BREAKING - Tiktok has now SHUT DOWN SERVICES in the United States, noting “A law banning Tiktok has been enacted in the U.S. Unfortunately, that means you can’t use TikTok for now. We are fortunate that President Trump has indicated that he will work with us on a solution to reinstate Tiktok once he takes office. Please stay tuned!”

@technology@beehaw.org @news@beehaw.org @usnews@beehaw.org @programming@beehaw.org @technology@lemmy.world @news@lemmy.world #technology @worldnews@lemmy.ml @technology@lemmy.ml

4 points
*

This just seems like weird censorship/control to me. Unless they can come forward with hard evidence that TikTok is working for the Chinese government.

I just think of all of the actual hateful and concerning websites out there that stay up and nobody blinks an eye.

I’ve never used TikTok and I don’t really like what I’ve seen from it, but a ban seems unnecessary

permalink
report
reply
4 points

They’re banning it for the wrong reasons. But in light of the ban I spent a day scrolling to see what kinda stuff the algo would push on me.

And yeah, burn it with fire. At least on Twitter you get community notes and even without that the top comments usually refute things pretty quickly.

TikTok is just feeding people pure nonsense which is impossible to verify in-app. Everything is intentionally vague af for engagement and the search sucks.

Surprisingly I’ve seen nothing on Gaza. But a lot of bogus alternative medicine scams and MLMs.

Great for seeing what’s going on locally though. As well as things like life hacks, cleaning/organising tips. A federated version with some safeguards for fact checking could be awesome.

permalink
report
parent
reply
9 points

People are so happy for other’s first amendment right to get stepped on.

permalink
report
reply
5 points

there seems to be a pretty strong sentiment that TikTok users are all idiots (especially compared to us incredibly smart, sophisticated, and attractive Fediverse users) and therefore they deserve whatever happens to them.

it reminds me of the predictable response every time Florida gets hit by a hurricane, or Texas by a snowstorm, or whatever, and a bunch of liberals come out of the woodwork with the same tired old “they live in a red state, fuck em, I don’t care what happens to them”.

permalink
report
parent
reply
27 points

LMFAO. Every single thing about this is hilarious.

permalink
report
reply
34 points

As predicted, here comes the Trumper Youth.

Watch him insist on it being run by Truth Social, and be filled with noisy cunt videos of immigrants being hilariously deported at gunpoint.

permalink
report
reply
26 points

There is a recent study on Tiktok and how it compares to Instagram and Youtube – (pdf)

An article about the study says:

The three-level study, which has now been peer-reviewed, looked at TikTok, Instagram and YouTube.

Typing in four politically-loaded key words – “Tiananmen,” “Tibet,” “Uyghur,” and “Xinjiang” – the team first looked at what content the respective algorithms delivered.

The researchers found that while TikTok might not deliver more pro-CCP content, it did deliver less anti-CCP content than the rival platforms. It also, interestingly, delivered more content that researchers say was irrelevant to the keywords.

The team next looked at engagement to see if this explained why anti-CCP content was performing less well. But it found that TikTok users “liked or commented on anti-CCP content nearly four times as much as they liked or commented on pro-CCP content, yet the search algorithm produced nearly three times as much pro-CCP content”. This didn’t happen on Instagram or YouTube.

The last element of the study looked at the impact the content was potentially having on users. The researchers surveyed 1,214 Americans to find information on their social media usage, and their opinion on China’s human rights record. What they found was that the more time users spent on TikTok, the more positive their attitude towards the CCP was.

The researchers came to the damning conclusion that “taken together, the findings from these three studies raise the distinct possibility that TikTok is a vehicle for CCP propaganda.”

Another widely ignored issue regarding Tiktok and other Chinese apps is that European digital rights organization Noyb has filed GDPR complaints against TikTok, AliExpress, SHEIN, Temu, WeChat and Xiaomi for unlawful data transfers to China.

permalink
report
reply
7 points

Can‘t find the pdf of the study under the address. Then again, is it really worth reading it: They found that there isn‘t more pro-ccp stuff on TikTok than on the American platforms but less anti-ccp content on it. I mean they tried real hard finding something, looking for the decisive keywords, yet this is the outcome? There is more anti-ccp content on American platforms that on a Chinese one! Does that tell us something about Chinese or about American propaganda?

permalink
report
parent
reply
14 points

@bungalowtill

I suggest you read the study before commenting (the link works fine here, but you’ll find it also in the article).

The study finds, among others, that TikTok users exhibited significantly more positive attitudes towards China’s human rights record as reports on forced labour and other human rights violations by the Chinese government are suppressed.

The Chinese government is actively silencing the views of Americans who try to criticize the Chinese government and the Chinese Communist Party, according to the study.

Free speech doesn’t mean that foreign autocratic governments can silence Americans (nor other countries’ citizens) from expressing their opinion in public forums. This is what happens on Tiktok, and, even more so, on Red Note.

permalink
report
parent
reply
3 points
*

Have you read the study?

Because: I still only get the names of the authors when I click the link to the study. In the article on the other hand there is a link to the “study that will be published” and it goes to the same rather blank archive url that you provided.

If the study has already been published, maybe you got another source?

Edit:

I managed to get it:

https://networkcontagion.us/wp-content/uploads/Peer-Reviewed-Paper-in-Press_Dec.-2024.pdf

But yeah, I won’t read it now, cause it’s massive. That’s also why I replied to your quotes in the first place.

Also, I think we know each other from some time ago, right?

permalink
report
parent
reply

Technology

!technology@beehaw.org

Create post

A nice place to discuss rumors, happenings, innovations, and challenges in the technology sphere. We also welcome discussions on the intersections of technology and society. If it’s technological news or discussion of technology, it probably belongs here.

Remember the overriding ethos on Beehaw: Be(e) Nice. Each user you encounter here is a person, and should be treated with kindness (even if they’re wrong, or use a Linux distro you don’t like). Personal attacks will not be tolerated.

Subcommunities on Beehaw:


This community’s icon was made by Aaron Schneider, under the CC-BY-NC-SA 4.0 license.

Community stats

  • 3.1K

    Monthly active users

  • 3.2K

    Posts

  • 58K

    Comments