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ByteDance has done a really good job making me reconsider whether I’d ever work for Big Tech again. I have some serious reservations about social media general

ByteDance has done a really good job making me reconsider whether I’d ever work for Big Tech again. I have some serious reservations about social media generally, which is why I left to begin with, but between TikTok and Instagram I know hands down who I trust more.

azinman2 4y ago
What’s your exact concern with TikTok?
- dataflow 4y ago
  Not sure if this is theirs, but [1]: > “Everything is seen in China,” said a member of TikTok’s Trust and Safety department in a September 2021 meeting. In another September meeting, a director referred to one Beijing-based engineer as a “Master Admin” who “has access to everything.” (While many employees introduced themselves by name and title in the recordings, BuzzFeed News is not naming anyone to protect their privacy.) [1] https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/emilybakerwhite/tiktok-tapes-us-user-data-china-bytedance-access https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/emilybakerwhite/tiktok-...
  - azinman2 4y ago
    Why is this linked to “big tech”? Big tech usually means FAANG which is American when you point out an issue with information going to China.
    - dataflow 4y ago
      Sorry I'm not the person who wrote that comment, so I don't know if this is what they were thinking, it was just a guess. It is confusing for me what they meant too.
sneak 4y ago
This sort of nationalism is not useful; when pattern of life data is used to quietly blackmail or extort you it doesn't really matter whether it's your own or a foreign government doing it.
- azinman2 4y ago
  I would disagree here. The incentives are quite different, as there are many foreign governments who are actively hostile and use the internet for extremely effective psyops. Social media is the #1 place for psyops with great success.
  - autoexec 4y ago
    > The incentives are quite different, as there are many foreign governments who are actively hostile and use the internet for extremely effective psyops. How does this differentiate them from domestic governments exactly?
    - azinman2 4y ago
      For obvious reasons: they want to disrupt society, drop placement in the world, cause internal fractions that divert attention abroad to domestic strive, actively harm populations by spreading dangerous information, move fringes into the center to replace those who are effective with those who are not, cause macro economic harm, replace narratives of foreign adversaries to make them seem friendly or sow doubt that they are in fact doing bad things, rewrite narratives with their value systems instead, destabilize countries and cause civil war, cast doubt on things like democracy to shift the world to autocratic rule, etc etc. Your question is phrased in a way that would be exactly the kinds of things that foreign adversaries want to achieve online: make people hate their local government so they throw their baby out with the bath water, meanwhile the foreign adversary keeps power with an iron fist and censorship so they don’t suffer the same consequences.
      - autoexec 4y ago
        > For obvious reasons: they want to disrupt society, drop placement in the world, cause internal fractions that divert attention abroad to domestic strive, actively harm populations by spreading dangerous information, Dd we really need foreign governments for this? They do it, but we get plenty of it right here at home. Covid made that plain enough, but so have decades of attacks on education and the middle class. In the US we even have government investigations into our own government for wanting to destabilize the country, cast doubt on our democracy and promote civil war. I'm not saying foreign governments don't play these kinds of games too, but if pointing out my own nations very real problems and deficiencies makes me sound like foreign adversaries maybe those foreign governments aren't the biggest problem we have and we'd be better served cleaning house and looking at the problems within before pointing fingers at folks outside.

azinman2 4y ago

What’s your exact concern with TikTok?

dataflow 4y ago
Not sure if this is theirs, but [1]: > “Everything is seen in China,” said a member of TikTok’s Trust and Safety department in a September 2021 meeting. In another September meeting, a director referred to one Beijing-based engineer as a “Master Admin” who “has access to everything.” (While many employees introduced themselves by name and title in the recordings, BuzzFeed News is not naming anyone to protect their privacy.) [1] https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/emilybakerwhite/tiktok-tapes-us-user-data-china-bytedance-access https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/emilybakerwhite/tiktok-...
- azinman2 4y ago
  Why is this linked to “big tech”? Big tech usually means FAANG which is American when you point out an issue with information going to China.
  - dataflow 4y ago
    Sorry I'm not the person who wrote that comment, so I don't know if this is what they were thinking, it was just a guess. It is confusing for me what they meant too.

sneak 4y ago

This sort of nationalism is not useful; when pattern of life data is used to quietly blackmail or extort you it doesn't really matter whether it's your own or a foreign government doing it.

azinman2 4y ago
I would disagree here. The incentives are quite different, as there are many foreign governments who are actively hostile and use the internet for extremely effective psyops. Social media is the #1 place for psyops with great success.
- autoexec 4y ago
  > The incentives are quite different, as there are many foreign governments who are actively hostile and use the internet for extremely effective psyops. How does this differentiate them from domestic governments exactly?
  - azinman2 4y ago
    For obvious reasons: they want to disrupt society, drop placement in the world, cause internal fractions that divert attention abroad to domestic strive, actively harm populations by spreading dangerous information, move fringes into the center to replace those who are effective with those who are not, cause macro economic harm, replace narratives of foreign adversaries to make them seem friendly or sow doubt that they are in fact doing bad things, rewrite narratives with their value systems instead, destabilize countries and cause civil war, cast doubt on things like democracy to shift the world to autocratic rule, etc etc. Your question is phrased in a way that would be exactly the kinds of things that foreign adversaries want to achieve online: make people hate their local government so they throw their baby out with the bath water, meanwhile the foreign adversary keeps power with an iron fist and censorship so they don’t suffer the same consequences.
    - autoexec 4y ago
      > For obvious reasons: they want to disrupt society, drop placement in the world, cause internal fractions that divert attention abroad to domestic strive, actively harm populations by spreading dangerous information, Dd we really need foreign governments for this? They do it, but we get plenty of it right here at home. Covid made that plain enough, but so have decades of attacks on education and the middle class. In the US we even have government investigations into our own government for wanting to destabilize the country, cast doubt on our democracy and promote civil war. I'm not saying foreign governments don't play these kinds of games too, but if pointing out my own nations very real problems and deficiencies makes me sound like foreign adversaries maybe those foreign governments aren't the biggest problem we have and we'd be better served cleaning house and looking at the problems within before pointing fingers at folks outside.