TikTok Still On Track for January Ban as Appeals Court Upholds Ruling

[thebeans]

But previously he was the leading proponent for banning TikTok too. And China is one of his favorite bogeyman

Very true. Hard to say what he will do or try to do on this one.

 

[nostradumbass]

Well, I’m not addicted at all, but I used it a bunch of times and it seems like YouTube shorts to me

It's not getting banned anyway. They are asking for it to be sold to a US company and then it will just carry on as normal.

 

[wbeasley]

Just curious: how is TikTok any worse than Instagram or YouTube Shorts ? I don’t get it

Because it collects a lot of unnecessary information that really isnt required for you to view silly videos.

And that information has a value.
And could be exploited by criminals to steal from you or extort.

And some people are upset the data flows to another country.
I would argue the same information going needlessly to any app company should be a worry regardless of where the app was made.

 

[wbeasley]

The answer is "addiction".
The constant novelty of seeing new things each 2 seconds; it's more addicting than drugs.

I never installed TikTok, and I stopped using Instagram.
I feel much better.

I have noticed the addictive potential of such apps, first hand, with my parents.
When I visit them, my father in law (in his 80s) is glued to the screen watching youtube shorts for hours, hours, hours and hours at all volume, and he becomes very annoyed if you interrupt him or try to make him understand he's watching too much.

The videos he watches are utter trash, like annoying pranks, or stupid reels with obnoxious music, and I have noticed they numb him down even further than he is; he sufers from some Dementia, but this has made things very much worse.
We tried blocking youtube shorts on the computer, but he was furious.

And he was the one telling me "kids these days fry their brains on such apps", 10 years ago.

These things need to be treated like drug addiction is.
I dream of social media being made available only for adults, as I can't imagine how this reel mania will create chaos in future generations.

Maybe find a way to log on to his account and start searching for really boring videos... the more you watch, the more you can steer his algorithm towards things that might calm him and curb his addiction.

Media playback volume reduction in Settings maybe? Knock it down a little and see if he notices or complains... Settings > Background Sounds. for Streaming or Media playback.

EDIT: I worked for 4 years with Dementia Ward residents and then with Disability residents. I know first hand that audio volume and type of media can have a huge impact on behaviour.

We would play background music to break the sterility and boredom.
The tunes that worked best were instrumental and upbeat. Ukelele ones often seemed to give best results.
Another test I did was slowing down songs they knew by 10% (no pitch change). It seemed to trigger their memories but the slower pace allowed them time to process their recognition better. And slower also hyped them up less.

 

[FlyingDutch]

Because it collects a lot of unnecessary information that really isnt required for you to view silly videos.

And that information has a value.
And could be exploited by criminals to steal from you or extort.

And some people are upset the data flows to another country.
I would argue the same information going needlessly to any app company should be a worry regardless of where the app was made.

And do you trust Google for that ? Google core business are your data…

 

[ifxf]

But it's not that it's just China-based.
It's the amount of unnecessary data you are consenting to send them.

Why do they need all you purchase and location information just to show you a video?
You are consuming media only. Watching a DVD doesnt require that information so why does TikTok (or any app)?

Somewhere, sometime, the aggregated data on you can be weaponised, that's why...

The TikTok app doesn’t request location data.

 

[ifxf]

I never understood why anyone would install this app.

View attachment 2459606

Why does a mindless source of "stupid people tricks" need to hoover up all this data? Yes, others like Meta, Amazon, Microsoft, etc. hoover as well, but TikTok is like handing all your data straight to Pooh Bear.

No evidence of that but there is evidence that cellular companies routinely hand over data to the US government.

 

[wbeasley]

The TikTok app doesn’t request location data.

um it does....

under data linked to you that may be collected and linked to your identity:
Purchases
Location
Contacts
Search History
Identifiers
Diagnostics
Financial Info
Contact Info
User Content
Browsing History
Usage Data

and anon Usage Data.

Why is that needed for showing silly videos?

 

[wbeasley]

No evidence of that but there is evidence that cellular companies routinely hand over data to the US government.

Thats a tangential argument.

We are discussing TikTok.

Government can make laws about information flow that is outside this discussion.

Why does TikTok get access to all that data? Location is probably the least worrying - unless they are real time tracking you with high precision...

 

[wbeasley]

And do you trust Google for that ? Google core business are your data…

I dont trust Google either but that isn't the discussion here.

Google is trying to assist you with search results tailored to you so probably knowing a lot more about you helps that purpose.

TikTok is just showing silly videos. Why do they need all the info they gather? They are profiling you for their own reasons...

 

[ProbablyDylan]

Good riddance. I think short-form content needs to be regulated the same way we regulate other addictive substances.

Free speech existed before TikTok. If banning it restricts your speech, you probably didn't have anything worth saying anyways.

 

[Fred Zed]

All political tit for tat. Usual smoke and mirrors for the oligarchs.