About 59% of Americans say TikTok a threat to the national security of the United States, according to a new survey of U.S. adults.

  • Meow.tar.gz@lemmy.goblackcat.com
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    1 year ago

    I absolutely refuse to use TikTok but let’s be honest here in that our own politicians and the decisions that they make that are anti-working class and anti-poor are more of a national security threat than TikTok.

    • NightOwl@lemmy.one
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      1 year ago

      Not to mention the data mining being done is an issue with Google and Meta too. And this isn’t to excuse tiktok. It’s to say that Google and Meta have to start being put in check too, since it’s all getting so out of hand that isn’t no longer just concerns of specific nations. It’s an international concern that we are all in together regardless of where we are from and what international or domestic company we are dealing with.

      You can’t even pay for YouTube premium to stop treating you like the product for example, since your viewing and browsing habits will be data mined anyways. The phrase if you don’t pay you are the product has ceased to be relevant. We are the product no matter how much we pay and no true opt out. Even just the contact lists people keep and use with messenger apps are uploaded exposing our personal numbers and names to services of companies we don’t even use.

  • QubaXR@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Majority of Americans don’t understand national security, cyber security, or privacy.

  • irkli@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Facebook’s egregious behavior (Cambridge analytica) and their most extreme of all data collection makes TikTok look look like nothing.

    TikTok has been investigated 20 times the rest and little bad behavior was found – assuming you accept what’s done today as acceptable, which I don’t.

    People hate TikTok because of trumped up stories in the media.

    Notice that NOT ONE SPECIFIC ACCUSATION has been lodged against the company.

    Now I sound like I’m defending them. Just the opposite – condemning the bullshit and racist stories.

    Downvote me all you want, but I dare you to find one thing that TikTok does that’s as bad as American companies. And post it here.

    • Maggoty@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Facebook has been actually selling data to the Chinese government for a decade. Congress just keeps politely asking them to stop. But nobody wants to report on that.

    • jscummy@sh.itjust.works
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      1 year ago

      Pointing out Chinese company’s shady behavior isn’t bullshit or racism. I work in security and we’re currently having to take out most Chinese cameras since they’ve been found to regularly ping Chinese addresses and have backdoors built in. Chinese companies quickly become an extension of the CCP.

      • Maggoty@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Saying it’s only them is absolutely racist. Most social media corporations sell data. Including to the Chinese government. Go look at the “permissions” threads, Instagram, and the FB app require these days and tell me they aren’t ripping every bit of data they can.

        There’s a big difference between hardening your security hardware supply line and accusing only the Chinese social media platform of taking data.

  • Wrench Wizard@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Threat to national security? Who could know besides the higher ups.

    Threat to society? Again I don’t know but god, most of TikTok is extremely cringe and has people wasting so, so much of their time either viewing stupid videos or filming them.

    Idk, I just think turning society into a popularity contest/mediocre talent show is… weird. Collectively, how many billions of hours have been wasted by people staging, viewing and filming simplistic dances due to apps like this?

    When we could be doing… anything of significance.

    Sure, there’s some informational stuff on there no need to remind me but let’s be honest how much of it is basically “Look what I can do!”

  • kobra@lemm.ee
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    1 year ago

    Yeah I mean, I downloaded my reddit data and uh… wow. I was surprised to see how much you could learn about someone when it’s all bundled up like that 👀

    • Muddybulldog@mylemmy.win
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      1 year ago

      Which is why I find the whole banning TikTok concept absurd.

      It’s picking one easy scapegoat company to rally around, completely ignores the thousands upon thousands of other applications that collect data on us.

      It’s not security, it’s security theater. It’s lazy and designed to distract us. It’s to keep us from not asking questions about any company’s practices that might hurt someone politically or financially.

      We don’t need to ban TikTok. We need to ban Tik Tok and thousands of others like it. We need to have real conversations and put forth real solutions with regards to privacy, globally. It won’t happen though. Because it’s going to cost somebody money.

      • NightOwl@lemmy.one
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        1 year ago

        I’ve come to the conclusion that it is algorithms that have become evil. There was a thread where someone was asking for help stoppinh YouTube from radicalizing their mother due to the videos it would suggest to her.

        I use stuff like newpipe and freetube to try and get away from these personalized attempts at content, since there is still good content on YouTube. It’s just that so many sites try and keep you there as long as possible and then start feeding you content that can warp people. But, algorithms don’t understand the impact of it, since it’s either a 0 or 1 of user stays or user leaves.

