4 ms·

they mention data harvesting and influencing public relations as risks, and both are worrisome . another more subtle but pernicious concern is the trivializati

they mention data harvesting and influencing public relations as risks, and both are worrisome . another more subtle but pernicious concern is the trivialization of entertainment (which started from a low bar ) tiktok is addictive and much of the content is low bar , slapstick and sexually suggestive thirst traps . there may be a good share of high quality content , but we all know time spent is on garbage. our grandparents said “tv will rot your brain” and we laughed at them, but maybe because we just didn’t notice tiktok will finish the job

collegeburner 4y ago
fr it's scary how i watch ppl on it, they're like zombies. and yeah like half that shit is just girls "dancing" (shaking jiggly parts) in short clothes, like i mean that's fine but watching it all the time isn't healthy. look at how much is under #fakebody which is basically all people in short clothing trying not to get banned. and yeah probably you can make it show interesting stuff but it plays to people's weaker natures. besides that literally the only reason we need to oppose tiktok is that it's chinese. i'm fine with them manufacturing commodity goods but they should not be providing any cutting-edge tech to us. personally i would like to see the government try to subpoena the tiktok algo from oracle and make it public so anybody can knock it off. that would be some poetic justice against china.
- ravenstine 4y ago
  It's pretty ironic how a large swath of the public decided it was the right thing to ban anything that's Russian, but somehow it's a no-no to be opposed to an app because it's from the PRC. Not saying that necessarily means that no one should use any Chinese apps, but those against anything Russian really ought not to come to the defense of the PRC.
  - lostmsu 4y ago
    PRC is not quite on the same scale as long as they respect borders.
  - trasz 4y ago
    Russia is being banned because of their invasion on Europe and mass murdering civilians. It's more similar to US in this regard than to China.
- butterfly771 4y ago
  Why can you talk about stealing technology so openly?
- shikoba 4y ago
  Why not do the same with other companies? Do you totally assume that it's just economic war?
ravenstine 4y ago
chrischen 4y ago
This is not tiktok specific. This is pretty much all user generated short form social media content. Tiktok has just been better at surfacing the content. Also tiktok is more for consumption and less for socializing with friends or acquaintences.
novok 4y ago
Imo tiktok is a bit of a mirror. Its a thirst trap for you. For the short time i used it, it quickly started centering around cute/funny pets and science explainer videos. I also doubt it would show thirst traps to the typical straight female user too too.
- meowtimemania 4y ago
  I think GP's point still stands. There is good content on TikTok, but given the time many users spend, the content isn't a good trade for time. Same could be said for other platforms. Tiktok/youtube worry me most since they seem to be the most addictive for kids.
- gardenhedge 4y ago
  I hate this argument. Firstly, the content is still on the platform and can be shown to a user at any time for any reason. Over time it could influence what you watch in any way TikTok wants. Secondly, it paints the user as some kind of pervert if they fall into "thirst trap". Men like looking at women - it's not something that needs to be swept under the rug.
- jatins 4y ago
  "Sir the algorithm is correct. It just told me that you are a pervert and I am wholesome." We truly are living in a computer's world where what AI thinks of us is increasing "the truth". Who has gotten time for nuance.
nindalf 4y ago
This comment follows a pattern common in other comments criticising TikTok - the person says “this content I saw isn’t very good. Why would anyone spend their time watching X?” > sexually suggestive thirst traps Not realising that only they (and people with similar tastes) are seeing X. And it says more about them than it does about TikTok. There’s plenty of room for thoughtful critique of TikTok and it’s current/potential impact on society - but this ain’t it. The original article by the economist is much closer.
- Drew_ 4y ago
  Yeah people who complain about Tik Tok being filled with X bad thing are spending their time engaging with X bad thing. There's A LOT of really good content on Tik Tok.
  - deleted 4y ago
    [deleted]
- tonymet 4y ago
  somehow hackernews is full of saints who never check out soft porn on tiktok .
  - nindalf 4y ago
    I’ll go one better than that. I’ve never installed TikTok, nor have I checked out someone else’s phone with TikTok one it. I couldn’t tell you what the UI looks like even if you put a gun to my head. So no, we’re all not on there checking out soft porn.
    - tonymet 4y ago
      slow clap
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
Avamander 4y ago
- nonamenoslogan 4y ago
  Not sure why this is downvoted--that's basically exactly how the app picks videos for you to watch. YOU click on things or linger on them; the AI remembers and shows you more.
- tonymet 4y ago
  most popular means most concentrated not highest volume . thirst traps are taking up the most time in aggregate but there’s a massive supply diffusing the audience , hence they don’t surpass khaby lame
- epups 4y ago
  > More likely you are seeing that content because something indicates to the algorithm that you like such content. Very bluntly, you are most likely telling on yourself right now. This is true for literally every giant app/site. Is it "telling" that everyone thinks Youtube is full of conspiracy theory videos? Or that Twitter is a cesspool of outrageous political commentary? Of course you can shield yourself from it somewhat, and maybe the biggest accounts are not cesspools at all (Cristiano Ronaldo or whatever). The point remains that the content is low-level and the algorithm encourages engagement by the lowest common denominator.
  - Avamander 4y ago
    > Is it "telling" that everyone thinks Youtube is full of conspiracy theory videos? Or that Twitter is a cesspool of outrageous political commentary? Especially with those two, yes, what you are recommended and who you subscribe to or follow is heavily in your hands. Stop interacting with the content you so much despise. It's not even "shield yourself from it somewhat", you can totally avoid such content. It's very much telling me more about the person than the platform, if they're logged in. However, without logging in YouTube does tend to suggest the most popular content in the region, but in the US that's mostly just bad prank channels, pop music and some major US news channels.
alexashka 4y ago
Isn't this exactly what they said about porn? Last I checked - everyone's doing alright.
- tonymet 4y ago
  not sure where you are checking by most indicators they aren’t . and we have plenty evidence porn is harmful
- npteljes 4y ago
  What's your definition of alright, and what have you done to check? If it's the kind of check where you look around, and see that the world goes by - then the same "everyone's doing alright" could be said to dismiss all of history's horrors so far.

