New: US censorship, US surveillance, US narratives (patriot approved)
I feel like this outcome is so much worse than just banning the platform.
> The Joint Venture will secure U.S. apps through software assurance protocols, and review and validate source code on an ongoing basis, assisted by its Trusted Security Partner, Oracle.
So the new team will be in charge of content moderation, training, and "review and validat[ion]" of source code. Not actually a new app.
Just put the political stuff aside, they are often too short for any details over any topics if not straightly brainrot, ending up making people get distracted and lost patience easily. I never a fan of YouTube shorts and instagram reels either because of the same reason.
Perhaps they are good for promotion, but as a user perspective, can anyone really point out one good reason to use these platforms?
The answer to this is the same as the answer to your first question.
Heck, how does that person think people read books? Six to ten hour sitting marathons?
It's bonkers to me, but I guess my patterns of information lookup have just calcified with age.
It introduces her to new fashion, new restaurants, new places to visit. Local, hyper local and hidden, and her favorite travel destinations.
It's full of bite size tutorials. Tips and tricks. Genuinely useful stuff. Blogs and websites you'd find this stuff on are not as visual, not as well edited, and are hard to find or full of SEO spam.
It's introduced her to all kinds of hobbies. Gen Z is all about finding old consumer digital cameras from 2000 or even older Kodak one-use disposables and transplanting the lenses. TikTok nucleates these interests and trends.
The news breaks almost immediately on TikTok, and there's immediately insightful community commentary - why would you ever need CNN talking heads?
Every day there's a new "fad". It changes fast, on a day to day basis. Just a few days ago, there was this "an owl but from [x]" meme that was really cute/funny.
TikTok is genuinely everything. It's amazing. Much of the old internet it replaces doesn't hold a candle to it.
Not arguing against the rest of your comment, but I find the concept of "breaking news" to be generally terrible for society. News outlets should wait until they have enough information to present an event as accurately as possible, but the rush to be the one that gets there first means this is often not the case.
And I expect this goes double for randos publishing on TikTok.
They are a replacement for TV. You know, the thing that people used to watch for hours upon hours a day?
How is TikTok user data more private today than it was a year ago?
Chinese ownership as a security threat is currently in between reality and conspiracy realms but the US govt meddling as a threat is a proven reality worldwide.
Since controlling these platforms is probably the best ROI for swinging public opinion, I'm sure it's a matter of time before they get seized (one way or another) and redistributed to reliable political allies.
burnt-resistor•1h ago
selectodude•1h ago
coffe2mug•31m ago
... live tracking by ICE
eudamoniac•58m ago
manuelmoreale•18m ago
All the other American controlled social media platforms are exactly like your China description from my point of view: it’s American agencies and data brokers mining it and American interests pumping it.
Do you think a reasonable course of action is for us to force the sell of American platforms? I have no sympathy for what China is doing but I have no sympathy for what America is doing either.
Why do you think one’s more acceptable other than “it’s my country doing it”, assuming you are American that is.
kelnos•6m ago
> Do you think a reasonable course of action is for us to force the sell of American platforms?
Yes, absolutely. If your country's people believe that WhatsApp, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, etc. are a threat in the same way, they should take the same action.
(Mind you, I don't believe for a second that this was the real motivation behind what's gone on with TikTok, but I think it's a reasonable course of action to take if you think there is a threat there, regardless of what company or country we're talking about.)