Users are freaking out
Oh noo how will I manage without my daily cringe worthy bullshit videos mixed with ads
I think it’s ironic this is posted here on Lemmy, which is what it is today mainly thanks to users of another service freaking out over how they will manage without their API access to bullshit aggregated content mixed with astroturfing.
Most of the people who used the 3rd party apps weren’t people who just doom scrolled shit that was fed to them. Most of them had all the default shit blocked or unsubed. It was all niche stuff the majority was subed to that had very little ad revenue for reddit. It’s why the protests didn’t really work, reddit didn’t give a shit about the million or so people who went with niche subs using 3rd party apps.
And your evidence for this is?
Reddit and TikTok are incredibly different. And most of us that came over here from Reddit were there and we all saw the quality of Reddit going downhill for a long time. And when Reddit decided to try to be more like a TikTok style company, we all bailed.
So it’s not that ironic. We all willingly left when a company made one more decision screwing us over. These people are clawing at their phones to stay on an app.
I mean, you can use that approach to denigrate pretty much any activity people spend time on.
I loathe tiktok but if someone had banned Reddit while I was still using it I would have been hella mad. On the other hand it would have been “How will I manage without unhinged shitposts mixed with ads” from the outside
Eh, I was halfway out the door for years at Reddit, I just needed a push. A ban would’ve worked the same as Reddit’s API change.
You either never used Tiktok, or you spent too much time staring at the shit videos and that ended up as your feed.
Personally, I get gardening tips, legal analysis of the trump trials, and stand up comedy. It’s great.
I get that on YouTube. (Legal Eagle, Leja etc) Just a bit less CCP manipulation. Not that there aren’t issues with YouTube. Just less than TicTok.
YouTube shorts recommendations suck.
I have trouble with YouTube. It never recommends good short form content. If I could crack that, I probably wouldn’t Tiktok.
That’s probably fair enough. I don’t watch shorts on any site anywhere. I tend to opt for the 20 minute 30 minute or longer videos. Sitting and working on things when I get home.
This, basically. Google took YouTube and made its algorithm push more long form content for the purpose of generating revenue from ads. Not saying TikTok doesn’t have ads in my feed but at least I can skip literally all of them.
I only saw some videos on other’s phones.
Also I started using newpipe for youtube exactly because I don’t want an algorithm learning what I’m interested in. No way in hell I do it for tiktok.
Either TikTok will win in court and overturn the law (possible), be sold (unlikely) or shut down (likely). I can’t see TikTok being sold being allowed by China, and even selling part of the business just creates a new global competitor to extend out of the US.
Multiple competitors will appear in the meantime hoping to get the displaced activity. TikTok is hugely profitable and a dominant replacement in the US would make a lot of money. This will be seen as an opportunity to make a lot of money for the winner.
I can see Meta trying to make a TikTok like clone, Google trying to leverage YouTube shorts, and Elon Musk trying to revive Vine at Twitter, plus lots of startups (mostly. American but possibly from other nations) vying to win the audience.
Ironically the more interesting battle may be outside the US - TikTok versus whatever US app comes along.
The deadline is after the US election - this could also all be political grandstanding and the politicians expectation might be that the law won’t stand up in court anyway.
TikTok has hundreds of millions of users outside the US, they may just pull out [and then US users will VPN to use it like we’re fucking Iran]
VPNs aren’t that hard, but I feel like you overestimate the technical literacy of the general public in the US.
If you can use tik tok you can use a VPN. I click my VPN to start it and it auto connects. You think tapping 1 button on your phone is too hard for people who tap one button on their phone to open tik tok?
Doesn’t the bill include fines for using tiktok with a vpn?
unless the bill has changed since the last time I read it, there were fines for hosting the service in US datacenters, and fines for companies allowing US data to exist in non-us datacenters. I don’t think you could interpret the bill as imposing a civil penalty to a user using a vpn and accessing it.
Exactly. I read Division H of the bill (the more important to me), and civilians would only be impacted if they distribute a banned app or something. ISPs could potentially be culpable though, but I’m pretty sure that’s related to hosting the infra for something like TikTok and not just allowing traffic to it.
