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TikTok tracked users who watched gay content, prompting employee complaints
- jeegsy 3y agoIs there some element I'm missing in this story? Isn't it common knowledge by now that most prominent social media tracks user preferences? Who out there still has an expectation of privacy when they go online?
- prepend 3y agoDoesn’t every company do this? Netflix and Hulu have LGBT categories that they show (and oddly seem to feature at login as top category a few times a year, in addition to pride month). I assume they are tailoring that to my viewing habits. And I would be shocked if they don’t track users who spend more time browsing and watching that category just like every other category. Know Netflix, they will ignore my preferences and show whatever thing they produced. But Hulu does seem to pay attention to what I watch and rate and shows me things that I mostly enjoy. Netflix is kind of surreal as they seem to ignore all my habits and ratings.
- greenyoda 3y agoArchive with full text: https://archive.ph/sAuiA https://archive.ph/sAuiA
- djohnston 3y agoSeems like wsj trying to make something out of nothing. Obviously there is content that can be categorised as LGBT, and obviously there are users who engage with it. Those users will be associated with the content somewhere, that's a prerequisite for a recommendation algorithm that gives you more of what you watch. What's the issue here? TikTok also tracks users who watched content about kites, airplanes, Democrats, Republicans, and dinosaurs. And pretty much any other category of content you can imagine.
- ceejayoz 3y agoIt makes sense that TikTok tracks interests like this, and there's some legitimate concern with folks being on a list that can get you executed in quite a few countries.
- andrewem 3y agoAs the article says: “Social-media and ad-tech industry practices, however, discourage tracking potentially sensitive traits such as sexuality, according to people who work with digital information. This data can essentially create a list of vulnerable users in parts of the world where some LGBT people face harassment and violence.” There don’t tend to be laws against liking kites or airplanes, nor violence against people who like them on the basis of that interest.
- gettodachoppa 3y agoIf TikTok didn't have a LGBT category, they'd be called out by modern "journalists" for suppressing/not recommending LGBT content and treating LGBT unicorns as second class citizens. It's disappointing that the full WSJ link was submitted instead of an archive.org link, outrage bait should not be rewarded with ad impressions.
- kritiko 3y agoThe article seems really wrong on this. E.g. there’s a big trend of congratulating companies for allowing users to opt out of Mother’s Day / Father’s Day ads, which requires companies to keep list of sensitive data about user’s relationship to parents. Similarly, FB has the “interested in” field on profiles… maybe some platforms don’t expose this to advertisers, but they all collect that data.
- iudqnolq 3y agoThe fact I don't want a Mother's day email isn't that sensitive. The specific reason why is. > maybe some platforms don’t expose this to advertisers, but they all collect that data. They all collect interest data, sure. They could be blocklisting advertisers from from seeing sensitive interests like LGBTQ. I don't know if they do, it certainly sounds like a responsible choice.
- hackernewds 3y agoWhat if one would like to opt-out of gay content? not taking a stance, food for thought
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- meowtimemania 3y agoArticle should be: "Content on TikTok is categorized, TikTok tracks the categories of content users watch. There exists a gay content category that TikTok tracks."
- influx 3y agoAnd they definitely won’t use that for potential blackmail purposes. Don’t worry guys.
- Incipient 3y agoThey probably won't. they most likely will however flag you for a bit of extra tracking if you enter China.
- AndrewKemendo 3y agoAnd what does that extra tracking lead to if not eventually blackmail? Sure 99.999 of cases will never get there… Its that Pesky one or two people who were disappeared as a result Most people chalk that up to “doing business” unfortunately instead of seeing it as inducing existential risk where unnecessary
- soerxpso 3y agoI don't see how it could be used for blackmail. All that's being tracked is that TikTok reckons that you enjoy LGBT-aligned content, based on a lot of chaotic circumstantial indicators. It's not porn, and it doesn't even mean that the user requested LGBT content. You can probably even get put into that category because you frequently argue against LGBT people in replies (the algorithm seems to heavily weight replies, since that's a deeper interaction than a like or a rewatch). The information itself is no more usable for blackmail than if a stranger on the street were to personally declare of you, "I reckon that this guy is gay, based on his typing style."
- alvarezbjm-hn 3y agoYou forgot "prompting employee complaint" Regardless, the original title is much shorter.
- mise_en_place 3y agoI never trust any of these services, which is why I have multiple accounts, which I access with multiple IPs. And I rarely access these privacy invasive products, only once in a blue moon.
- iinnPP 3y agoMy wife(I being her husband) and I both watch LGBTQIA2S+ content on TikTok. Watching content doesn't mean anything other than that you are watching content. Edit: Breaking: Water is wet, tonight at 11.
- deanCommie 3y agoThe problem is, you know who else watches LGBTQIA2S+ content? Folks in the LGBTQIA2S+ closet living in parts of the US that are not tolerant of any of these groups. If push came to shove, the Chinese government has a significant ability to blackmail a substantial amount of Americans in the deep south.
- herbst 3y agoIn practice if nearly everyone gets blackmailed for being gay in one way or another that could be the sexual revolution some places are clearly waiting for.
- gotoeleven 3y agoCan you link to some 2S content?
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- searealist 3y ago[flagged]
- ceejayoz 3y ago> Watching content doesn't mean anything other than that you are watching content. Do you think, say, Iran's religious police will see it that way?
- iinnPP 3y agoI would certainly hope so. I get your point however. The article is counting on outrage from people who can't understand the term watching. I watch the news without being a newscaster. I watch NHL without being a pro athlete.
- propogandist 3y agoimagine the intricate profiles Facebook has built on everyone, especially when it's siphoning data regularly from apps which are opened. This goes for all dating apps to any page with a "like" button, or a FB conversion scripts, to whatever data companies pump to FB to do ad-targeting (phone numbers, emails)
- herbst 3y agoYou can also directly target gays with Facebook ads. At least that was always the case.
- bpodgursky 3y agoConsider how you'd react to the opposite story, where TikTok refused to index and recommend gay content.
- hackernewds 3y agoDoes not say TikTok specifically indexed and promoted gay content
- iudqnolq 3y agoHere's a practical example of a group purchasing this kind of data to do harm. > Catholic group spent millions on app data that tracked gay priests. A group of philanthropists poured money into a Denver nonprofit that obtained dating and hookup app data and shared it with bishops around the country, a Post investigation has found https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2023/03/09/catholics-gay-priests-grindr-data-bishops/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2023/03/09/catholics...
- joemazerino 3y agoI would argue this has more to do with the Oaths the priests took. It would be similar to an MDM -- enforcing company (in this case, Church) compliance.
- npteljes 3y agoWhy not let God do the judgment?
- iudqnolq 3y agoIf an employer purchased data from a scummy tracking company about the use of apps on a personal device outside work hours I'd be outraged too. Even if the company discovered actual wrongdoing. The ends don't justify the means. a private organization doesn't get to spy on its members. They can ask you to install MDM, they can't peek in your bedroom window. We live in a society.
- WillPostForFood 3y agoIt is scummy behavior to buy tracking data. But are there "outside work hours" for priests? Seems like it is an all-in kind of thing.
- COGlory 3y agoBeing a priest is a vocation, not a job. There are no working hours. Their entire life must be a reflection of their beliefs.
- bdcravens 3y agoBreaking news: TikTok tracks what people watch so they can show them related content.
- throwawaaarrgh 3y agoFor what it's worth, everyone tracks that stuff. The Wall Street Journal probably has a file on you with the categories of things you're interested in.