Even if TikTok were suddenly wiped off every phone on the planet, a competitor would take its place. TikTok simply takes advantage of people's desire to be entertained and apathy over privacy issues.
Most people don't care about privacy issues not because of apathy, but because they have a different sense of privacy than privacy advocates.
I believe privacy advocates view private information without nuance, whereas normal people do not. Many people would not care a lick of you could figure out they ate at subway earlier in the day, whereas this is worrying to privacy advocates.
This claim is regularly repeated, but strongly and directly contradicted by literally every study on the topic. Here [1] is one from Pew in late 2019.
81% of Americans believe the potential risks of companies collecting about them outweighs and benefits. 79% are very/somewhat concerned about how the data collected on them is used. The big issue 81% also believe that little or no control over the data collection. Interestingly not only do people also feel that the government will do nothing to hold companies accountable, they are also concerned about how the government is using their data.
Such results are demonstrated in every single survey. People are overwhelmingly concerned about how companies are using their data, but feel completely helpless.
> I believe privacy advocates view private information without nuance, whereas normal people do not.
Most people aren't making informed, nuanced decisions about their privacy. Most people think online privacy doesn't impact anything more than what ads they see and so they don't care out of ignorance.
If people were aware of when and how the data they gave up is used against them they'd probably reconsider their views. The trouble is that people aren't allowed to know, so it's never in their face enough to register for them. People generally aren't great about evaluating consequences that aren't immediate or dangers that are at all abstract. That's what's enabled a multi-billion dollar a year industry to spring up around the buying and selling of data that "doesn't matter" and that "no one cares about".
That kind of thinking lets people get taken advantage of over and over again, get manipulated, lose opportunities, and have their money siphoned from their pockets without even realizing it had anything to do with the data that was taken from them.
Unless things change people will be trying to reassure each other that it doesn't matter who knows what they ate for breakfast even while they're being sorted into digital caste systems that will define and limit their options across many areas of their life.
I don't understand the point. Every social media's goal is to take advantage of people's desire to be entertained. Youtube, Instagram, etc. Yet TikTik has managed to come from behind and overtake all the other apps. People are so quick to dismiss its algorithm, yet no other app comes close to recreating the experience.
The problem isn't just social media, it's all kinds of entertainment. It seems like everything today is designed to give as much as a adrenine and dopamine hit as possible.
Take a look at the style of the filmmaking from a movie today and a similar movie from 20 years ago. Each scene has many more abrupt cuts, and everything feels much more fast paced.
Even when presented with TikTok's data harvesting or algorithm tweaking to make divisive issues trend more popularly -- no users want to give it up.
Really does anyone have any better rationale that could be used to convince people not to use it? I have older relatives (60s) and younger (teens) that are obsessed with it.
Thinking the market is always split into discrete niches based on current landscape you will never come up with an actual innovation. There could be product(s) that address the desire to be entertained in various ways without being like TikTok or taking its exact niche.
help me understand please. i am not from USA so i don't see of things as us vs them thing when it comes to china, for me, its all "them" anyway so be it china or usa.
what tangible privacy issues are with tiktok? in india the govt banned it last time over some bs reasons helping instagram but that is unrelated to "privacy"...
tiktok sells ads, instagram/fb sells ads. if i am using both, how is one better and another really bad?
its not like the US based companies aren't in for the money for the highest bidder and even harmful for their own citizens like the recent case of fb snitching on a girl who wanted an abortion?
googlryas|3 years ago
I believe privacy advocates view private information without nuance, whereas normal people do not. Many people would not care a lick of you could figure out they ate at subway earlier in the day, whereas this is worrying to privacy advocates.
somenameforme|3 years ago
81% of Americans believe the potential risks of companies collecting about them outweighs and benefits. 79% are very/somewhat concerned about how the data collected on them is used. The big issue 81% also believe that little or no control over the data collection. Interestingly not only do people also feel that the government will do nothing to hold companies accountable, they are also concerned about how the government is using their data.
Such results are demonstrated in every single survey. People are overwhelmingly concerned about how companies are using their data, but feel completely helpless.
[1] - https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2019/11/15/americans-an...
autoexec|3 years ago
Most people aren't making informed, nuanced decisions about their privacy. Most people think online privacy doesn't impact anything more than what ads they see and so they don't care out of ignorance.
If people were aware of when and how the data they gave up is used against them they'd probably reconsider their views. The trouble is that people aren't allowed to know, so it's never in their face enough to register for them. People generally aren't great about evaluating consequences that aren't immediate or dangers that are at all abstract. That's what's enabled a multi-billion dollar a year industry to spring up around the buying and selling of data that "doesn't matter" and that "no one cares about".
That kind of thinking lets people get taken advantage of over and over again, get manipulated, lose opportunities, and have their money siphoned from their pockets without even realizing it had anything to do with the data that was taken from them.
Unless things change people will be trying to reassure each other that it doesn't matter who knows what they ate for breakfast even while they're being sorted into digital caste systems that will define and limit their options across many areas of their life.
thefz|3 years ago
ehsankia|3 years ago
notpushkin|3 years ago
If you make a new Facebook, you better make something about it different because otherwise people would just stay on Facebook.
jerojero|3 years ago
It is very much clear that this kind of entertainment is very addictive and if done well it can get people to sink hours and hours into it.
fy20|3 years ago
Take a look at the style of the filmmaking from a movie today and a similar movie from 20 years ago. Each scene has many more abrupt cuts, and everything feels much more fast paced.
https://www.rogerebert.com/scanners/agents-of-chaos
no_butterscotch|3 years ago
Even when presented with TikTok's data harvesting or algorithm tweaking to make divisive issues trend more popularly -- no users want to give it up.
Really does anyone have any better rationale that could be used to convince people not to use it? I have older relatives (60s) and younger (teens) that are obsessed with it.
throwaway290|3 years ago
2Gkashmiri|3 years ago
what tangible privacy issues are with tiktok? in india the govt banned it last time over some bs reasons helping instagram but that is unrelated to "privacy"...
tiktok sells ads, instagram/fb sells ads. if i am using both, how is one better and another really bad?
its not like the US based companies aren't in for the money for the highest bidder and even harmful for their own citizens like the recent case of fb snitching on a girl who wanted an abortion?
unknown|3 years ago
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