If you spend your time talking about whether or not ByteDance & TikTok are a problem for your data & privacy, you are a loser. Nobody cares what you say, or do, because you do nothing worthwhile with your time. What? You think the Chinese government needs to know your browser history full of pictures of Hunter Biden’s exploits in Ukraine (which you had nothing to do with, and is also equally useless)…
No but seriously: most people are just afraid that somebody in their own life will find out about all the teenagers they gawk at on this child’s toy of a website. What you should be really worried about is child predation online. That’s a real problem. If you wanted to hack Americans all at once, you don’t need to enroll them in some stupid dance video to do it. There are plenty of other more vulnerable systems.
Everything about this argument/debate is pointless. That’s why Congress talks about it endlessly. You will also find conversations about this within the “news” business. These people are so detached they are dangerous to your health. Following their direction will lead you into staring at your phone (before it’s removed and you’re left only looking at your navel) until major influences shape the fabric of your life.
AI, machine learning, and other science fictions are also so largely misunderstood that words like “algorithm” can still be combined with enough hand waving to get people to not ask questions. After working directly in this industry for a number of years, I can tell you that there are far more human beings doing the work of artificial intelligence than anything machines are learning. What would TikTok learn?
TikTok has learned that human beings are easily tricked into thinking things are genuine when they are anything but. We are fearful of the fact that the Chinese government has a hand in this. But you should think deeper about how many other places around the world (including in your own backyard) which are capable of having their stock broker get them involved in a foreign market. We live in a globalized world.
The number of elder people I know who are on this particular social media application is astounding when compared to how many people under 45 use it. Data will show you that teenagers are all over this stuff because that’s what the advertisers want to hear/see/think. It’s true as much as it is, but the truth is that too many people over 55 are on TikTok, retired, watching children dance. That’s fucking pathetic.
Meanwhile, some large percentage of those older people – you guessed it – are personally invested in TikTok succeeding. Their portfolios have been convinced to expand so they include useless trash like this because it used to make them imaginary returns. Those imaginary returns are disappearing also. 2022 was the worst year for technology since the dot-com bubble which only presently appears to have been a more catastrophic market event than COVID-19. Perhaps it was Y2K that did in the 21st century…
In summation, stop bitching about social media applications that are so easy to evade you can literally delete them from most of your life. You are only advertising the fact that you do nothing with your life but watch the videos presented to you by the very forces you claim to despise. If you want to beat the bastards stop gobbling up their inane content. Do some real research and formulate a plan.
Definitively: get your money out of this garbage before the dumpster fire burns you alive.