collegeburner 4y ago

fr it's scary how i watch ppl on it, they're like zombies. and yeah like half that shit is just girls "dancing" (shaking jiggly parts) in short clothes, like i mean that's fine but watching it all the time isn't healthy. look at how much is under #fakebody which is basically all people in short clothing trying not to get banned. and yeah probably you can make it show interesting stuff but it plays to people's weaker natures. besides that literally the only reason we need to oppose tiktok is that it's chinese. i'm fine with them manufacturing commodity goods but they should not be providing any cutting-edge tech to us. personally i would like to see the government try to subpoena the tiktok algo from oracle and make it public so anybody can knock it off. that would be some poetic justice against china.

ravenstine 4y ago
It's pretty ironic how a large swath of the public decided it was the right thing to ban anything that's Russian, but somehow it's a no-no to be opposed to an app because it's from the PRC. Not saying that necessarily means that no one should use any Chinese apps, but those against anything Russian really ought not to come to the defense of the PRC.
- lostmsu 4y ago
  PRC is not quite on the same scale as long as they respect borders.
- trasz 4y ago
  Russia is being banned because of their invasion on Europe and mass murdering civilians. It's more similar to US in this regard than to China.
butterfly771 4y ago
Why can you talk about stealing technology so openly?
shikoba 4y ago
Why not do the same with other companies? Do you totally assume that it's just economic war?

ravenstine 4y ago

chrischen 4y ago

This is not tiktok specific. This is pretty much all user generated short form social media content. Tiktok has just been better at surfacing the content. Also tiktok is more for consumption and less for socializing with friends or acquaintences.