So yeah, using a VPN with TikTok would totally work. Not sure if you could get updates to the app over VPN though, that depends on how the stores handle regions.
Not sure if you could get updates to the app over VPN though, that depends on how the stores handle regions.
Specifically, app stores would be required not to host it, so you’d likely have to do updates through some sort of side-loading
I’m saying if you’re reporting your location as the EU, could you get updates through the App Store? Or would it know you’re a US customer and disallow it, even if you report that you’re in the EU? Or does it use GPS location?
For real.
Like a dozen social media apps already have reals or shorts or some shit that’s basically tiktok. They’re all shitty and invasive, but so is tiktok.
If they banned lemmy and reddit you would be freaking out too. The difference is many people run their businesses on tik tok. Your making fun of people who are losing their livelihood.
Well, I’m freaking out a bit despite hating TikTok and believing it’s harmful to the average user. I don’t believe in censorship, and I think banning an app like this is a form of censorship.
That said, even if Lemmy and Reddit were banned, I would probably react similarly. I don’t need Reddit or Lemmy and can do without, but I disagree very much with the censorship.
Nah. Lemmy is a software. Reddit is an entity. They could try to ban specific Lemmy servers. They’ve tried to go after torrent tracker sites with little to no success. This wouldn’t be any different.
I think it’s illuminating and hilarious that they’re actually going through with this though. I’ve long made the statement that capitalists and Leninist are kissing cousins on all the worst possible fronts. And here’s another data point.
Lol wut? I don’t think you know what “leninist” means.
There’s what they claim to be and what they are. What they claim to be, is a transitional centralized system of government aimed at jump starting communism. What they are is that without a mechanism or plan to transition. Ending up in EVERY SINGLE GROUP that has tried devolving into an authoritarian suppressive system. Benefitting largely those at the top.
The Party heads in Moscow benefited far more than the average citizen of the Soviet Union. Nearly every modern Russian oligarch has a direct line that can be drawn back to former party leadership. Xi Jinping does not live in government block housing like a regular citizen. Nor do any of the families of top party members. And should a Chinese citizen complain. They will be brutally ostracized and excluded from society at best. Jailed for life or slaughtered if they’re not so lucky. Capitalists salivate about being able to do that with impunity. They still do it. Just not with impunity yet.
How do you run a business on TikTok?
You use it to advertise and show off your items without having a actual shop. Tik Tok also has a shop you can buy from and you can list your items on there.
The closest thing I can think of that’s similar to it would be Etsy but instead of having just pics of your products you can have short videos of it.
They provide a shop front interface called TikTok Shop. It’s something Meta has been wanting to do for awhile in WhatsApp.
no, would just switch to 4chan. That’s my last option, lol
I would love it if the government banned Reddit.
Lemmy I could live without. If any users are making their livelihoods on Lemmy or Reddit, they should find something more productive to do.
I would love it if the government banned Reddit.
Lemmy I could live without. If any users are making their livelihoods on Lemmy or Reddit, they should find something more productive to do.
by Stovetop@lemmy.world
I nominate this for the least aware comment on lemmy. We truly have a gem here. “If someone is making their living in a way I don’t understand, they should get a real job. After all, it doesn’t affect me, so it must be fine.”
Truly well-spoken, just look at all of the many high-paying jobs available to people of all skill levels, I mean, it’s not enough that an entire generation needs to hustle and convert every waking moment into opportunities to generate capital in order to barely survive… but also please do it in a way that Stovetop understands and supports. Otherwise, it’s not “productive”, whatever high-minded values that meaningless phrase is supposed to represent. Clueless.
Null empathy, null emotional intelligence, null consideration. Truly a masterpiece.
Stovetop please stay the way you are, we want to study you.
What sort of living do you think users are eking out on Reddit or Lemmy?
Social media commerce is all scams and influencers. There are much more productive things people could do to contribute to the betterment of society without trying to capitalize the brain space of gullible and vulnerable people.
