing recommendation algorithm, but the original reporting is about censorship of war related content. Which doesn't require that much of a proof, it is officially confirmed by TikTok even in the statement at the end of a submitted report - it doesn't show newly uploaded content in rus region. [1] https://www.pling.com/p/1515346/ https://www.pling.com/p/1515346/ [2] https://github.com/tigr1234566/TikTokMod https://github.com/tigr1234566/TikTokMod
  - pests 5y ago
    You must have something wrong in your last paragraph. Russia can't upload new things at all. There is nothing about the show from Russians to show. Russia's are also not being shown new Ukraine videos. This is as designed as mentioned and as you know due to technical-implemnted regional bubbles. What were you saying in your last two sentences?
    - AlbinoDaffy 5y ago
      Second paragraph is a response to @latchkey's question > How do we know their bots didn't have bugs in them that pushed the results in favor of the tone of the article? And I'm replying, that the point of the report is to tell about information bubble. The same one you are describing. > how they watch videos and how they scroll through them, and as such changing recommendation algorithm Bots' viewing rules can only change the *amount of war related videos* uploaded before March 4th, not the *reported lack of fresh videos* from the other side for the russian bot. And as such there should be no issues about the lack of source code.

ec109685 5y ago

This where sanctions could be used. TikTok is profiting by keeping this neutered version up in Russia, so US government could prohibit making money in US until they take it down in Russia.

blaser-waffle 5y ago
Tik Tok is Chinese -- and was raged against by Trump for that reason -- and would constitute picking a fight with the CCP. That's a big ole can of worms to open up while running other big-deal sanctions and playing the brinkmanship game with Russia.
- sharken 5y ago
  Absolutely, it's tempting to go after China as well using the saying, If you're not with us, you're against us. But the current strategy of appealing to China to at least not help Russia in any way, is the best outcome. And thankfully China has opted to pursue a rather novel way of fighting COVID, which prevents them from getting stronger economically.

latchkey 5y ago

Speaking of controlled narratives, I'd like to see the source code to their bots so that this experiment can be reproduced. I'm not saying that they didn't just make up the article, but how do we know? How do we know their bots didn't have bugs in them that pushed the results in favor of the tone of the article?

AlbinoDaffy 5y ago
While no the answer you are expecting, but the answer nonetheless. If you have android phone (or android emulator wink wink, nudge nudge), you can install modded TikTok client[1], which has a bunch of settings. The one you are looking for is "- Remove most of regional restrictions". Change your region to russland, and try scrolling it for yourself. If you are an advanced enough programmer, you can check out the changes made to the app in the github repository[2]. Bots may be prejudice to the war content in terms of how they watch videos and how they scroll through them, and as such changing recommendation algorithm, but the original reporting is about censorship of war related content. Which doesn't require that much of a proof, it is officially confirmed by TikTok even in the statement at the end of a submitted report - it doesn't show newly uploaded content in rus region. [1] https://www.pling.com/p/1515346/ https://www.pling.com/p/1515346/ [2] https://github.com/tigr1234566/TikTokMod https://github.com/tigr1234566/TikTokMod
- pests 5y ago
  You must have something wrong in your last paragraph. Russia can't upload new things at all. There is nothing about the show from Russians to show. Russia's are also not being shown new Ukraine videos. This is as designed as mentioned and as you know due to technical-implemnted regional bubbles. What were you saying in your last two sentences?
  - AlbinoDaffy 5y ago
    Second paragraph is a response to @latchkey's question > How do we know their bots didn't have bugs in them that pushed the results in favor of the tone of the article? And I'm replying, that the point of the report is to tell about information bubble. The same one you are describing. > how they watch videos and how they scroll through them, and as such changing recommendation algorithm Bots' viewing rules can only change the *amount of war related videos* uploaded before March 4th, not the *reported lack of fresh videos* from the other side for the russian bot. And as such there should be no issues about the lack of source code.