[HN Gopher] TikTok Feeds Teens a Diet of Darkness
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       TikTok Feeds Teens a Diet of Darkness
        
       Author : Jimmc414
       Score  : 87 points
       Date   : 2023-05-13 20:30 UTC (2 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.wsj.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.wsj.com)
        
       | [deleted]
        
       | ingenika wrote:
       | I think algorithm auditing should be a solution
        
       | americanZero wrote:
       | [dead]
        
       | rdxm wrote:
       | [dead]
        
       | MichaelZuo wrote:
       | Anyone who even briefly used Instagram, Snapchat, etc., in the
       | last decade would know they were far from wholesome, especially
       | when the 'influencer' stuff started gaining traction. So I would
       | be surprised if TikTok failed to clear that low bar.
       | 
       | In fact, it's so unlikely, considering the vastly greater
       | scrutiny they're under, that I'm beginning to suspect it's more
       | to do with geopolitics then any actual aspect of the social media
       | platform.
       | 
       | And it doesn't help that nearly every comment debates geopolitics
       | whenever one of these articles is posted. Wanting Beijing to buy
       | more soybeans, be less obstinate about the WTO, vote against
       | Russia in the security council, etc..., is fine, but I'm getting
       | tired of everything being dragged into this browbeating contest.
        
         | CPLX wrote:
         | Geopolitics has everything to do with it. Tik Tok would be
         | banned immediately under any sane policy we have never allowed
         | mass media outlets to be controlled by state agents of a
         | hostile foreign power for obvious reasons.
        
           | [deleted]
        
             | [deleted]
        
           | alluro2 wrote:
           | I agree in principle - but why is TikTok different - why then
           | not, for example, Instagram as well? Is the content on IG any
           | better? Does Meta for some reason have any one individual's
           | interests at heart more than TikTok?
        
             | CPLX wrote:
             | Those should be broken up for different long-standing and
             | obvious reasons, namely that they're clearly prohibited by
             | existing antitrust statute. That however is a different
             | issue to foreign state controlled media.
        
             | numpad0 wrote:
             | The only problem with social media algorithms to anyone is
             | that that anyone is in its line of sight through the
             | operating end of it. It's generally inadvisable,
             | uncomfortable and principally incorrect to stand downrange
             | of such devices, that's all.
        
           | kieselguhr_kid wrote:
           | Someone help me understand why I should care more about the
           | Chinese government having my data than my own. My own
           | government actually has power over me.
        
             | CPLX wrote:
             | Because the Chinese state is autocratic and malevolent and
             | has as a stated goal destroying American power and
             | replacing it with their own anti-democratic power
             | structures.
        
               | kieselguhr_kid wrote:
               | Setting aside the far more malevolent impact of American
               | power, China has no way to use my data to oppress me. The
               | US does, and routinely uses social media data against its
               | own citizens and people abroad.
        
               | CPLX wrote:
               | We're talking about an instant, direct, and unobservable
               | line into the psyches of tens of millions of American
               | teenagers.
               | 
               | The only reason this is even an argument is deep
               | influence peddling and a staggering complacency towards
               | the real long term motives of the CCP. Which are related.
        
               | hax0ron3 wrote:
               | This kind of fear about large-scale communist subversion
               | was common back in the 1950s too, yet that generation of
               | American kids turned out mostly fine.
        
               | flangola7 wrote:
               | If China destabilizes US democracy (more than Russia
               | already has) that can definitely hurt you.
               | 
               | But it's not a competition. Both are bad, both should be
               | resisted. I want TikTok banned AND I want comprehensive
               | laws forbidding Facebook and domestic government from
               | abusing my information.
        
       | ok123456 wrote:
       | The lanyard class is really hitting the yellow peril button
       | really hard.
       | 
       | How about "Commercial Media Feeds Everyone a Diet of Darkness"?
        
       | booleandilemma wrote:
       | Right, and mainstream media is all sunshine, lollipops, and
       | rainbows.
        
       | richk449 wrote:
       | We need a constitutional amendment banning infinite scroll.
        