        • Stefen Auris@pawb.social
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          1 year ago

          algorithms can’t “become evil” any more than your toaster can. It’s being directed and programmed by people who know exactly what they’re intending to achieve.

      • galloog1@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        You keep trying and failing to ban all social media while China continues to gain a foothold under the current unchanged rules. We’ll all be doing on the front lines of the next world war but at least in the end you can hold your head up high and say that it was worth it to take a stand.

        It’s like saying that you shouldn’t ban murder because all weapons should be banned. How they use it matters.

        • Maggoty@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          In that analogy Facebook has been murdering people for a decade but we refuse to do anything about it.

          • galloog1@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            In that analogy, Facebook is armed but not even brandishing. People aren’t doing anything because Facebook isn’t waving their weapon around and threatening their families but instead was using their knives to cut up more food to sell you. Sorry, I’ll use a more clear analogy next time.

            We are talking about the preparation of the battlefield for the next conflict. It is pretty well documented in cyber warfare circles. conflicts are won and lost before they are fought. conflicts are mitigated when the chances of success are lower.

            • Maggoty@lemmy.world
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              1 year ago

              Facebook has been giving data to the CCP for over a decade. If that’s the big bad, then that’s it. It doesn’t matter who owns the company. If you want to talk about battlefield shaping I can speak to that. I was in the military. When comes down to it I don’t care how the minefield got breached. It’s breached and there’s a hole that can be exploited. I don’t care if company A did it or company B.

              • galloog1@lemmy.world
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                1 year ago

                There’s giving data through API, and then there’s complete access to everything your device sees. It’s the difference between taking a trench and allowing your enemy to build a complete logistical hub behind your lines. It’s an order of magnitude worse.

                • Maggoty@lemmy.world
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                  1 year ago

                  Have you looked at the permissions Meta requires to run an app on your phone these days?

                  There is no difference. They’re taking everything.

  • Hyggyldy@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    I’m not here to defend tiktok but I really don’t care what the average person thinks is a national security threat.

  • fouloleron@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Eighty one percent of Americans think God will save them, so why would you care about any of their other opinions?

  • Maggoty@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Well at least we know selling the next war will be easy. Americans still haven’t learned to look past the surface of what the talking heads get paid to say.

    Meanwhile the historically significant markers like wealth gap and political divide keep growing. Education, housing, and health get worse. But noooo, look at the shiny!

    • Maggoty@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      If you’re not involved in anything sensitive then the CCP could give two shits about you. Also if you’ve ever used any META product they already have your info. Zuckerberg has been called out for selling data to the Chinese government multiple times over the last decade.

      • Espresso@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Yeah, I’m not involved in anything like that, but coming from a country heavily manipulated by the CCP, I simply choose not to install TikTok or anything directly related to them (on my own choice). I once tried to apply for a Hong Kong visa at a Chinese embassy in the US. Ever since then, I’ve been receiving hundreds of Chinese calls and random Chinese messages out of nowhere. It’s been 3 years -__-, I still can’t figure out ways to get my number off of their lists, freaking ridiculous.

  • noah@lemm.ee
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    1 year ago

    So people are complaining if the CCP censors western social media like Facebook etc. but then discuss to censor chinese social media. Isn’t there freedom of speech in America? I mean nobody is forced to use TikTok.

    • zaph@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      This is why I can’t wrap my head around any of the tiktok hate. I don’t trust tiktok with my data so guess what? I don’t use it. I don’t see how my coworker using it is going to be the downfall of America. We’ve already banned it from government networks, that’s plenty.

      • Maggoty@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        And to be honest there shouldn’t be any social media on government networks. Unless it’s “Civil Service R US” or something run by the government. But yeah no reason to have social media on 99% of official devices. (The 1% are the PR people putting stuff out and IT can wall them off)

  • Nima@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    People truly get so nuts about stuff that just doesn’t matter. People who don’t even use tiktok are scared of it? Goodness gracious.

    It’s become acceptable and at times encouraged to react to things with the utmost drama and volume. I really hope this trend goes away.

    • Metallibus@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      People who don’t even use tiktok are scared of it? Goodness gracious.

      I mean… If you’re scared of something, why would you use it?

      • Nima@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        My point was that we need to stop encouraging this sensationalist nonsense. Not feed fear for fun.