That is a good question.
The world of late stage capitalism. When “scammer” starts to become a common profession… perhaps instead of asking why everyone is becoming a scammer, ask what type of system rewards and necessistates it, and why?
There are hints in this discussion to what is wrong with the world we inhabit that leads people down this path, and that is the picture I want to draw for you.
In short, people are extremely desperate. Some might think this is just how things are, but I happen to be one of the people who thinks it is by design. The richest want to keep the workers hungry, afraid, lacking security, and the house (in which they have financial stake in) can rake in the gains. The intentional applied divisiveness of capitalism.
In that context, I wanted to point out the privileged life that you likely live in order to not realize the desperation that drives someone to capitalize on every financial opportunity available, even the crazy ones. My statement isn’t in favor of making revenue on X, Y, or Z platform, my statement is in critique over your critique of how others earn a living, as well as your disregard for their situation. I was urging you to walk a mental mile in someone else’s shoes.
Also I apologize for mocking you, it’s not personal but I couldn’t resist taking the piss out of your comment.
I mean, people probably aren’t making a living on Reddit or Lemmy, but those aren’t actually getting banned. Tiktok is, and people are actually making a living off of tiktok.
More productive? Dog they are small businesses that are using tik tok as a store front. Like how people run business through Facebook. What your saying is “fuck these people they should just go work a soul crushing job at a big corporation like me”
Didn’t know scamming people was such a nice business.
There are non-scam companies on TikTok. I don’t use it but it’s easy enough to see. People use it to hustle their marketing and advertising, some people even hire to fill that role.
First example that comes to mind is from years ago, but a dude started and grew a business in Miami for selling exotic fruits that are unique to Florida to anyone online. Something like $100 for a seasonal, shipped overnight, cooler of exotic fruits with info/instructions. He got a girlfriend and she made their popularity explode using TikTok. The best way I can describe her videos is making it seem like you’re bougie if you subscribe to their seasonal boxes monthly.
Whatever she did worked though. Not a scam, you pay and get the fruit.
There are a bunch of artists who sell commissions and stuff through tiktok too. Kinda hard to call that a scam.
So people selling on Ebay is a scam? People selling on Etsy is a scam?
Find your voice?
Ah, the only time you’re going to hear that from the Chinese company is when they want you to prevent someone coming between them and their data feed and profits.
Nevermind the algorithms that suppress voices they don’t want to be heard.
And the fact that “their own voice” is banned in China itself. What a bunch of bullshit.
Chew responded to the latest moves in a video posted by the official TikTok account. “Make no mistake, this is a ban,” Chew said in the video. “A ban on TikTok and a ban on you and your voice.”
Narrator: it wasn’t.
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I’ve actually read the law, so no one has to tell me that it really, actually is about privacy. I know that it is.
Lemmy users are just going to believe whatever they want to believe, instead of actually checking the facts.
It’s 100% about privacy. Data collection, and algorithm manipulation to sway what users see in the interest of the Chinese government. If users think Russian interference is a problem, we’ll this amounts to the same thing.
the Cinese government
So it’s about foreign policy and not privacy. Or does the law somehow affect Facebook products too which are the same crap from an individual privacy perspective?
What about, say, giving users control or at least insight into what data is collected?
It’s about privacy in the same way “protect the children” bills are about protecting the children.
Narrator: it’s not.
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If you just read the wiki article you linked as well, there is circumstantial evidence you’re just ignoring.
Can you explain why you feel that would even be necessary?
If it was actually about privacy then the US would be introducing data transparency and control laws (which only kicks in here if TikTok doesn’t sell to a US company). Whether it’s the US wanting to stream their own bullshit to kids or just that sweet sweet ad revenue, this is in no way about privacy or “protecting the children”.
user was banned for ‘ban evasion’ to let know if someone searches for it like me. though I don’t think the actual content was preserved or was it?
I think the tiktok fiasco is just another wrong solution to a problem. The problem is data collection and mismanagement of it; and no one is getting ‘royalties’ for their data being sold or used.
