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!”

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  • friendbot@beehaw.org
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    6 days ago

    I just don’t see how this move and the timing was not orchestrated to manipulate uninformed TikTok users into supporting Trump. The explicit callout to Trump in the message… I have been fearing the next presidency and this was a blow.

    • satxdude@lemm.ee
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      6 days ago

      I don’t know if it’s that ByteDance wants to push people into supporting Trump, but it could be that Trump agreed to “save” it if they appeared to kiss his ass.

    • azolus@slrpnk.net
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      6 days ago

      Glazing Donald’s ego is a last ditch effort to save their platform. This is entirely on the Democrats—they didn’t have to agree to the ban, they could have insisted on higher standards for transparency and data security for social media instead. But banning the platform that featured pro-palestinian sentiment was more important to them. Now all that’s left is billionaire owned pro-Trump social media which Tik Tok may or may not join in the future. Good job guys!

    • SoupBrick@yiffit.net
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      6 days ago

      I would imagine this is them putting political pressure on Trump to uphold his campaign promise. The uniformed will open the app, see that message, and know where to direct their attention.

  • Engywuck@lemm.ee
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    6 days ago

    As an European, I sincerely envy you. Death to these crappy social networks.

    • Orwin of Camber@lemmy.ml
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      6 days ago

      Social media peaked in 2012/2013, before just before recommendation algorithms became a thing. Everything became insufferable afterwards.

      • Engywuck@lemm.ee
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        6 days ago

        TBH, I found FB insufferable already in 2008, when I deleted my back-then 1 y/o account.

        • orcrist@lemm.ee
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          6 days ago

          Agree, I felt the bad effects of FB around then. It was just so pointless.

      • CanadaPlus@lemmy.sdf.org
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        5 days ago

        That’s kind of my feeling too, although it’s dangerously close to “better back in my day” given my age.

        The period after they shut down browser popups, but before they invented those virtual DOM-hacking popups was great, and that’s a measurable change.

  • Blackmist@feddit.uk
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    6 days ago

    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.

  • thelucky8@beehaw.org
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    6 days ago

    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.

    • bungalowtill@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      5 days ago

      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?

      • thelucky8@beehaw.org
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        5 days ago

        @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.

        • bungalowtill@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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          5 days ago

          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?

    • Wahots@pawb.social
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      6 days ago

      People forget shit so fast, it doesn’t even matter. All that matters is the present + six months for most Americans.

      Shit, I think many 14-16 yo Americans don’t even know who Obama’s VP was, or would have to think for a second a least, haha.

    • spit_evil_olive_tips@beehaw.org
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      5 days ago

      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”.

      • orca@orcas.enjoying.yachts
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        5 days ago

        I think it only uses it for initial verification. I already get a ton of spam on my number so it doesn’t really bother me. Highly recommend checking some of the content out though if you want an unfettered view into everyday life in China. It’s been a fun adventure.

  • Megaman_EXE@beehaw.org
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    5 days ago

    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

    • Glasgow@lemmy.ml
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      5 days ago

      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.