       | hax0ron3 wrote:
       | There was plenty of darkness on the Internet back in the 90s when
       | I was a kid using it, and I grew up just fine despite having
       | access to hardcore pornography, gore, and all kinds of disturbed
       | people's writings. I do not think that targeted algorithms make
       | any significant difference in this regard.
       | 
       | The "won't somebody please think of the children!!!" moral panic
       | around social media annoys me. Hysterias about shadowy outside
       | agencies infiltrating and subverting society usually annoy me in
       | general, whether they are about Jews polluting the minds of good
       | Germans, communists taking over Hollywood, the CIA being behind
       | every revolution, shadowy Russians interfering in America's
       | elections, or nefarious Chinese hurting American children by
       | giving them access to information.
       | 
       | Such theories often have some grain of truth to them. Obviously,
       | there are lots of different groups out there running actual
       | influence and subversion campaigns. But I think that such
       | campaigns are typically nowhere near as centralized or as
       | effective as the subversion theorists claim. The subversion
       | theorists frame things in a way that discounts the agency of the
       | supposed targets of the subversion, and I think this reveals what
       | many of them actually think about those targets. It is an
       | authoritarian mindset. "I, who am obviously a good guy, should
       | protect these pawns from having their minds by subverted by this
       | other power over there. Only I, not those other guys, should have
       | the power to control the minds of the worthless plebs."
        
       | rvz wrote:
       | This really is no different to Instagram, but is even worse. The
       | solution is not to replace Instagram or TikTok with another
       | social network as clearly that doesn't work, but the real
       | solution it is to delete your accounts and get off of these apps.
       | 
       | One does not stop and quit their alcohol addiction by drinking a
       | different brand of alcohol. So the only solution is to delete
       | your account and these apps.
       | 
       | Very simple, and it has always been possible [0]. So what is your
       | excuse?
       | 
       | [0] https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/newsbeat-40654983
        
         | laratied wrote:
         | Deleting social media was trivial for me as an old man. I don't
         | really care that much what people are doing and if I missed out
         | on party invites I doubt I would have went anyway. I haven't
         | been on Facebook in 10 years and have never been on Tiktok or
         | Instagram.
         | 
         | It is a completely different story though if I think of myself
         | at 16. Teenage years were tough enough without anyone having
         | social media. To be one of the outcast without social media is
         | inconceivable. This is a total failure by adults to have put
         | kids in this position.
         | 
         | The craziest thing to me is that we don't just put the same
         | limits on children on Tiktok that they do in China. It is as if
         | children were getting free, unlimited cookies sent to them in
         | the mail and we do nothing because "cookies taste good". "What
         | do you want me to do? Kids love cookies!"
        
         | andrewjl wrote:
         | This seemingly reasonable argument also happens to benefit the
         | pocketbooks of those who have ownership of these social media
         | properties.
         | 
         | Not to mention that putting the responsibility on individuals
         | to solve systemic problems disproportionately impacts
         | marginalized and underrepresented groups.
        
         | macintux wrote:
         | Deleting my account did nothing to alleviate the destructive
         | impact Facebook has on teenagers. Had I a TikTok account,
         | deleting it would similarly accomplish nothing for anyone but
         | myself.
        
           | nobody9999 wrote:
           | >Deleting my account did nothing to alleviate the destructive
           | impact Facebook has on teenagers. Had I a TikTok account,
           | deleting it would similarly accomplish nothing for anyone but
           | myself.
           | 
           | A fair point.
           | 
           | But while you won't be "saving the world," you will be
           | getting _you_ away from such toxic cesspools.
           | 
           | Unless you _like_ toxic cesspools. In which case, please do
           | carry on. Good luck.
        
         | captainkrtek wrote:
         | I quit all social media a couple years ago by simply deleting
         | everything. It's a bit different being in your late 20s and not
         | on instagram, tiktok. I tried limiting measures but hated the
         | compulsive aspects of needing to check in on social apps.
         | Deleting everything has been great and no feeling of wanting to
         | go back.
         | 
         | Conversely, my partner has tried to use different apps,
         | mechanisms, and so on to limit screentime, all with limited
         | success. Social media usage is seriously addictive and
         | compulsive. The number of times people just open their phone
         | and compulsively check instagram is wild..
         | 
         | I think the limiting piece for people is the social aspects,
         | and feeling of missing out. Or that they feel its the main way
         | to connect with friends.
        
