5 ms·

Former ByteDance exec claims company used bots to inflate TikTok engagement

52 points by firstSpeaker 3y ago

CharlesW 3y ago
Fake engagement and stolen content are endemic to all social media services, so I'm having a hard time getting outraged about TikTok specifically. Is there anything interesting about this that I'm missing?
- Capricorn2481 3y ago
  Maybe it's just because TikTok is being unfairly singled out, but I find the attitude of "they're just doing whatever other social media companies do" pervasive and dangerous. I think we can hate on TikTok and Facebook.
  - solarkraft 3y ago
    Yeah, but not for a thing that everyone else does too.
    - Capricorn2481 3y ago
      No, that's my point. We should hate any company using dirty tricks to get ahead.
    - flangola7 3y ago
      What do you mean?
  - scrubs 3y ago
    Yeah. We can hate on TikTok for allegedly having a pipe and censor system to the ccp. In absolute terms it would not be better if Mexico did the same, but I'd prefer Mexico over China. It's the repeated denials that bug me too if proved. How fake sanctimonious can you get? The more and more I see china ccp outside the box, the less and less I like.
justsomehnguy 3y ago
> used bots to inflate TikTok engagement Just like Reddit and HN? This is not a news for many. > Notably, he claims that ByteDance engineers stole popular content from apps like Instagram and Snapchat and put the videos onto TikTok Also not a news but there is always a question of who really owns the content. And it's not the ones who originally made it, that's for sure.
- anaganisk 3y ago
  There is Ton of TikTok content always posted on reddit. And most of the content is just recycled, from different platforms.
- truetraveller 3y ago
  I know reddit did this, but do you have proof that HN did this?
- f_devd 3y ago
  > And it's not the ones who originally made it, that's for sure. Following copyright law (and common EULAs) it would be the ones who originally made it, with a perpetual 'do whatever you want' license granted to the platform. Without a DMCA takedown request it's not going to be enforced automatically though. The main issue here at least for US law is now that TikTok employees have posted content they are a publisher which could lose them immunity from DMCA lawsuits against user submitted content. Additionally on the ethics side, generally it's assumed that another user is stealing/reposting the content, for a platform it's less acceptable given that it would purely be for financial profit (which the original creator is not compensated for)
Spivak 3y ago
I kinda doubt this only because it would be really dumb on TikTok's part. If you want to inflate engagement you don't need bots because you're the platform (see: Facebook lawsuit inflating video views). It would be cheaper, easier to implement, harder for outsiders to detect, and do things that bots can't do like engage with real user accounts.

52 points by firstSpeaker 3y ago

Fake engagement and stolen content are endemic to all social media services, so I'm having a hard time getting outraged about TikTok specifically. Is there anything interesting about this that I'm missing?

Capricorn2481 3y ago
Maybe it's just because TikTok is being unfairly singled out, but I find the attitude of "they're just doing whatever other social media companies do" pervasive and dangerous. I think we can hate on TikTok and Facebook.
- solarkraft 3y ago
  Yeah, but not for a thing that everyone else does too.
  - Capricorn2481 3y ago
    No, that's my point. We should hate any company using dirty tricks to get ahead.
  - flangola7 3y ago
    What do you mean?
- scrubs 3y ago
  Yeah. We can hate on TikTok for allegedly having a pipe and censor system to the ccp. In absolute terms it would not be better if Mexico did the same, but I'd prefer Mexico over China. It's the repeated denials that bug me too if proved. How fake sanctimonious can you get? The more and more I see china ccp outside the box, the less and less I like.

justsomehnguy 3y ago

> used bots to inflate TikTok engagement Just like Reddit and HN? This is not a news for many. > Notably, he claims that ByteDance engineers stole popular content from apps like Instagram and Snapchat and put the videos onto TikTok Also not a news but there is always a question of who really owns the content. And it's not the ones who originally made it, that's for sure.

anaganisk 3y ago
There is Ton of TikTok content always posted on reddit. And most of the content is just recycled, from different platforms.
truetraveller 3y ago
I know reddit did this, but do you have proof that HN did this?
f_devd 3y ago
> And it's not the ones who originally made it, that's for sure. Following copyright law (and common EULAs) it would be the ones who originally made it, with a perpetual 'do whatever you want' license granted to the platform. Without a DMCA takedown request it's not going to be enforced automatically though. The main issue here at least for US law is now that TikTok employees have posted content they are a publisher which could lose them immunity from DMCA lawsuits against user submitted content. Additionally on the ethics side, generally it's assumed that another user is stealing/reposting the content, for a platform it's less acceptable given that it would purely be for financial profit (which the original creator is not compensated for)

Spivak 3y ago

I kinda doubt this only because it would be really dumb on TikTok's part. If you want to inflate engagement you don't need bots because you're the platform (see: Facebook lawsuit inflating video views). It would be cheaper, easier to implement, harder for outsiders to detect, and do things that bots can't do like engage with real user accounts.