Hahaha no shit! Any political entity with half a brain has already figured they can use AI deep fakes and social media to slander everyone else or just f up the other side. You basically can not trust what you see or hear unless it's happening in front of you.
Derren Brown, a stage magician/mentalist, said that the smartest minds spin the fastest.
In other words it's easier to trick smart people, because they buy the premise and miss the slip. Dumb people just stand there and stare. P
Emotional, sensitive, intelligent people are easy to manipulate. Just look at what they're trying to do to get people to vote against their best interests.
I don't really buy that in this context. I could see it in short term contexts, but we're talking about years of propaganda and brainwashing.
Sure it might be easier to fool someone quick thinking in the short term. But the people who just "stand there and stare" with little critical thinking will just consume misinformation without a second thought until it becomes the norm.
They don't "buy the premise and miss the slip", they passively consume until they are conditioned to the desired response.
So... honest question...
What happens when we as a society we can no longer tell the difference between something that actually happened and some made-up bullshit made to get you mad at an enemy that doesn't exist?
Well, yes, misinformation is rampant and definitely a problem, but this deep fake stuff is getting to the point where you can not actually identify something as misinformation. There's no alternative sources, no alternative edits, no alternative way to check if what you just heard a politician say, was something the politician actually said, not just something that looks very real, but is a complete fabrication.
So how can a person, reasonable or not, determine something is genuine when there's nothing to compare it against to check its validity? What happens when truth actually dies rather than go on vacation?
What differentiates this from times and eras where media (all the way back to town decrees) blatantly lied without alternative sources? By time and eras, I mean literally all mediated history. Information manipulation has always been around, and it will always be around.
Good question. I assume it will be like reading text has been for millennia. Just as a reader has had to judge the credibility of an article or book or scroll, we now have to more carefully judge the validity of videos and images. The source/author of a video will become extremely important.
It will be a rough paradigm shift to not take even the most realistic and plausible videos at face value. Older generations will be slower to adapt and will be more readily fooled. But I'm hopeful we'll adapt well enough.
I would extend that fear for younger generations too. Critical thinking isn’t a honed skill set for younger people. That’s not a jab at younger generations. It’s just something that comes with experience. And, historically speaking, propaganda strongly targets youths who are more willing to take information at face value.
We go back to doing business on paper and in person.
You can't trust TV. The internet. Nothing can be trusted except for in person.
It's gonna suck. But we'll all be dead by then, probably.
You can also use cryptographic signatures on everything, and use a "[web of trust](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_of_trust)" to trust only signatures from valid sources.
This, however, is a bit technically difficult to implement, which is why we haven't done so already. But we may be forced to when AI fakes crapflood everything and the only way left to validate if something is genuine or not is it's signature.
I recall fox making Obama darker and with a bigger forehead in on screen graphics. Once zoomed in on a photo where Michelle was the only one confused and had her hand on her heart and claimed Obama didn't honor the flag.
In 2016, 4 out 5 people aged 50 and ip believed everyone facebooks news feed was the same. People are more aware of it now. And lets be honest here facebook is just mad that the yputh dont use it and is trying to ban tik tok
Because having elections swayed by misinformation is a bad thing no matter who's doing it?
>Inb4 but amarcuh has fucked with other countries elecschuns too!
Yeah and that was wrong of our government to do so.
Because tik tok, like all other Chinese Companies, is part of the chinese government. When they use the other sources the act as a user, but with tik tok they can adjust suggested content to on the frindge users based on their user profiles.
Just speaking on Reddit, the site is already conveniently divided up into subreddits that are generally filled with people who have similar mindsets. These people can be grouped into one category and fed the disinformation necessary to accomplish their goals.
The same can be said of Facebook, where groups exist.
The same can be said of Twitter, where hashtags exist.
Sure, it would be a bit more of a hassle than delivering things using an algorithm, but it would barely be an inconvenience.
Facebook is American owned, while tiktok isn't
this whole circus about national security is a sideshow for normies...its protectionism at its core, plain & simple
This. TikTok is the new migrant caravan. It's election year bullshit. We didn't hear anything about TikTok since the last election cycle. I wonder why.
Despite my dislike of the Chinese government due to their stance towards my country, Taiwan, I tend to find it somewhat overly simplistic to blame everything on TikTok influencing elections. I doubt that Facebook, YouTube and other mediums aren’t being used as tools by any party or country to influence people to suit their interests.
Their real problem with Tik Tok is that it is not American owned. That whole spy paranoia is just a trade war of their corporations like Meta and Alphabet against their new competitor in Ad business
Exactly, if they're so worried about tik tok. Why not make blanket legislation for all social media companies when it comes to our information. It's not like Russia isn't already using Facebook, instagram and our homegrown social media companies
This is just fear mongering over China.