           | tstrimple wrote:
           | > I quit all social media a couple years ago by simply
           | deleting everything.
           | 
           | They proudly declare on a social media website.
        
             | captainkrtek wrote:
             | Meaning conventional sites (FB, Instagram, Snapchat, etc).
             | Not the internet at large
        
           | q7xvh97o2pDhNrh wrote:
           | TBH, Reddit has been pretty addictive for me. Currently
           | working on breaking that addiction.
        
             | captainkrtek wrote:
             | Totally get it. I still visit sites like reddit (or HN)
             | where you can browse and scroll interesting things.
             | 
             | Think the bigger challenge for anyone who quits these sites
             | is what to fill the time we spend scrolling with? We've all
             | spent many years conditioned to simply open these apps to
             | fill any time or moment of boredom, with low effort. Ive
             | had to take up a number of interests, mostly physical, to
             | keep busy and happy.
        
               | jgilias wrote:
               | There's this book called "Deep Work" that some people (me
               | included) like. From the things I've taken from it one is
               | "embrace boredom". Basically, being bored these days is a
               | skill that takes development. And it really does wonders
               | to having a clear mind, coming up with original ideas,
               | etc. The biggest challenge when doing this is that I'm so
               | accustomed to using the internet as part of my thought
               | process that it's really difficult to not use it to
               | verify some idea.
               | 
               | But yeah, try learning to be bored.
        
               | captainkrtek wrote:
               | I agree with that philosophy, not trying to cram every
               | free moment with content. For me embracing an athletic
               | lifestyle has been a great way. While its not embracing
               | boredom, its at least fun, fulfilling, and positive. Also
               | language learning has been a great interest to pursue
        
         | Xeoncross wrote:
         | Keep these apps off your phone if you can.
         | 
         | Use them on a computer when you decide you need to do something
         | on them, not when they (ping) and beckon you to come consume
         | content.
        
           | paulcole wrote:
           | I use my phone/iPad with no notifications on. I still ended
           | up watching 2-3 hours of TikTok a day because the algorithm
           | was so "good." I ended up deciding it was taking too much
           | time away from the things I really liked and deleted it off
           | my devices. I'll admit I still manually go to people's
           | profiles I like to see what they're posting, but it's at most
           | once a day for 1 minute rather than hours of mindless
           | scrolling.
        
         | Calvin02 wrote:
         | I'm old enough to remember that the same media that's
         | complaining about Social Media's affects on Teens is the same
         | media that was after video games, Hollywood, music videos.
         | 
         | Moral panic has always sold newspapers.
         | 
         | I'm not saying you're wrong but I think this perspective has
         | helped me see things a bit differently.
        
           | api wrote:
           | I thought those things were BS. Social media is different.
           | It's addictive to a degree that goes far beyond TV or video
           | games and the content is shockingly mindless and toxic.
           | 
           | The average content on social media (at least if you let
           | yourself be led by algorithms) is easily as bad as the worst
           | content on cable TV. Some of it is worse than almost anything
           | on TV in a very specific way: it's utterly mindless. I'm
           | continuously shocked by the mindlessness of what trends on
           | YouTube for instance. It lacks even basic plot or structure,
           | just endless repetitive spectacle or people faking excited
           | reactions while doing the most banal things. It barely
           | qualifies as filler yet people eat it up.
           | 
           | Then of course you have the political and cultural trash.
           | Right, left, up, down, but no matter what it is it must be
           | dumb and extreme and inflammatory. The most successful stuff
           | in this category either serves to inflame hatred toward
           | someone else or feed narcissism in the target audience.
           | 
           | Absolute trash, it seems, is what maximizes engagement. I
           | don't like what it says about humanity.
        
             | 52-6F-62 wrote:
             | I think it says what the mystics were always saying: Most
             | people are like they're asleep.
             | 
             | Great art works to break people out of that sleep--that
             | includes pop music and TV and whatever else.
             | 
             | The kind of garbage that gets elevated by these algorithms
             | does the opposite--it buries peoples minds and numbs their
             | senses. There's a lot of money to be made off of people who
             | are continuously preoccupied rather than present and
             | feeling.
        
