I'm sick of this being repeated over and over until it becomes true.
We have had multiple studies at this point and not a single one concluded that there's any kind of particular manipulation on Tik Tok. Not one. They all conclude that the bias is not different from other platforms.
HBO run a segment on the ban and goes a bit more in depth:
When I see people looking at Tiktok videos in the bus, they usually look like possessed by something, a few seconds of gaze with glassy eyes, flip, flip, flip. It is so weird, I feel a bit sick in my stomach when I see it. Regardless of its potential as a brainwashing and manipulation vector, I personally completely banned it in my household (facebook/ instagram was always banned).
I don't think it's brainwashing, at least obviously (could be covert operations behind the scenes and we'd never know, like anything), but i will say it has pioneered a form of 'brain rot' that is simply leagues above all else. Not the freedom of expression, the dopamine dependance and impulsion of the infinite scroll. I'd much prefer we outlaw that specific technology, i think the world would be better for it. Stop the autoplay too. It almost feels sometimes like my eyes are being held open ala clockwork orange. People see so much shit in there that they don't remember ingesting that i can believe there's brainwashing experiments going on. You could do anything with that feed and no one would notice, but they would still see it. There's already discussions online about how "is everyone else getting these kind of videos now?", i see it about every 2 weeks. Some popular personality (to me) goes on and says, "have you seen this crazy looking homeless guy?" And everyone in the audience says "omg yes, he showed out of nowhere for me to and i can't stop seeing his vids". I've seen this play out around a dozen times now with thousands and thousands of people in agreement. So, i mean, no one controls their own algorithm. Maybe that's what we need. Let me see the code, let me alter it if i so choose, but let me see if you're changing my weights or pushing specific things to me. They'll never do that though unless it's an American company that can be forced to do so.
The US has soft invaded Europe's minds for a hundred years too, under disguise of "entertainment" and "news". Doesn't make it right, but just to compare.
Well if that's the problem, then maybe address that, perhaps by teaching people critical thinking skills?
But teaching people to ask critical questions risks unraveling the fabric of American capitalism ("Hey why is it that the government spends more on healthcare per capita than any other OECD country but with markedly worse outcomes?", "How can we call ourselves the greatest nation on Earth when we are simultaneously the wealthiest nation on the planet and still have such poor health, education and quality of life indicators?"), so we can't have that can we?
> Well if that's the problem, then maybe address that, perhaps by teaching people critical thinking skills?
We should do that, but reforming our education system will take years or decades. And in any event, any solution that requires everyone to learn or do something or act in a particular way is doomed to fail. Humans just don't work like that.
And even with robust critical thinking skills, people are still susceptible to psychological manipulation. That's never going to change.
> But teaching people to ask critical questions risks
How long will it take to do it on a meaningful scale, all while “free-thinkers” (read Chinese and Russian bots) beat the drum of “they’re brainwashing you”?
About five years, for Finland's critical thinking curriculum. (First results, to latest.)
However, that requires an education system that can be easily updated, and widely rolled out, without being shotgunned by anyone who has already lost their critical thinking ability, who may be in a position in government.
Yeah, i'd imagine one cycle of high school oughtta get everyone through at least one class, with the new life experience to have actually used and explored it. Teach it in homeroom where you teach the other mostly bs but sometimes valuable things, make em do 2-3 weeks on it and for gods sake have the curriculum written by experts and NOT BY POLITICIANS. I can't think of anything worse than a "bipartisan effort to design curriculum though congressional committee"
Sure, but I am perfectly fine with my own nation refusing to let other nations propagandize toward my fellow citizens. Especially when that other nation is a totalitarian dictatorship.
Whether or not we do that to other countries, and whether or not that's ok, is a completely different discussion.
I’ve lived for almost 30 years in post-Soviet space and never once I saw “we’re good, they’re bad” propaganda from the West. What I did see is an order of magnitude difference in income, quality of life and rights that people have.
So yeah, fuck Russia, fuck KGB and platforms that assist them with doing their dirty work.
The big difference is that China hoovers up a lot of information from cheap security cams and online appliances in the West, and I'm fairly sure the West doesn't do that to China.
As far as media management, PR, propaganda, whatever, I don't see a lot of difference between the regimes. The West profiles its own citizens for both commercial and political ends, and so does China.
The US doesn't want a state propaganda outfit monopolising "entertaintment" access to its under-35s? Fine. Whatever.
Meanwhile Russia hasn't had a problem buying the GOP and on-siding tech oligarchs in the US, and TikTok is a footnote compared to that.
>The big difference is that China hoovers up a lot of information from cheap security cams and online appliances in the West, and I'm fairly sure the West doesn't do that to China.