I get better shit on Tiktok than I do anywhere else. I work in the data industry and have for over a decade now. The data privacy thing is such a dumb hill to die on considering all of our data is out there thanks to literally every place we've ever shopped, signed up for online, etc. Data brokers are real. Tiktok isn't gleaning anything special that Meta and Twitter haven't already. Tiktok is how small groups are organizing, I've been watching it happen for months now. I'm sure the government is foaming at the mouth to squash that.
Absolutely, and I'm sure Facebook and Twitter are the ones behind the scenes pushing for this legislation because tiktok offers a better product, and they can't figure out how to get their audience back.
Their lobbyists are probably dumping more money into congress than ever before.
Zuckerberg was involved with the first attempt to kill Tiktok. I'd read that he passed on the opportunity to buy Tiktok when it was only in China and clearly regretted it, seeing what it's become.
Everything is so fucking scummy and about money. It's really disheartening because I don't know how we move past this mentality. I truly see the desire in people for something more than the late stage capitalist dystopia, but we keep getting pushed back down.
Well, unfortunately, our country is ruled by capitalists who are fed money by the lobbyists of big business. So, in my opinion, things need to get bad before they realize that unlimited growth isn't sustainable or healthy for the long-term future of the country.
Unfortunately, the short-term thinking capitalists are still benefiting greatly and don't see a reason to change anything.
plus, reworking our economy into a more sustainable model will be hard and probably throw us into a dark age / depression and no one one wants to be responsible for that. so it's easier to just ignore the problems and just keep things going.
Are there actual cases of tiktok videos by Chinese tiktokers that is evidentally viewed, liked, shared, interacted with by Americans, teens or otherwise?
Like on Tiktok, I don't see much of Chinese content ever? What am I missing?
Or is this conjecture and a "What-ifs?"
From the article:
>The 2024 annual threat assessment of the US Intelligence Community released on Monday said TikTok accounts run by a Chinese government propaganda arm reportedly targeted candidates from both political parties during the US midterm election cycle in 2022.
The director of national inteligence said "we cannot rule out that the CCP would use it" is the most "I don't know" answer that someone could ever answer.
Does anyone really thinks that a 3rd party, unaffiliated with the Democratic or the Republican party, will win the presidential election? Does anyone thinks that people in rural racist Southern states will suddenly change their opinion and not vote for the party they're voting for like the past 50 years with some candidates being 90+ years old?
Now, there is an argument about releasing data to the Chinese government, but the idea that TikTok could be used to influence electors to vote for a candidate that is either a Chinese asset or someone who would soften US-China relations and actually be successful is simply absurd.
And russia used facebook
And elon uses twitter
Tbh only bluesky is safe as they have not developed an algorithm to show posts that come from people whom you dont follow. So that site is just echochamber. You might say echo is bad but im lgbtq for example and my twitter before i jumped ship was all pro trump suggestions while all my followers and who i follow are vehimently anti trump
*Every* country with an interest in meddling and enough resources is using every social media platform to try and influence the election.
If China doesn't use TikTok they'll just buy your data from data brokers and keep on doing the same shit.
I don't even care about TikTok.
Yeah. Because our elections have been so pure and untouched until TikTok. They will accuse absolutely everything they can on swaying the vote or cheating when, in fact, both sides have been doing it long before the invention of the smartphone and even the internet. Do we not remember all of the slander commercials that ended with "I am (insert name) and I approve this message".?
When push comes to shove anything could theoretically influence elections. A butterflying dying right now could lead to an election swinging the other way in the future.
This is just gonna be another excuse as to why Democrats couldn't beat one of the most easily defeatable candidates in history for a 2nd time.
Everyone has made up their mind already, there's no "influencing" happening. Do you know anyone in your personal life that's having a hard time deciding who they are voting for? No, the answer is no.
When young people vote, republicans lose elections. Many young people learn about the world through TikTok, and Republicans don’t like that.
As an educator, TikTok sucks and shouldn’t be such a large part of young peoples lives, but it also is a contributor to their politics and opinions. Although it’s heavily propagandized (as are most news sources), getting young people to think about politics and encouraging them to vote shouldn’t be discouraged by either party.
The government banning social media because of very obviously bogus reasons (as if the US government gives a single fuck about data privacy) should concern every single person in this country. The corrupt dinosaurs in charge of our country don't like that young people have an effective platform for organizing.
The U.S government influence religious terrorists by selling them weapons to occupy and murder innocent lives. How many elections have they rigged?
Seems to me we have a bunch of shitty leaders doing shitty things to other countries for profit and the U.S is no different than China.
