this post was submitted on 24 Apr 2024
38 points (71.1% liked)

News

23301 readers
3634 users here now

Welcome to the News community!

Rules:

1. Be civil


Attack the argument, not the person. No racism/sexism/bigotry. Good faith argumentation only. This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban. Do not respond to rule-breaking content; report it and move on.


2. All posts should contain a source (url) that is as reliable and unbiased as possible and must only contain one link.


Obvious right or left wing sources will be removed at the mods discretion. We have an actively updated blocklist, which you can see here: https://lemmy.world/post/2246130 if you feel like any website is missing, contact the mods. Supporting links can be added in comments or posted seperately but not to the post body.


3. No bots, spam or self-promotion.


Only approved bots, which follow the guidelines for bots set by the instance, are allowed.


4. Post titles should be the same as the article used as source.


Posts which titles don’t match the source won’t be removed, but the autoMod will notify you, and if your title misrepresents the original article, the post will be deleted. If the site changed their headline, the bot might still contact you, just ignore it, we won’t delete your post.


5. Only recent news is allowed.


Posts must be news from the most recent 30 days.


6. All posts must be news articles.


No opinion pieces, Listicles, editorials or celebrity gossip is allowed. All posts will be judged on a case-by-case basis.


7. No duplicate posts.


If a source you used was already posted by someone else, the autoMod will leave a message. Please remove your post if the autoMod is correct. If the post that matches your post is very old, we refer you to rule 5.


8. Misinformation is prohibited.


Misinformation / propaganda is strictly prohibited. Any comment or post containing or linking to misinformation will be removed. If you feel that your post has been removed in error, credible sources must be provided.


9. No link shorteners.


The auto mod will contact you if a link shortener is detected, please delete your post if they are right.


10. Don't copy entire article in your post body


For copyright reasons, you are not allowed to copy an entire article into your post body. This is an instance wide rule, that is strictly enforced in this community.

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
38
TikTok’s Pro-China Tilt (www.nytimes.com)
submitted 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) by Dark_Arc@social.packetloss.gg to c/news@lemmy.world
 

The times dives into an intelligence report on how TikTok's political algorithm anomalies align with the CCP's Geostrategic Objectives https://networkcontagion.us/wp-content/uploads/A-Tik-Tok-ing-Timebomb_12.21.23.pdf

This report highlights major differences in the prevalence of hashtags related to subjects like Hong Kong Protests, Tainanmen Square, Tibet, the South China Sea, Taiwan, Uyghurs, Pro-Ukraine, and Pro-Isreal when compared to other major social media platforms.

Additionally the times cited a Wall Street Journal analysis (https://www.wsj.com/tech/tiktok-israel-gaza-hamas-war-a5dfa0ee) which "found evidence that TikTok was promoting extreme content, especially against Israel. (China has generally sided with Hamas.)"

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] trebuchet@lemmy.ml 10 points 6 months ago (1 children)

That's not what I see at all.

Normally it goes more like instead of targeting TikTok specifically, we should pass a broad bill that targets all social media companies regardless of who owns them.

The point isn't generally that TikTok should be free or Facebook et al need to suppress but that we should treat all of their problematic behavior in the same way.

[–] Buelldozer@lemmy.today 1 points 6 months ago (1 children)

...but that we should treat all of their problematic behavior in the same way.

That's the part I'm referring too. In this context "Problematic behavior" refers to "Allows opinions I disagree with / doesn't allow opinions I do agree with." and the only fix for that is censorship of the domestic platforms while allowing TikTok to continue doing whatever it wants.

I believe the "problematic behavior" you're referring to is the collection and sale of user data but that isn't what the provided research or my comment were about.

[–] trebuchet@lemmy.ml 5 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (1 children)

Isn't the solution you're implying (and the solution pushed for by OP) if I'm not misunderstanding the exact mirror image? I.e. we should disallow TikTok from platforming opinions you disagree with (aligns with China) while allowing Facebook et al to continue because they mainly show opinions you happen to agree with (aligns with Western interests)?

I think the main opinion I see on Lemmy is that we should either force them all to regulate speech the same way, or not regulate free speech on any of them, but either way with a clear rule that is applied fairly and equally.

[–] Buelldozer@lemmy.today -1 points 6 months ago

Isn’t the solution you’re implying (and the solution pushed for by OP) if I’m not misunderstanding the exact mirror image? I.e. we should disallow TikTok from platforming opinions you disagree with (aligns with China) while allowing Facebook et al to continue because they mainly show opinions you happen to agree with (aligns with Western interests)?

There's a significant difference between platforming an opinion and secretly boosting friendly content while suppressing contrary content. ByteDance has apparently been lying to everyone's face because they claimed they WEREN'T adjusting content like this when it turns out they are. That isn't platforming it's manipulation.

Then there's the idea that "aligns with China" is somehow equivalent to "aligns with Western interests" when the former represents a single political party in a single country (CCP) while the latter represents literally dozens of nations with hundreds of political parties that are loosely coalesced around a very generalized idea of Liberalism. The West simply doesn't have a singular opinion or interest on anything.

For example I can hop on Twitter or Insta or Lemmy and get everything from "Israel is da' bestest!" to "Israel is a monster committing genocide." and even though its diametrically opposed it can still be considered "Western Interest". Meanwhile over in TikTok land, at least according to the study, the exact opposite is happening. There's one correct opinion, the CCPs, and if content doesn't align with it then it gets pushed down.

I think the main opinion I see on Lemmy is that we should either force them all to regulate speech the same way, or not regulate free speech on any of them, but either way with a clear rule that is applied fairly and equally.

A lot of people will claim that right up until they run into content they feel strongly about and then they'll call to have it boosted or censored, whichever aligns with their opinion. We've watched it play out over and over and over in Social Media the last few years.

In the end ByteDance / TikTok is a new and unique problem for the United States; for the first time ever we are being challenged by a tech platform from a rival nation that has vastly different policy goals and ideas about society and social management that are incompatible with our own.