           | 908087 wrote:
           | Video games, movies, and music weren't able to hit users with
           | micro-targeted ads/propaganda/"content" meant to modify
           | individual behavior in ways often harmful to them or society
           | as a whole.
           | 
           | Unfortunately even that has changed now that everyone uses
           | streaming services and plays always-online games.
        
           | Amezarak wrote:
           | Maybe they were right, and social media is even worse.
           | 
           | TV, for instance, has pretty clearly been a net negative due
           | to its impact on the social fabric and people's, especially
           | children's, minds. The fact social media is even worse
           | doesn't change that.
        
             | marcellus23 wrote:
             | > TV, for instance, has pretty clearly been a net negative
             | due to its impact on the social fabric and people's,
             | especially children's, minds
             | 
             | I don't think this is clear. What kind of effects do you
             | think TV has had on the social fabric?
        
             | gnz11 wrote:
             | Heck, you can take that even further and say the entire
             | hyper-consumption economy has been a net negative.
        
           | retrac wrote:
           | Society largely tuned out of the "does media impact its
           | viewers psychologically or behaviourally?" debate in the 80s
           | after the moral panic. And it was a moral panic.
           | 
           | But I've always been uncomfortable with the opposite extreme
           | position, the implicit reaction to the moral panic. The
           | argument where TV, movies, games, social media, it's not
           | possible for them to have any real effect on their viewers
           | psychologically, regardless of content, even when they're
           | exposed to dozens of hours a week in some extreme cases.
           | 
           | That strains my credulity. There's been a lot of research
           | done which suggests it is true; it has an impact. For
           | example, exposure to violent media doesn't appear to cause
           | violence by inducing insensitivity to horror and the disgust,
           | as once hypothesized. But it does seem to cause anxiety about
           | being the victim of violence. The more violent TV news and
           | violent movies you watch, the more you overestimate your
           | chances of being horribly murdered one day. But you know,
           | maybe it does just make us violent. The American mass shooter
           | phenomenon is, arguably, a media-propagated thing. Copycats
           | upon copycats, inspired solely through media exposure.
           | 
           | Similarly, sexualized material does not turn people sex-
           | crazed, it makes them sex-negative and apprehensive about
           | their own body image. As a general rule, the more porn you
           | watch, the fewer sex partners you have. There has been a
           | massive change in the sexual behaviour of young adults over
           | the last couple decades -- they have literally half as much
           | sex as we did in my generation. Could it possibly have
           | something to do with the media boys watch?
        
       | WhereIsTheTruth wrote:
       | The West is pioneering the trash culture of social media, I find
       | TikTok to be quite cheerful in comparison, I don't know what the
       | purpose of this article is other than to spread anti-TikTok
       | propaganda, which seems to be popular among today's elite
       | 
       | There is a better strategy to counter foreign threats than
       | blaming others for doing what you have been doing for decades, it
       | makes you look like a fool
        
         | rayiner wrote:
         | I like Tik Tok. Even the Chinese propaganda is nice and
         | wholesome.
        
         | bluepizza wrote:
         | I have looked into Tiktok a few times, looked at the feed, and
         | search for a few tags, nothing particularly complex, topics
         | like history, or k-pop.
         | 
         | The amount of misinformation and disturbing videos I've seen
         | was astonishing.
         | 
         | "Trash culture" is a natural human phenomenon of which no
         | culture has a monopoly on.
        
         | andybak wrote:
         | Dunno. I spent a few days diving into TikTok out of a sense of
         | curiosity and a desire to "stay in touch".
         | 
         | I found it got weird quite quickly without any conscious input
         | on my part. Animal cruelty, conspiracy stuff and things that
         | YouTube has never suggested.
        
           | AtreidesTyrant wrote:
           | lmao, this is straight untrue. how many family members have
           | been lost because of YouTubes insane conspiracy stuff.
        
             | numpad0 wrote:
             | Social media suggestions varies person to person. TikTok
             | gave me nothing memorable last I tried. YouTube seems to be
             | a better place when I'm logged out in a fresh browser.
             | Twitter and Reddit gives me very little fake/incorrect
             | posts. None of above seems to be the case for anyone else.
        
