[HN Gopher] TikTok is manipulative, addictive, and harmful to pr...
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TikTok is manipulative, addictive, and harmful to privacy
Author : ivanvas
Score : 46 points
Date : 2022-08-28 19:40 UTC (3 hours ago)
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| bilsbie wrote:
| I've been using TikTok for search lately and it kind of works.
| Web is at a point where it's faster to watch a video than open a
| search result. Click a cookie warning, figure out how to disable
| my ad blocker, and hope I'm not on an SEO page.
| keepquestioning wrote:
| How do we kill TikTok?
| i_am_proteus wrote:
| I say we take off and nuke the entire site from orbit. It's the
| only way to be sure.
| watwut wrote:
| There is more complaining about kids making tiktok videos then
| there was about them making super offensive memes on 4chan.
| UIUC_06 wrote:
| Point: Tobacco is especially bad for young children. Therefore we
| must restrict it for children.
|
| Counterpoint: Caffeine is bad, too. Therefore, should we also
| outlaw Coca-Cola for children?
|
| The argument that "TikTok is no worse than other social media" is
| the Counterpoint.
|
| TikTok is _very_ bad for children and adolescents, and we should
| do the difficult-but-honorable thing and prevent them from using
| it. If that 's difficult, TikTok will have to deal with it.
|
| I suspect that the EU will do this.
| Quikinterp wrote:
| I don't want to sound pedantic or smug, but I think maybe coca-
| cola should be banned for children too. Perhaps not illegal but
| just not for sale for children. I think social media should be
| similar. 16+ at least
| p1necone wrote:
| Props for using tobacco in your example and not nicotine.
|
| I'm sick of explaining to people that tobacco is/contains a
| bunch of awful carcinogens and will slowly kill you whereas
| nicotine is practically harmless, if addictive.
| anony999 wrote:
| This guy has found out the benefits/features of free social
| media. I don't know why he bothers to mention the name. It could
| as well be Meta(FB, Instagram) or TW. The last part is really
| laughable...
|
| >> There is also the matter of lack of consent, as children are
| sometimes too small to understand what is going on ....
|
| That being said I believe in the EU at least they will have to
| change a few things.
| nightski wrote:
| Have you used TikTok? I have and uninstalled it after a while.
| It feels like it takes all the bad elements of social media to
| the extreme. It's highly addictive, more so than other social
| networks, contains extremely shallow content, and can be very
| manipulative. I agree all social media can exhibit these traits
| to a degree, but TikTok at least for me really took it to the
| extreme.
| okasaki wrote:
| I always have a laugh when people say TikTok has x-type
| content. The truth is it has that type of content _for you_.
| Because it's what you engaged with. TikTok has lots of great
| content, but some people really don't like what they see in
| the mirror.
| kareemsabri wrote:
| Then you're either being willfully naive or don't
| understand how media works. Marshall McLuhan described this
| phenomenon 60 years ago, the medium is the message.
|
| Can I settle in on Tik Tok and spend an hour gaining a deep
| understanding of the history of the Israel-Palestine
| conflict?
|
| Note that I don't much care about Tik Tok fear mongering,
| but pretending the platform doesn't shape the type of
| content on it is absurd. Why is Instagram different than
| Tik Tok different than Twitter different than HN?
| skulk wrote:
| It's hard to believe anything of real value can be
| communicated in such a constrained format, but would you
| care to share any tiktoks that are actually worth risking a
| hugely time-wasting addiction for?
| GekkePrutser wrote:
| > It's hard to believe anything of real value can be
| communicated in such a constrained format
|
| This is exactly what I've always hated about Twitter. Its
| length limited posts actively stimulate stupid crap like
| people posting what they had for dinner and make real
| insightful content very hard to read because people have
| to split it up in 20 different parts which all become
| their own threads.
|
| I really don't get why it's so popular but I guess like
| with TikTok most people like shallow content.
| theplumber wrote:
| If you use tiktok then you already know what tiktoks are
| worth your time.