They aren’t attempting to solve a problem. The political right wants to buy TikTok to control a space used by millions of young voters.
Facts. We need better data protection laws, especially now more than ever with the rise of AI
Governments banning social media based on who can use it to spy on who, instead of creating privacy regulations and enforcing them to create and regulate markets, which is kinda what they should do, to make it so it doesn’t matter who owns which app. Taking an opportunity and shitting all over it for some childish standoff should be beneath us.
Given how easy it is to create shell corporations, how does any of this prevent the CCP from running TikTok through another proxy?
I.e. is all this posturing just a colossal waste of time?
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Now that it’s happening, I don’t quite know how to feel.
I certainly don’t feel sorry for Tiktok though.
I hate tiktok. I am not from the US, but banning the app that is most popular among young people while raiding dozens of university campuses? Don’t sound like a great way to get young people trust the system…
This is the best summary I could come up with:
TikTok CEO Shou Chew has issued a rallying cry to users that the company plans to fight a possible US ban.
A foreign-aid bill passed Tuesday by the US Senate and signed by President Joe Biden Wednesday has millions of Americans who use TikTok freaking out over a potential ban.
The clip has over four million views as of Wednesday afternoon, and the comments show that users aren’t ready to say goodbye to TikTok anytime soon.
Many expressed support for Chew, whose call to action hints at the pressure building against TikTok and its Chinese owners, Bytedance.
Others credited the platform for helping users find “their voice and livelihood” and providing “a sense of community here that we don’t have anywhere else.”
Despite Chew’s defiant video and the growing outrage from the app’s users, a TikTok ban won’t happen in the immediate future.
The original article contains 261 words, the summary contains 143 words. Saved 45%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
They’re banning it because they blame tick tok for the pro Palestinian movement. Zuck and Google have been spying on users for decades.
Hmm brand new account, first comment, definitely no Astroturfing going on here.
The Tik Tok ban is about keeping big tech in the hands of the USA. Are my account stats better for you?
The Tik Tok ban is about keeping big tech out of the hand of enemy nation states.
In doing so, yes they have also kept it in the hands of the USA.
Why not just kill the app then instead of asking for divestment? Why do they still need it?
What do you mean kill the app? The US government doesn’t have the authority to kill the app. That isn’t one of the options in the table.
And why does who need it? Who is this “they” you’re referring to?
I assume the US government wants to force a sale to a US tech company, no? Who would presumably profit from said successful app. Why not just outright ban it here? By kill I just mean make unusable. But you knew that, silly.
Why not just outright ban it here?
Thats one of the options ByteDance has. The US government can’t force a company in a different sovereign nation to sell anything. ByteDance has two options, their app is banned in the US, or they have the opportunity to sell it to a U.S. company. That’s up to ByteDance and the CCP, not the U.S. government.
Talk of the Tik Tok ban predates the attack that triggered the current iteration of violence in Israel/Gaza.
Zuck and Google have been spying on users for decades.
Also not Chinese companies.
Baby’s 1st comment 🥹
That seems like quite a leap.
That’s ridiculous. Government doesn’t move that quickly. They’ve been thinking about how to deal with foreign interference for years. Also, I hate to break it to you, but the Palestine thing isn’t that interesting or important in the grand scheme. At best, the Palestinians, like the Houthis and Hezbollah, are pawns used by Iran to stir up trouble from time to time. This conflict has been going on for 80 years already and the overall trend in the Middle East is toward peace and economic integration with Israel. No one is going to push the Jews into the sea and liberate Palestine for the Palestinians.
If you don’t think Israel “that interesting or important” to the US government, you haven’t been paying attention. full stop. This isn’t about Palestine, its always been about Israel. They send way too much money to us politicians, including the one in the white house, for it to not matter “in the grand scheme”. AIPAC money alone should be enough to convince you.
Perhaps I misspoke. I mean to say that the periodic flare-ups with the Palestinians are not that important anymore. They used to be. But nowadays, Israel’s neighbours aren’t invading with tanks and, as I said, the overall trend is towards peace and economic integration with Israel. I agree with you that Israel is important to the US for many good strategic and political reasons.