novok 4y ago

Imo tiktok is a bit of a mirror. Its a thirst trap for you. For the short time i used it, it quickly started centering around cute/funny pets and science explainer videos. I also doubt it would show thirst traps to the typical straight female user too too.

meowtimemania 4y ago
I think GP's point still stands. There is good content on TikTok, but given the time many users spend, the content isn't a good trade for time. Same could be said for other platforms. Tiktok/youtube worry me most since they seem to be the most addictive for kids.
gardenhedge 4y ago
I hate this argument. Firstly, the content is still on the platform and can be shown to a user at any time for any reason. Over time it could influence what you watch in any way TikTok wants. Secondly, it paints the user as some kind of pervert if they fall into "thirst trap". Men like looking at women - it's not something that needs to be swept under the rug.
jatins 4y ago
"Sir the algorithm is correct. It just told me that you are a pervert and I am wholesome." We truly are living in a computer's world where what AI thinks of us is increasing "the truth". Who has gotten time for nuance.

nindalf 4y ago

This comment follows a pattern common in other comments criticising TikTok - the person says “this content I saw isn’t very good. Why would anyone spend their time watching X?” > sexually suggestive thirst traps Not realising that only they (and people with similar tastes) are seeing X. And it says more about them than it does about TikTok. There’s plenty of room for thoughtful critique of TikTok and it’s current/potential impact on society - but this ain’t it. The original article by the economist is much closer.

Drew_ 4y ago
Yeah people who complain about Tik Tok being filled with X bad thing are spending their time engaging with X bad thing. There's A LOT of really good content on Tik Tok.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
tonymet 4y ago
somehow hackernews is full of saints who never check out soft porn on tiktok .
- nindalf 4y ago
  I’ll go one better than that. I’ve never installed TikTok, nor have I checked out someone else’s phone with TikTok one it. I couldn’t tell you what the UI looks like even if you put a gun to my head. So no, we’re all not on there checking out soft porn.
  - tonymet 4y ago
    slow clap

deleted 4y ago

[deleted]

Avamander 4y ago

nonamenoslogan 4y ago
Not sure why this is downvoted--that's basically exactly how the app picks videos for you to watch. YOU click on things or linger on them; the AI remembers and shows you more.
tonymet 4y ago
most popular means most concentrated not highest volume . thirst traps are taking up the most time in aggregate but there’s a massive supply diffusing the audience , hence they don’t surpass khaby lame
epups 4y ago
> More likely you are seeing that content because something indicates to the algorithm that you like such content. Very bluntly, you are most likely telling on yourself right now. This is true for literally every giant app/site. Is it "telling" that everyone thinks Youtube is full of conspiracy theory videos? Or that Twitter is a cesspool of outrageous political commentary? Of course you can shield yourself from it somewhat, and maybe the biggest accounts are not cesspools at all (Cristiano Ronaldo or whatever). The point remains that the content is low-level and the algorithm encourages engagement by the lowest common denominator.
- Avamander 4y ago
  > Is it "telling" that everyone thinks Youtube is full of conspiracy theory videos? Or that Twitter is a cesspool of outrageous political commentary? Especially with those two, yes, what you are recommended and who you subscribe to or follow is heavily in your hands. Stop interacting with the content you so much despise. It's not even "shield yourself from it somewhat", you can totally avoid such content. It's very much telling me more about the person than the platform, if they're logged in. However, without logging in YouTube does tend to suggest the most popular content in the region, but in the US that's mostly just bad prank channels, pop music and some major US news channels.

alexashka 4y ago

Isn't this exactly what they said about porn? Last I checked - everyone's doing alright.

tonymet 4y ago
not sure where you are checking by most indicators they aren’t . and we have plenty evidence porn is harmful
npteljes 4y ago
What's your definition of alright, and what have you done to check? If it's the kind of check where you look around, and see that the world goes by - then the same "everyone's doing alright" could be said to dismiss all of history's horrors so far.