| r0ze-at-hn wrote:
| I was able to discover a name of a genetic mutation that
| I have connecting various symptoms to a name and from
| there treatments
| thorncorona wrote:
| It sounds like thats the end of content you tend to engage
| with to be honest. My tiktok tends to be filled with comedy,
| music, and people telling stories about their lives.
| bilsbie wrote:
| I trained mine to not be shallow. I'm getting bite sized
| macroeconomics and pickleball lessons now. And this random
| corn song keeps showing up though.
| bradleybuda wrote:
| As far as I can tell, TikTok scares like these are 30% standard
| social media moral panic, 70% jingoism. Everyone knows that they
| are paying for TikTok with their data and a few hundred million
| people (myself included) are okay with that calculus and making a
| rational, informed decision to continue using the product.
| puttycat wrote:
| This site has a really nice design, I especially like the subtle
| but relaxing margins.
| bilsbie wrote:
| Can it read my iMessage or look in my photos?
| abhayhegde wrote:
| Applies just as well to almost any social media. The worst thing
| is that these apps addict one to unrealistic expectations and
| instant gratifications. Digital tobacco.
| oarabbus_ wrote:
| >The worst thing is that these apps addict one to unrealistic
| expectations and instant gratifications. Digital tobacco.
|
| You could say the same about the internet, even pre-broadband,
| as anyone who spend significant time on websites, message
| boards, etc during the 90s and 2000s (or earlier with Usenet,
| IRC, etc) could attest to. Shall we just do away with the whole
| thing then?
| sfvegandude wrote:
| No it does not apply just as well to almost any social media.
|
| TikTok is unique in its control of the user experience, its use
| of data, and its popularity.
|
| Best not to throw this on the pile of "well duh, it's social
| media -- of course it's bad."
|
| TikTok is spyware. TikTok is an adversary. TikTok must be
| regulated. Let's talk about TikTok in this comments section,
| and not zoom out like we so often do.
| zokula wrote:
| ziddoap wrote:
| > _TikTok is unique in its control of the user experience,
| its use of data, and its popularity._
|
| How so? I don't use TikTok, so I might not be aware and I
| would appreciate you expanding on what you're asserting here.
|
| What is it doing different than other social media in regards
| to the control of user experience?
|
| What data practices are employed which are different and
| worse than the other social medias? Is it just _where_ the
| data is going, i.e. the 'wrong' people have the data? Or are
| they capturing more data than, say, FB is?
| wslh wrote:
| > TikTok is an adversary.
|
| In my book there are many adversaries and TikTok is only an
| item in a set of adversaries. The solution is to look at the
| set, this is not zoom out.
|
| There are many children who are target to pederastians in
| Instagram and we can also say that they should be regulated
| and/or take this very seriously improving their alerts.
| okasaki wrote:
| TikTok is regulated. It has to follow the same laws as every
| other company.
|
| Your paranoia is bizarre.
| t-writescode wrote:
| TikTok is no more spyware than any other major internet ad
| platform, it just _happens_ to use the knowledge it gains to
| provide you with content you actually want to watch (even if
| you don 't know you do).
|
| Google and Facebook collect the same sorts of information,
| they just don't use it as much to curate your experience.
|
| Edit: to the downvoters, do you really think that Google and
| Facebook don't scan images you upload to them, and save
| drafts of things you type into their views: email or chat
| window or what have you? Do you really think they're not
| creating a complex profile of who you are as a person? That's
| how ads work. "Show this ad to 20-35 year olds in [Area] with
| [political affiliation] and a hobby of [thing]. You gain that
| knowledge by reading and tracking _everything_
| badRNG wrote:
| > TikTok is spyware. TikTok is an adversary.
|
| In what unique ways is TikTok compromising privacy that
| Facebook isn't that warrants the labels of "spyware" and
| being "the adversary?"
| bradleybuda wrote:
| Because it's Chinese and therefore Evil, of course /s
| daqnal wrote:
| Its legislation. More transparent governments like the US'
| are generally trusted with data over closed governments, at
| least, for the majority of Westerners.
| LiberationUnion wrote:
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