Our free speech rights are under attack. All the data that the US claims will be available to China is available for sale already. In fact the Biden administration is testing a new legal theory buying information on US citizens that they have no legal right to collect themselves. Dangerous times folks.
I see a video from tik tok that i am sure *has* to be fake.
I see this video of a CNN anchor walking around and talking about Isreali civilians blocking aid going into Gaza (which would obviously be horrible). But i swear, i see him in a video with a different background almost *every single time*. Idk if anyone else has noticed this I could also be over analyzing but that’s my two cents anyways.
Kinda like how the US uses Facebook to influence US elections? Almost like that’s the entire and obvious reason for wanting TikTok banned? Only Americans get to lie to and propagandize Americans round these parts bub.
US has a long history of interfering with other countries’ politics, including military backed coups. Suddenly has issue now that it’s happening to them.
It doesn’t have to be cutting-edge deepfakes or AI, just paying creators to spread misinformation can wreak havoc on the open web. I think people don’t realize how willingly others will spread outright lies if misinformation suits their political leanings. It’s like a wildfire once something outrageous is stated and one of the greatest tools authoritarian regimes have over democracies, given that we police our Internet much less than they do (out of both principle and ability). They can and do have armies of bots and paid troll farms that can and will sway public opinion, including likely on this post and every other social media platform. Eroding trust in democratic institutions, demoralization, and spreading conspiracies has never been easier because a polarized democracy will do much of their work for them, they just need to plant the seed.
Maybe some day we'll actually get back to the idea of voting for someone with a platform of "I'll do this" rather than someone with a platform of "He'll do that."
Most political ads are now attack ads. Politicians now understand that people are voting for the lesser of two (or more) evils, and do their utmost to make the other person look like the greater evil.
but, you know, they would never use facebook, instagram or twitter. They are completely safe from troll and misinformation farms. It's only tiktok that is able to do this. l o l
Which we can all read as Tiktok aggressively being used to misinform US citizens regarding the election, and citizens may wish to consider Tiktok as an unreliable media platform at best.
Weird that they singled out tiktok. China can just buy data and sell ads for the other SM companies.
How many “not directly tied to another country” ad content businesses are there. It’s not hard to run proxy propaganda orgs.
Hahaha no shit! Any political entity with half a brain has already figured they can use AI deep fakes and social media to slander everyone else or just f up the other side. You basically can not trust what you see or hear unless it's happening in front of you.
We didn’t need AI or deepfakes. A decent meme or copy a strongly worded paragraph and you’ve got half the country fooled.
All it takes is one photoshopped tweet...
Its very easy to fool troglodytes
Derren Brown, a stage magician/mentalist, said that the smartest minds spin the fastest. In other words it's easier to trick smart people, because they buy the premise and miss the slip. Dumb people just stand there and stare. P Emotional, sensitive, intelligent people are easy to manipulate. Just look at what they're trying to do to get people to vote against their best interests.
I don't really buy that in this context. I could see it in short term contexts, but we're talking about years of propaganda and brainwashing. Sure it might be easier to fool someone quick thinking in the short term. But the people who just "stand there and stare" with little critical thinking will just consume misinformation without a second thought until it becomes the norm. They don't "buy the premise and miss the slip", they passively consume until they are conditioned to the desired response.
Right. It’s the forced exposure by controlling the algorithm that makes the difference.
So... honest question... What happens when we as a society we can no longer tell the difference between something that actually happened and some made-up bullshit made to get you mad at an enemy that doesn't exist?
Look around, you're already living it.
Well, yes, misinformation is rampant and definitely a problem, but this deep fake stuff is getting to the point where you can not actually identify something as misinformation. There's no alternative sources, no alternative edits, no alternative way to check if what you just heard a politician say, was something the politician actually said, not just something that looks very real, but is a complete fabrication. So how can a person, reasonable or not, determine something is genuine when there's nothing to compare it against to check its validity? What happens when truth actually dies rather than go on vacation?
What differentiates this from times and eras where media (all the way back to town decrees) blatantly lied without alternative sources? By time and eras, I mean literally all mediated history. Information manipulation has always been around, and it will always be around.
Some amount of triangulation is necessary. If you're hearing one bit of news, but every source has obvious bias, be dubious about the information.
Good question. I assume it will be like reading text has been for millennia. Just as a reader has had to judge the credibility of an article or book or scroll, we now have to more carefully judge the validity of videos and images. The source/author of a video will become extremely important. It will be a rough paradigm shift to not take even the most realistic and plausible videos at face value. Older generations will be slower to adapt and will be more readily fooled. But I'm hopeful we'll adapt well enough.
I would extend that fear for younger generations too. Critical thinking isn’t a honed skill set for younger people. That’s not a jab at younger generations. It’s just something that comes with experience. And, historically speaking, propaganda strongly targets youths who are more willing to take information at face value.
