Just like with YouTube, IG, etc, imo it depends on what you are searching and paying attention to. It’s algorithm after all. Watching many nonsense videos, and you will get more nonsense. Watch educational videos, and you’ll get more of those as well.
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TikTok Could Face US Ban Unless Chinese Owners Sell Stake
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By all means, please provide us with a better analogy that tackles all the complexities of the issue.
I’m just reading the fact that it is banned on UK Government devices now. Frankly no social media should be on a work based device, unless your job involves you in the production of social media for your organisation.
In one of my previous organisations, where only the really high ups had mobile phones it was their policy that no social media would be on there. It was an instant sacking if you were found with any apps that were classed as social media and yes one person was fired
In one of my previous organisations, where only the really high ups had mobile phones it was their policy that no social media would be on there. It was an instant sacking if you were found with any apps that were classed as social media and yes one person was fired
Yep, bans never work, except to give the false impression that politician's are doing something.
If you read my comment well, you’d realise I wasn’t criticising TikTok in favour of another service. I don’t use any of them. I’m not from the US either. And we’re talking about TikTok, not Facebook or the NSA.
Why have they then banned Facebook? Try to show a Chinese person pictures of what happened at Tiananmen Square back in 1989. They either refuse to recognize it or simply don’t know what it’s about. The CPC and Xi Jinping is doing a lot to remain in power. China is surely not innocent and running a peaceful democracy with human rights and all.
But - and I know it’s classic “whatabouterism” - if Russia or China were flying drones 100 km from US airspace they would be shut down. I think that was proven less than a month ago.
I’m all in for more peaceful talk between superpowers and less blame game because no one is innocent here and US is certainly pushing it to the limit with drones and destabilizing countries just because they didn’t like whatever government has been elected. The US “interest sphere” goes way beyond what other superpowers have.
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Perhaps, as you noted, the complex issue cannot be tackled by a simple analogy? And, if not, why do it?
Maybe it takes a certain kind of brain to become addicted to this app because when I tried it a while back, I just didn't enjoy it. It just seemed to be a stream of randomness, with little control over what you saw. Sure I was amused at some of the videos but it didn't seem worth spending time on.
Most of the Tiktok videos I see, I see because they were posted on Twitter or some other social network. The Tiktok app itself just seems to be trash.
If people really are becoming addicted to it with a detriment to their health I could see why there's pushback. Though I'm personally of the opinion that people should be able to do whatever they want with their own time.
While TikTok's algorithm is really good at keeping users glued to their screens, better than other apps like Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, and Snapchat, kids aren't using it for 6-12 hours a day. In total, kids average between 91 minutes and 102 minutes per day.
It's not just kids who use the app though. Something like half of their users are over 25 and new users signing up keep getting older.
It's like how Facebook's new user base kept getting older which eventually became the thing that turned off the younger users and many of them left for Instagram, Snapchat, and TikTok. Maybe that will happen to TikTok?
Unfortunately, banning TikTok isn't going to stop kids/people from being addicted to their smartphones when they can easily fall back to Instagram, Snapchat, YouTube, etc which were the apps they were glued to before TikTok came along.
It wouldn't matter who owns it. What matters is who has control over what kind of content gets served up to different groups of people. Apparently, in China, they serve up videos on useful life skills whereas in the US, it serves up useless dance challenge videos.
What the US government should do is force TikTok to disallow all video in portrait orientation. That'll kill it off in a few days.
This isnt really the "US Government" its the google/facebook lobby having their lunch eaten by innovation. Dont sell, ByteDance! Don't sell! Let them ban it, you can do with this nonsense. Still the entire rest of the world lovin it.
This was ridiculous when Trump was doing it, and it's ridiculous now that Biden's doing it.
The US has no basis for banning this app. If they feel there's espionage involved, charge them with a crime and bring them to court.
Do they think that the Chinese are somehow destroying people's minds, the way that TV did? Or are they upset that the Chinese are the ones making money off of it instead of US media companies?
The US has no basis for banning this app. If they feel there's espionage involved, charge them with a crime and bring them to court.
Do they think that the Chinese are somehow destroying people's minds, the way that TV did? Or are they upset that the Chinese are the ones making money off of it instead of US media companies?
I just visited the states and I can say without doubt that Waffle House and Hardee’s and similar places will kill their bodies before TikTok kills their brains.
Frankly speaking: If I was a US citizen or President, potential espionage from TikTok would be pretty far down on my list of concerns for my people. Let’s list things that are more risky in the US:
- being shot
- die from a heart attack
- civil war
- die in another country fighting for… well… I’m not sure 🤷♂️
- lack of health insurance
- CO2 footprint from massively big cars
- being shot
- die from a heart attack
- civil war
- die in another country fighting for… well… I’m not sure 🤷♂️
- lack of health insurance
- CO2 footprint from massively big cars
A broken clock is right twice a day.
I don't think many people were in opposition the previous administration's outlook on this issue. I think its was due to the fact that the administration singled out Tik Tok/China, but the issue really should be not specific to it being a Chinese owned platform (noting that does pose a potential threat to national security). Why are we not holding other companies (regardless of being based in the US or not, like Facebook and Twitter) to the same standard? If want the world to take the US seriously, then we should operate on a level playing field from a national perspective.
Additionally, for self-proclaiming "freedom" and "free speech", this outlook was completely the opposite. People don't like hypocrites.
As soon as any foreign business out-competes US business in comes the govt banhammer with trumped up charges.
Had there ever been any real danger of espionage they'd shut it down. But they don't. I rest my case.
Had there ever been any real danger of espionage they'd shut it down. But they don't. I rest my case.
There's no denying that social media is negatively impacting people, especially teenagers. However, you'd have to be incredibly naive to think that (a) this ban is about helping improve mental health, or (b) that the US federal government will implement any drastic action to help improve mental health.
This is a purely economic decision in the US's war against China. It may not be a hot war (yet) but the US is still doing everything it can to try to strangle China. God forbid western capitalists are denied access to Chinese resources to make themselves richer.
This is a purely economic decision in the US's war against China. It may not be a hot war (yet) but the US is still doing everything it can to try to strangle China. God forbid western capitalists are denied access to Chinese resources to make themselves richer.