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Common arguments are that those two you listed are American-owned; that China bans US tech giants; that the CCP has outsized control of Chinese companies (and t

by everly 4y ago

Common arguments are that those two you listed are American-owned; that China bans US tech giants; that the CCP has outsized control of Chinese companies (and the data that they collect); and that TikTok's algorithm purposefully promotes content that will result in an uneducated, divided population in countries outside of China. I am not saying that those are true or that I agree with them, but those seem to be the typical arguments.

robg 4y ago
Really helpful, thank you. Still don’t see the problem, other than the need to educate kids on digital hygiene. But like anything, I bet they already know the harms of overconsumption.
- rcpt 4y ago
  > kids Not sure it's just kids
  - WeylandYutani 4y ago
    I decided on a "paradigm shift" into a healthy lifestyle about 10 years ago. Cut down on American media and culture. I was an adult who thought drinking coke was normal. Now I drink water.
- sumedh 4y ago
  > Still don’t see the problem China can access some target in the US who is on tictok and get their realtime location.
  - t-writescode 4y ago
    They said they're not using GPS; and, my iPhone hasn't revealed TikTok asking for my GPS location, so this means if they're tracking location, it's based on preferences, watching times, IP address or something else not GPS-related, all of which are wholely accessible to every single website on the internet, those hosted in China and any other country. Know anyone that uses AliExpress? Or plays Genshin Impact?
    - sumedh 4y ago
      https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/emilybakerwhite/tiktok-tapes-us-user-data-china-bytedance-access https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/emilybakerwhite/tiktok-...
herbst 4y ago
From a outside perspective content on tiktok is no worse than Facebook, Instagram or Reddit. The main thing you notice about TikToks algorithm is that it's less a echo chamber and more inklusive to alternative content.
bakuninsbart 4y ago
To give a rebuttal to these points: 1. China banned Facebook after it refused to cooperate with law enforcement following the Urumqi riots. Google and others decided the cost of following censorship laws was too high compared to the return and decided to retreat. Other American tech giants like Microsoft, Apple and IBM have a presence in China. However unjust China's laws may be, there's a qualitative differences between applying it to all companies in the same way vs. what the US is attempting to do with TikTok. 2. From an American point of view, this strikes true. For the rest of the world there's hardly a difference. If any, the US has proved it is willing to enforce its will globally against non-citizens with all means possible (see fe. Julian Assange). 3. Youtubes algorithm is strongly driven by controversy, Instagram seems to be responsible for a large amount of body dismorphia and depression in young people. I'm all for more research and stricter policies to suppress this, but just claiming things without a shred of evidence isn't helping the discussion along.

by everly 4y ago

robg 4y ago

Really helpful, thank you. Still don’t see the problem, other than the need to educate kids on digital hygiene. But like anything, I bet they already know the harms of overconsumption.

rcpt 4y ago
> kids Not sure it's just kids
- WeylandYutani 4y ago
  I decided on a "paradigm shift" into a healthy lifestyle about 10 years ago. Cut down on American media and culture. I was an adult who thought drinking coke was normal. Now I drink water.
sumedh 4y ago
> Still don’t see the problem China can access some target in the US who is on tictok and get their realtime location.
- t-writescode 4y ago
  They said they're not using GPS; and, my iPhone hasn't revealed TikTok asking for my GPS location, so this means if they're tracking location, it's based on preferences, watching times, IP address or something else not GPS-related, all of which are wholely accessible to every single website on the internet, those hosted in China and any other country. Know anyone that uses AliExpress? Or plays Genshin Impact?
  - sumedh 4y ago
    https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/emilybakerwhite/tiktok-tapes-us-user-data-china-bytedance-access https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/emilybakerwhite/tiktok-...

herbst 4y ago

From a outside perspective content on tiktok is no worse than Facebook, Instagram or Reddit. The main thing you notice about TikToks algorithm is that it's less a echo chamber and more inklusive to alternative content.

bakuninsbart 4y ago

To give a rebuttal to these points: 1. China banned Facebook after it refused to cooperate with law enforcement following the Urumqi riots. Google and others decided the cost of following censorship laws was too high compared to the return and decided to retreat. Other American tech giants like Microsoft, Apple and IBM have a presence in China. However unjust China's laws may be, there's a qualitative differences between applying it to all companies in the same way vs. what the US is attempting to do with TikTok. 2. From an American point of view, this strikes true. For the rest of the world there's hardly a difference. If any, the US has proved it is willing to enforce its will globally against non-citizens with all means possible (see fe. Julian Assange). 3. Youtubes algorithm is strongly driven by controversy, Instagram seems to be responsible for a large amount of body dismorphia and depression in young people. I'm all for more research and stricter policies to suppress this, but just claiming things without a shred of evidence isn't helping the discussion along.