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ive been fascinated by the tiktok melodrama in the states. congress and senate insist its a sinister communist plot. activist groups grown from whole cloth in

ive been fascinated by the tiktok melodrama in the states. congress and senate insist its a sinister communist plot. activist groups grown from whole cloth in the past year insist its causing immeasurable harm to children despite similar stateside competitors having existed for nearly two decades. but i feel the reality is much simpler. Bytedance is a 120bn private foreign company thats squished all four of its major competitors in the US. Its not open for investment, it wont accept a buyout from FAANG, and most importantly its a massive media outlet that cant be influenced by the manufactured consent of the existing media in the US. on tiktok you frequently see a very unbiased, very unflattering depiction of the nation that encourages viewers to critique and discuss controversial western topics.

lelandfe 2y ago
How confident are you in that "very unbiased" rating
- jimbob45 2y ago
  Can we compromise on "alternative"?
corimaith 2y ago
More like switching from one extreme of propaganda to another. Like what were you doing during the late 2000s and the early 2010s? All of these "controversial" topics, the skeletons in the closet and self-critique have been open and available for viewing from the beginning. The only difference is that how they are viewed, in the past as lessons to inform the future, today as ammunition to attack, or to distract from one's own misdeeds.
cynicalsecurity 2y ago
Here, have your 5 yuan, comrade.
chamanbuga 2y ago
I disagree with the unbiased part of the comment. IMO all social medias, whether it's Instagram, YouTube, or TikTok - they are all heavily censored and their algorithm is tipped in a direction that optimizes attention, click throughs, and in general, is not good for you. Notice how on TikTok, even accounts you follow sometimes will show up with the + sign, begging you to click Follow eventhough you are already following them. This isn't a bug, rather, it's dark UX tricks to keep you trained on clicking the follow button. On Meta (be it Facebook or Instagram), you only need to be sympathetic to what people in Gaza are experiencing to begin to see the censorship. It's blatantly obvious. Coming back to TikTok, similar to Meta, they have crafted an incredible algorithm that will keep you glued to your phone. We have no idea if they have adjusted the levers to increase dissent in young people in the West. Just because they are saying they haven't, or we have not been able to prove that they haven't, doesn't mean they won't. I can tell you with a guarantee that if Instagram or YouTube were allowed to operate in China, they would certainly use these levers to increase dissent against the CCP. We already have an example of what these companies are doing to censor certain content and boost others in places like India and Pakistan. In general, all of these social media companies are this generations cigarette companies. We need heavy regulation from congress. We need to take tech's lobbyist money and not do their bidding. We need to shutdown lunatics like Andreessen Horowitz and more.
KaoruAoiShiho 2y ago
> not open for investment 60% of ByteDance is owned by global institutional investors such as the Carlyle Group, General Atlantic and Susquehanna International Group

lelandfe 2y ago

How confident are you in that "very unbiased" rating

jimbob45 2y ago
Can we compromise on "alternative"?

corimaith 2y ago

More like switching from one extreme of propaganda to another. Like what were you doing during the late 2000s and the early 2010s? All of these "controversial" topics, the skeletons in the closet and self-critique have been open and available for viewing from the beginning. The only difference is that how they are viewed, in the past as lessons to inform the future, today as ammunition to attack, or to distract from one's own misdeeds.

cynicalsecurity 2y ago

Here, have your 5 yuan, comrade.

chamanbuga 2y ago

I disagree with the unbiased part of the comment. IMO all social medias, whether it's Instagram, YouTube, or TikTok - they are all heavily censored and their algorithm is tipped in a direction that optimizes attention, click throughs, and in general, is not good for you. Notice how on TikTok, even accounts you follow sometimes will show up with the + sign, begging you to click Follow eventhough you are already following them. This isn't a bug, rather, it's dark UX tricks to keep you trained on clicking the follow button. On Meta (be it Facebook or Instagram), you only need to be sympathetic to what people in Gaza are experiencing to begin to see the censorship. It's blatantly obvious. Coming back to TikTok, similar to Meta, they have crafted an incredible algorithm that will keep you glued to your phone. We have no idea if they have adjusted the levers to increase dissent in young people in the West. Just because they are saying they haven't, or we have not been able to prove that they haven't, doesn't mean they won't. I can tell you with a guarantee that if Instagram or YouTube were allowed to operate in China, they would certainly use these levers to increase dissent against the CCP. We already have an example of what these companies are doing to censor certain content and boost others in places like India and Pakistan. In general, all of these social media companies are this generations cigarette companies. We need heavy regulation from congress. We need to take tech's lobbyist money and not do their bidding. We need to shutdown lunatics like Andreessen Horowitz and more.

KaoruAoiShiho 2y ago

> not open for investment 60% of ByteDance is owned by global institutional investors such as the Carlyle Group, General Atlantic and Susquehanna International Group