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Imagine that a state actor would seek to flip a foreign National to their cause. You can do so with either a carrot or a stick or both. The carrot can be fancy

Imagine that a state actor would seek to flip a foreign National to their cause. You can do so with either a carrot or a stick or both. The carrot can be fancy dinners, free vacations, or access to what they want. The carrot can be threat of exposure of deep secrets, etc. Now imagine that there is an app that has the AMAZING ability to figure out EXACTLY what you like and don’t like. You haven’t used TikTok yourself so you don’t know it firsthand but this app is uncanny in its ability to feed you stuff that only you would find fascinating that you didn’t even know about yourself. In the wrong hands it can give incredible amounts of information on an individual’s interests at a level of detail that was previously impossible

crmd 3y ago
And the 66% of US teens on TikTok are 66% of the next generation of US senators, presidents, cabinet members, military chiefs, etc. Imagine the competitive advantage of having a deep psychological profile for each of these personas of your geopolitical adversary.
- maerF0x0 3y ago
  And remember that political games do not have to be won in a generation, simply knowing the direction your opponent is going and bending them towards your preference is sufficient to be worthwhile. Simply over subscribe the generations on antiwork and the cons (as opposed to pros) of (Democracy, America, Freedom, Modern thought, etc. whatever are the targets) and you can bend a generational trend. Humans aren't particularly good at seeing evidence and realizing they're only seeing part of the whole picture.
- slushh 3y ago
  >And the 66% of US teens on TikTok are 100% of the next generation of US senators, FTFY That's the threat.
- imbnwa 3y ago
  Is American turnover in Congress actually that fast enough for this to happen? We have more people over 40 than younger people and the influx of youth is being floated by an immigration policy that favors middle- and upper-class, basically the brain drain, of the rest of the world (read: people interested in business-friendly policy, etc), and older people, say, everyone 40 - 60, will have even greater life expectancy, so those who are in power may be in power when current teens are adults, just as Nancy Pelosi has been a Congresswoman my entire life and a good chunk of my mother's.

crmd 3y ago

And the 66% of US teens on TikTok are 66% of the next generation of US senators, presidents, cabinet members, military chiefs, etc. Imagine the competitive advantage of having a deep psychological profile for each of these personas of your geopolitical adversary.

maerF0x0 3y ago
And remember that political games do not have to be won in a generation, simply knowing the direction your opponent is going and bending them towards your preference is sufficient to be worthwhile. Simply over subscribe the generations on antiwork and the cons (as opposed to pros) of (Democracy, America, Freedom, Modern thought, etc. whatever are the targets) and you can bend a generational trend. Humans aren't particularly good at seeing evidence and realizing they're only seeing part of the whole picture.
slushh 3y ago
>And the 66% of US teens on TikTok are 100% of the next generation of US senators, FTFY That's the threat.
imbnwa 3y ago
Is American turnover in Congress actually that fast enough for this to happen? We have more people over 40 than younger people and the influx of youth is being floated by an immigration policy that favors middle- and upper-class, basically the brain drain, of the rest of the world (read: people interested in business-friendly policy, etc), and older people, say, everyone 40 - 60, will have even greater life expectancy, so those who are in power may be in power when current teens are adults, just as Nancy Pelosi has been a Congresswoman my entire life and a good chunk of my mother's.