           | deepzn wrote:
           | Agreed. TikTok in the wild without developing a curated feed
           | of normal Human interests, can keep recommending sickening
           | videos. I've seen the animal cruelty videos you saw too.
           | 
           | Though, if you get out of the YT algorithm, for eg. in
           | incognito mode, I've seen very poor recommendations as well.
           | Like viral bait videos. But not like Tiktok.
        
           | darth_avocado wrote:
           | Not sure about animal cruelty, but you click on one Tim
           | Dillon comedy bit on YouTube and for some reason the feed
           | just immediately devolves into an endless stream of
           | conspiracy stuff. Clicking not interested does little to
           | change it, and even watched videos keep showing up again and
           | again.
        
             | worrycue wrote:
             | Wiping your Watch History should fix it.
             | 
             | I always remove objectionable videos I accidentally watch
             | from my Watch History to prevent the algorithm from using
             | it as a basis for recommending me stuff.
        
             | spondylosaurus wrote:
             | Hearing stories about YouTube recommending conspiracy
             | videos always fascinates me because my own recommendations
             | rarely veer in that direction, if ever. But I keep to a
             | pretty strict diet of gaming/speedrun videos and bass
             | (guitar, not fish) content, so what I see on my homepage
             | almost entirely adheres to that.
             | 
             | But then I watch one innocuous video outside of my core
             | interests--say, washing machine repair how-to, or a clip of
             | an old sitcom, and then my feed gets infected with Jordan
             | Peterson or other weird shit and I'm like ah, _this_ is
             | what everyone 's talking about! And I have to go prune my
             | watch history until they vanish. It's bizarre.
        
           | heavyset_go wrote:
           | Facebook Reels has been showing me videos of animals being
           | killed, and I've been keeping a list because it's absurd.
        
             | hackernewds wrote:
             | Why are you keeping this list?
        
       | erulabs wrote:
       | My wife uses TikTok sometimes. Her feed is mostly toddler related
       | (we have a two year old), and is typically really light and
       | happy. If she scrolls for more than about 10 minutes tho she'll
       | get a video about a kid dying or being abused, and I find her
       | crying and upset.
       | 
       | I don't know if it's intentional or not - it's possibly not - but
       | I know it makes her more sad than happy.
        
         | than3 wrote:
         | More than likely its intentional.
         | 
         | One of the main reasons TikTok has been grilled by congress is
         | because of China's stance and willingness to violate any law
         | for their own benefit.
         | 
         | One of those benefits not very commonly understood in America
         | by the general populace is Political Warfare, which China calls
         | the destruction of national will in their own documentation.
         | 
         | The USMC University has an ebook that is freely available that
         | describes what is done, why its important, and its effects. It
         | is a worthwhile read, if you do further research on this know
         | that Bezmenov is not credible; there are much more credible
         | sources, that's not to say what he says is necessarily
         | incorrect, the best deceit weaves truth into lies.
         | 
         | The general gist is they seek to put people into a
         | psychological state of demoralization, in that state you
         | typically polarize into two separate groups.
         | 
         | Apathetic and complacent where you don't react to anything, and
         | the other where you lash out at anything that you perceive or
         | triggers you (through psychological anchoring [using NLP
         | vocabulary], and various form of isolation). The conflict
         | between these three groups (apathetic, violent, rational)
         | allows a smaller number of people to seize power in a
         | destabilization event which is a regime change playbook that
         | most governments have used at one point or another.
         | Historically, the last stage of that playbook involves getting
         | back to a new normal by consolidating, and eliminating
         | detractors (those people that lashed out).
         | 
         | Its subtle, and deceitful, but certain things you just can't
         | give others the benefit of the doubt. Existential threats to
         | your individual identity (which is what's often targeted during
         | propaganda, and political warfare efforts), are one of those
         | things. If its present, the source isn't credible and shouldn't
         | be used regardless of what they say.
         | 
         | P.S. There's also a lawsuit from a TikTok insider that just
         | made headlines recently disclosing how code was in the app to
         | allow CCP backdoor access to US data and amplify or de-amplify
         | narratives according to Communist core values. If there was any
         | question about TikTok's credibility and their narrative that
         | they don't do this; that pretty much seals the deal given
         | everything else assuming of course what was said is factually
         | correct.
         | 
         | They clearly would not have credibility, which would eliminate
         | them as a potential choice in any risk management analysis you
         | might need to do.
         | 
         | [Link]: https://www.businessinsider.com/new-lawsuit-alleges-
         | tiktok-o...
        