Iran literally just sent drones into Israel. You haven’t been paying attention.
I’ve been paying attention to the Middle East for almost 40 years, punk. What? Iran, like, literally just sent drones into Israel? Oh no, literally what will we do? Like, oh my god, this is so terrible.
You can’t take and hold territory with drones, especially not Iranian drones. Iran is not invading Israel. Grow up and go learn something.
Iran might not be invading Israel anytime soon but they sure arent “trending towards peace” like you claim. You’re wrong about this one, and your anger betrays you here. It might shock you to learn that even at your age, you can still learn something, too. At least I know I’m uninformed and look for the truth instead of just spouting off bullshit with nothing to back it up.
There are a million startups chomping at the bit to create or have their existing app become the TikTok replacement in the event it does get banned.
This is the nature of American Capitalism. A monopolistic entity is broken up for this reason or that thereby making way for competition. According to all those economists, competition is good and breeds innovation.
I don’t have a problem with this. Next go for Google, Meta, Apple, and Microsoft too.
This isn’t an anti-trust case, it’s just anti-China posturing and lobbying from Meta and friends bearing fruit. Google and Meta will fight for the users and their monopolies will grow even more menacingly bloated
Well, before you declare anti-China posturing, have you considered how China treats Western social media companies? They are completely banned.
China takes a protectionist stance towards many industries, whereas the US claims, not entirely correctly, to be a bastion of free trade. I’m not sure US citizens want their government taking cues from the CCP either
The US is hugely protectionist. Started under Trump, continued under Biden.
Two wrongs don’t make a right.
I mean in trade disputes it often does.
Perhaps, but not when you’re supposed to be the bastion of free speech. And while there is the aspect of this being about domestic neerdowells not getting their beaks wet. There’s plenty speech suppression involved as well. I think the stunt ticktok pulled in this case backfired spectacularly. It had been lurking in the background for a while. But it seems they felt urgency after that.
I’d still have a problem with this even if they shut down sites like stormfront as well. But at least that would be consistently wrong. Not hypocritically wrong.
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Champing at the bit (not “chomping”)
I mean in all honesty if another app takes over TikTok it’ll just be Instagram reels. It’s already got a lot of cross-buy-in.
Good.
Can someone make a federated decentralised alternative for these fellow addicts? At least they won’t be at mercy of geopolitical powers but only our local, innocent, slightly mad admins.
I realise though that it would take gargantuan effort$
I’ve heard of Goldfish and Vidzy.
A federated alternative for that already exists - peertube. Adapting it to a short form video format wouldn’t be that difficult. However, running it (any video streaming platform) is expensive. How do u plan to fund it?
I plan to kindap a one of forbes top 100. Then hold them captive until the desired result is achieved and legal matters resolved
YouTube is going to eat their audience with Shorts.
It won’t be YouTube Shorts, which isn’t doesn’t even have a functioning algorithm.
us be like please please stop spying on our children so that WE can do that and also prevent the thoughtcrime of believing genocide (in Palestine) is bad
But you do realise there’s a difference between a business owning some data about its users in a well regulated democracy and the Chinese state having free access to a tonne of personal data about a vast amount of people in the West?
Also, I presume you are aware that China prohibits the export of data on Chinese citizens to western servers.
While it’s not exactly important who started it, China started it.
Why do people keep bringing up Palestine when talking about TikTok? Is this some CCP astroturfing?
Government did not care what happened on Tiktok during the KIA nonsense. Tiktok is now more controlled and cleaned up and became a new source for young people. Now the government wants to ban it. It is much better than before and the whole time it was Chines owned. So now, you have to argue against two points.
- It was OK Asian people owned it before. Why not now?
- The content is moderated now and adults no longer complain it’s worse than Instagram, Twitter, or the racist cesspool of a comment section that is Youtube.
You can be critical of the CCP but also see the increased urgency in “fixing tiktok” after US/Israel propaganda to hide Palestine genocide got stymied by tiktok.
