Since this entire thread is full of “hurr durr, I already knew that, nothing to see here” style posts, I’m going to attempt to provide something of fucking substance in this thread so that it doesn’t turn into another fucking version of reddit.
TikTok is not like the other social media sites, it is significantly worse. Not just because it’s a foreign, hostile government that slurps the data from it, we can ignore all that for now.
No, what’s important is that you can go on western socmed sites and criticize whoever you want, but on TikTok, criticism of Xi Jinping, Putin Erdogan, or the Uigher genocide will be censored. TikTok also censors pro-LGBT content, and to a higher degree than what is recommended by the countries this censorship occurs in. [Source: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2019/sep/26/tiktoks-local-moderation-guidelines-ban-pro-lgbt-content]
Unlike other services like Twitter, Facebook, Youtube, or Instagram, TikTok has been banned by numerous government agencies in many countries of the world, as well as by various Fortune 500 companies such as Wells Fargo. But clearly these companies and government agencies know less than a couple of neckbearded former redditors masquerading as experts on the internet.
Now let’s go back to why it matters that it’s a foreign government that has all of this access. We already know what happened during Cambridge Analytica, and how this sort of information was used to manipulate an entire country into voting against their best interests, resulting in the clusterfuck known as Brexit, which is currently costing England 100 billion pounds per year.
Don’t be an idiot and don’t be a simp, this information should make you outraged, not cynically complacent. There’s an old saying from a sorta cheesy movie known as the Devil’s Advocate: The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled, is convincing the world they didn’t exist.
For one final reason why you shouldn’t trust TikTok: just look at how China treats our social media, or how they treat TikTok itself, at home, and why it has an entirely different set of guidelines and results for content.
Since this entire thread is full of “hurr durr, I already knew that, nothing to see here” style posts, I’m going to attempt to provide something of fucking substance in this thread so that it doesn’t turn into another fucking version of reddit.
TikTok is not like the other social media sites, it is significantly worse. Not just because it’s a foreign, hostile government that slurps the data from it, we can ignore all that for now.
No, what’s important is that you can go on western socmed sites and criticize whoever you want, but on TikTok, criticism of Xi Jinping, Putin Erdogan, or the Uigher genocide will be censored. TikTok also censors pro-LGBT content, and to a higher degree than what is recommended by the countries this censorship occurs in. [Source: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2019/sep/26/tiktoks-local-moderation-guidelines-ban-pro-lgbt-content]
Unlike other services like Twitter, Facebook, Youtube, or Instagram, TikTok has been banned by numerous government agencies in many countries of the world, as well as by various Fortune 500 companies such as Wells Fargo. But clearly these companies and government agencies know less than a couple of neckbearded former redditors masquerading as experts on the internet.
Beyond that, the app has been found to: collect biometric data such as face and voiceprints, track IMEIs and MAC address (in violation of Google’s policies), a keylogger for any links or apps clicked while using the site [Source: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-08-22/tiktok-in-app-browser-can-monitor-keystrokes-researcher-finds/101356198].
Still not important enough news? How about when in 2022, employees at Bytedance used location information to try and track journalists critical of Bytedance/Tiktok and dox their sources. [Source: https://edition.cnn.com/2022/12/22/tech/tiktok-bytedance-journalist-data/index.html]
Now let’s go back to why it matters that it’s a foreign government that has all of this access. We already know what happened during Cambridge Analytica, and how this sort of information was used to manipulate an entire country into voting against their best interests, resulting in the clusterfuck known as Brexit, which is currently costing England 100 billion pounds per year.
Don’t be an idiot and don’t be a simp, this information should make you outraged, not cynically complacent. There’s an old saying from a sorta cheesy movie known as the Devil’s Advocate: The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled, is convincing the world they didn’t exist.
For one final reason why you shouldn’t trust TikTok: just look at how China treats our social media, or how they treat TikTok itself, at home, and why it has an entirely different set of guidelines and results for content.