           | 36933 wrote:
           | Can you link that ebook, please?
        
           | aaomidi wrote:
           | Here's the solution here:
           | 
           | 1. Proper data protection laws that apply universally to
           | every company. No more "oh sorry we fucked up here's free
           | credit monitoring". I'm talking fines of 5% base + 1% daily
           | increase for every day they delay announcing their fuck up of
           | global revenue. If they've tried to hide it and it comes out
           | later, that company gets nationalized.
           | 
           | 2. Actual lawsuits against the various social media companies
           | that have actively aided in manipulating people. E.g
           | Cambridge Analytica
           | 
           | 3. Removal of any "limited liability" protections against
           | execs that actively stood by and waited for this to happen.
           | Execs being defined by the top 10-20% of the company by both
           | assets and income (stock and cash)
           | 
           | If you're talking about "communist core values" you're,
           | respectfully, fallen into a weird propaganda trap. Nothing
           | about China is "communist". North Korea calls themselves
           | democratic, but no one actually calls them that.
           | 
           | To me, your comment sounds like a bag of Sinophobia mixed in
           | with a bunch of "ok" takes assuming you want this applied to
           | everyone. Not just the new big baddie.
        
             | Mizoguchi wrote:
             | Telling the truth about the CPP and their absolute control
             | of Chinese "private" corporations to spy and infiltrate
             | their adversaries is not Sinophobia.
             | 
             | The general Chinese population are not to blame here as
             | they are just another victim of the CPP.
             | 
             | Growing up my self in a totalitarian "communist" regime
             | (none of them are communist for that matter, they
             | incorporate socialist and communist ideas in their
             | propaganda) I know there's nothing you can do as an
             | individual to change the system and getting organized with
             | other people is technically impossible, as the climate of
             | fear and distrust is such that you don't dare to talk about
             | anything closely related to politics among neighbors,
             | friends and even relatives.
             | 
             | We know what happens to Chinese exec, artists and athletes
             | when they don't play by the CPP rules.
             | 
             | Just imagine if in the US it was normal for people like
             | Jeff Bezos, LeBron James or Jennifer Lawrence "dissappear"
             | every time they confront the US government and the
             | psychological impact that would have on the regular
             | population.
        
             | than3 wrote:
             | While I agree with some of what you say, with respect, that
             | latter part I think you've fallen into a flawed association
             | trap through the use of corrupted language.
             | 
             | Anyone that's educated in this area knows just because
             | someone says something is true, it doesn't make it so, and
             | discussing that wasn't even part of the comment so you are
             | getting into the weeds.
             | 
             | For your own edifice, can you (for yourself) tell what are
             | the differences between socialism, communism, fascism and
             | fabianism; and which ones are mutually exclusive? A google
             | search surface view won't be much help with answering that;
             | best resource is historical texts and essays.
             | 
             | To me, you seem to have mixed objectives or have been
             | seriously misled. You claim its new, but this in fact is a
             | very old 'baddie' wrapped up in new clothing.
        
           | windexh8er wrote:
           | > The USMC University has an ebook that is freely available
           | that describes what is done, why its important, and its
           | effects.
           | 
           | Can you share more specifics about this eBook? Thanks!
        
         | parker_mountain wrote:
         | It's not intentional in the sense that they're trying to do
         | that to her, but their algorithm likely determined that showing
         | a video in that cohort leads to increased use of their app.
        
           | neilv wrote:
           | > _It 's not intentional in the sense that they're trying to
           | do that to her,_
           | 
           | Do you know this for certain?
        
             | parker_mountain wrote:
             | I'm pretty sure "tiktok is specifically trying to make
             | people sad" and "tiktok does not really care if they hurt
             | people as long as they increase engagement" are two
             | separate concepts.
        
               | neilv wrote:
               | Yes, and reportedly neither is a completely resolved
               | question.
        
               | ThrowawayTestr wrote:
               | Is the former out of the question?
        
             | erehweb wrote:
             | What would TikTok's motivation be to make her sad?
        
