• doctorcrimson@lemmy.world
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    5 months ago

    I fucking abhor TikTok. Anybody who installs that app is a danger to themselves and a traitor to mankind. Disgusting fucking thing, it pisses me off.

    The thing about it that irks me the most is that it’s not even for any valuable means. It’s just a slightly different FaceBook or YouTube Shorts platform! You’re selling us all out for fucking video clips?!

    • Atomdude@lemmy.world
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      5 months ago

      I dunno man, my TikTok algorithm is about the wokest, most informative news feed amongst them all.
      Sometimes they try something new, and I have to train the algorithm a little again, but nothing too annoying.

      • doctorcrimson@lemmy.world
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        5 months ago

        The problem isn’t largely the manipulation of information you perceive through the app, although they do try their hardest.

        The problem is the app. People are putting that shit on smartphones and walking around with it. It’s so bloated with spyware that the spyware outweighs the install data needed to run the app itself. I don’t care if they’ve got a headquarters in the USA or wherever else, at the end of the day I truly believe that the information being stolen is ending up in their Chinese HQ which is a fucking military operation of a hostile dictatorship.

        It reads and transmits your message history, your GPS location, your photo library, depending on your model it’s probably recording sounds most of the time. They have your name, your address, the layout of your home, where you work, where you like to eat, which bank you use, every personal conversation you’ve had for months: you’re fucked if a global conflict ever starts. The other world powers will be completely crippled by a bunch of complacent fucking nitwits who chose Vines over their soul. Great job, assholes!

        • saintshenanigans@programming.dev
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          5 months ago

          I just checked and the tiktok app has no access to anything on my phone lmao. It literally cannot access any of this data, unless you’re uploading videos then it will use your pictures.

          Plus, even IF youre right and the app is somehow circumventing all of the rules the app stores require to even be on it, AND somehow Google and Apple are incapable of figuring out that the app is malicious AND they also for some reason don’t remove it for breaking those rules, I’m just some dude looking at stupid memes. China isn’t getting anything I care about.

          • shneancy@lemmy.world
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            5 months ago

            though I disagree that you’re seemingly implying it’s harmless - I too do not care if some dude in China knows about my hobbies. I’m the safest type of person out there - I’m a nobody - the worst they can do is shove more targeted ads in my face, and guess what I have an adblocker.

    • Nina
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      5 months ago

      What is it about short vertical video that makes people froth insanely at the mouth? Don’t “china” me on it, people whine over youtube shorts, instagram reels, they poopoo on snapchat, loathed twitter stories, and thought vine was a stupid idea. It feels like an ancient redditor thing, but I was in the 11 year club too and it’s just a different type of format for media, media which can be used in many different ways, as always. Like how internet video generally is different to TV.

      • reddithalation@sopuli.xyz
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        5 months ago

        it’s addictive, and hard to pack helpful good information into a video that short, and so it just ends up being an infinite stream of completely pointless content. it cannot be good for young children to be swiping through endless shortform content all day, either.

        honestly, i’ve mostly stopped using reddit, and it was kinda shocking switching to lemmy, where i can consume all of the content i am interested in that was posted today, and theres just, no more. it is certainly a healthier way of using social media though.

      • SuperSpruce@lemmy.zip
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        5 months ago

        It’s not about vertical video. It’s not even about China.

        It’s about the obscene amount of tracking that TikTok does. It makes Instrgram’s privacy violations look tame. It collects data on basically anything you can think of, and then uses it to show you exactly what you want, making it more addictive than most drugs while simultaneously having all of your data sold off.

      • Zagorath@aussie.zone
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        5 months ago

        The fact that it’s vertical video is bad enough on its own.

        The fact that it’s short means you can’t actually do anything meaningful with it. Can’t meaningfully set up a scenario to tell a good joke. Can’t explain the context behind the educational fact you’re sharing. Can’t develop characters in a story. It can never be anything more than basic spectacle.

        But the worst bit is the fact that it’s pure algorithm. YouTube at least shows you a screen of 10+ videos for you to choose from. Or you can go to your subscriptions page and see videos from people you’ve specifically said you want to watch. Or use search and find videos on a specific topic (though recently YouTube has made changes that make this significantly worse than it used to be). TikTok is “watch the video we want you to watch, or skip to the next video we want you to watch” on repeat. It’s incredibly patronising, and far less valuable as a user.

      • doctorcrimson@lemmy.world
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        5 months ago

        Just use YT Shorts if you love the videos format, don’t install an app from a military op in the world’s largest dictatorship.

        You’re going to sit there and say “Don’t china me on it” when that’s literally the problem. You’re willfully ignorant of the actual problem with it. Fuck you!

    • hark@lemmy.world
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      5 months ago

      Traitor to mankind? Don’t you think you’re being just a little bit dramatic?

      • doctorcrimson@lemmy.world
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        5 months ago

        I’m operating under the assumption that the Chinese Dictatorship by their very nature are acting against their own interests, that they could be happier in a functioning democracy with more equality.

        Definitely a traitor to everyone else on earth, though. It would be akin to being a proponent of Stalin, Putin, Mao Zedong, the generals or the emperor of the Dai Nippon Empire, etc. History will be on my side with this one.