               | fear_and_coffee wrote:
               | [dead]
        
               | TheSpiceIsLife wrote:
               | The USA's FBI currently claims:
               | 
               |  _The counterintelligence and economic espionage efforts
               | emanating from the government of China and the Chinese
               | Communist Party are a grave threat to the economic well-
               | being and democratic values of the United States._
               | 
               |  _Confronting this threat is the FBI's top
               | counterintelligence priority._
               | 
               |  _To be clear, the adversary is not the Chinese people or
               | people of Chinese descent or heritage. The threat comes
               | from the programs and policies pursued by an
               | authoritarian government._
               | 
               |  _The Chinese government is employing tactics that seek
               | to influence lawmakers and public opinion to achieve
               | policies that are more favorable to China._
               | 
               |  _At the same time, the Chinese government is seeking to
               | become the world's greatest superpower through predatory
               | lending and business practices, systematic theft of
               | intellectual property, and brazen cyber intrusions._
               | 
               |  _China's efforts target businesses, academic
               | institutions, researchers, lawmakers, and the general
               | public and will require a whole-of-society response. The
               | government and the private sector must commit to working
               | together to better understand and counter the threat._
               | 
               | https://www.fbi.gov/investigate/counterintelligence/the-
               | chin...
               | 
               | ByteDance's motives should, by now, be clear.
        
           | andrewjl wrote:
           | > algorithm likely determined that showing a video in that
           | cohort leads to increased use of their app
           | 
           | Development, selection, tuning, and ultimately deployment of
           | that algorithm were all intentional actions.
        
           | TheSpiceIsLife wrote:
           | No no no. You're confused.
           | 
           | There is no _algorithm acting independently_. The
           | responsibile agent(s) is(are) a person(people).
        
             | parker_mountain wrote:
             | No no no. You're confused.
             | 
             | I didn't absolve the creator of guilt, I just said that
             | it's unlikely they're intentionally trying to make her sad.
             | They're just trying to increase engagement - at any cost.
        
               | xapata wrote:
               | Why? What motivates ByteDance?
        
             | placatedmayhem wrote:
             | Exactly. These outcomes are the results of the algorithms
             | and their tuning, whether intentional or not. Humans are
             | responsible for it and can tune it differently, to a
             | different result. However, these new tunings may reduce
             | engagement or other profit drivers, which a for-profit
             | company will obviously not want to do.
        
         | TheSpiceIsLife wrote:
         | And you... permit this to continue? Intentionally?
        
           | suddenclarity wrote:
           | Permit? Your wife? It's not a kid you can revoke internet
           | access from.
        
             | TheSpiceIsLife wrote:
             | No, that would be _unskilful_.
             | 
             | I _protect_ my SO, with whom I cohabitate, by sharing my
             | knowledge and experience with. By leading.
             | 
             | If my SO starts exhibiting behaviour indicative of new
             | psychological / physical pathology, we deal with it,
             | together.
             | 
             | We, _I_ , don't do _nothing_. That 's what's commonly
             | referred to as _enabling_.
        
               | jjj123 wrote:
               | Where did the OP say they've done nothing? Isn't it
               | entirely possible they've said how they feel about it,
               | and their partner decided not to listen to them for
               | whatever reason?
               | 
               | I had a partner who smoked and continually encouraged
               | them to quit. It took years. Pathological behaviors are
               | hard to break.
        
               | gg-plz wrote:
               | [dead]
        
             | carlosjobim wrote:
             | Husband and wife have a duty to take care of each other. If
             | TikTok is damaging her, he should not permit it. If he is
             | abusing drugs that is destroying him, she should not permit
             | it.
        
               | xapata wrote:
               | What do you mean by permit in this usage?
        
               | dymk wrote:
               | I'm interpreting it as in "Stand for it"
        
               | xapata wrote:
               | That's also vague. Do you mean that if the person does
               | what you don't permit, you would leave the relationship?
        
       | DoreenMichele wrote:
       | _videos that promote restrictive diets and discuss self-harm and
       | suicide._
       | 
       | This sounds to me like a misguided attempt to "warn" and
       | "educate" in the worst way possible.
        
       | telotortium wrote:
       | How long did they work for the alliteration in that headline?
        
       | Jimmc414 wrote:
       | https://archive.is/wQvnR
        
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       (page generated 2023-05-13 23:01 UTC)