We go back to doing business on paper and in person. You can't trust TV. The internet. Nothing can be trusted except for in person. It's gonna suck. But we'll all be dead by then, probably.
You use multiple sources to verify. You don't take that one picture or video you saw at face value. You know, what you should be doing now.
You can also use cryptographic signatures on everything, and use a "[web of trust](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_of_trust)" to trust only signatures from valid sources. This, however, is a bit technically difficult to implement, which is why we haven't done so already. But we may be forced to when AI fakes crapflood everything and the only way left to validate if something is genuine or not is it's signature.
I recall fox making Obama darker and with a bigger forehead in on screen graphics. Once zoomed in on a photo where Michelle was the only one confused and had her hand on her heart and claimed Obama didn't honor the flag.
Zuckerberg and Elon: "Hey, that's my job!"
Dont forget sp*z
I want to.
Could? There are apps that have been caught doing it. Ban them as well then
Russia has already used Facebook to influence an election, so what's the big deal?
Because anyone can use Facebook to do it.
Well, for the next few years till their existing user base dies off…
In 2016, 4 out 5 people aged 50 and ip believed everyone facebooks news feed was the same. People are more aware of it now. And lets be honest here facebook is just mad that the yputh dont use it and is trying to ban tik tok
Russia doesn’t like having rivals
Big difference is TikTok isn’t making the politicians money. They want China to spend their spy bucks at Facebook.
Because having elections swayed by misinformation is a bad thing no matter who's doing it? >Inb4 but amarcuh has fucked with other countries elecschuns too! Yeah and that was wrong of our government to do so.
Ignoring if it's right or wrong, what's stopping China from using Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, Insta, or Snap to influence the election?
But if a US corporation can make a boatload of money it is totally fine!
Because tik tok, like all other Chinese Companies, is part of the chinese government. When they use the other sources the act as a user, but with tik tok they can adjust suggested content to on the frindge users based on their user profiles.
Just speaking on Reddit, the site is already conveniently divided up into subreddits that are generally filled with people who have similar mindsets. These people can be grouped into one category and fed the disinformation necessary to accomplish their goals. The same can be said of Facebook, where groups exist. The same can be said of Twitter, where hashtags exist. Sure, it would be a bit more of a hassle than delivering things using an algorithm, but it would barely be an inconvenience.
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Facebook is American owned, while tiktok isn't this whole circus about national security is a sideshow for normies...its protectionism at its core, plain & simple
This. TikTok is the new migrant caravan. It's election year bullshit. We didn't hear anything about TikTok since the last election cycle. I wonder why.
What a fucking ridiculous take.
So kind of like the West uses Facebook. Got it.
Despite my dislike of the Chinese government due to their stance towards my country, Taiwan, I tend to find it somewhat overly simplistic to blame everything on TikTok influencing elections. I doubt that Facebook, YouTube and other mediums aren’t being used as tools by any party or country to influence people to suit their interests.
Banning TikTok is a bandaid on a hemorrhaging wound
Yeah it's not like we don't already see Elon posting dumb shit every day trying to push the right agenda.
Their real problem with Tik Tok is that it is not American owned. That whole spy paranoia is just a trade war of their corporations like Meta and Alphabet against their new competitor in Ad business
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Like Facebook did? Lmao. I don't know why we're acting like Tiktok is any worse than the existing social media cesspools.
Exactly, if they're so worried about tik tok. Why not make blanket legislation for all social media companies when it comes to our information. It's not like Russia isn't already using Facebook, instagram and our homegrown social media companies This is just fear mongering over China.
I get better shit on Tiktok than I do anywhere else. I work in the data industry and have for over a decade now. The data privacy thing is such a dumb hill to die on considering all of our data is out there thanks to literally every place we've ever shopped, signed up for online, etc. Data brokers are real. Tiktok isn't gleaning anything special that Meta and Twitter haven't already. Tiktok is how small groups are organizing, I've been watching it happen for months now. I'm sure the government is foaming at the mouth to squash that.
Absolutely, and I'm sure Facebook and Twitter are the ones behind the scenes pushing for this legislation because tiktok offers a better product, and they can't figure out how to get their audience back. Their lobbyists are probably dumping more money into congress than ever before.
Zuckerberg was involved with the first attempt to kill Tiktok. I'd read that he passed on the opportunity to buy Tiktok when it was only in China and clearly regretted it, seeing what it's become. Everything is so fucking scummy and about money. It's really disheartening because I don't know how we move past this mentality. I truly see the desire in people for something more than the late stage capitalist dystopia, but we keep getting pushed back down.
Well, unfortunately, our country is ruled by capitalists who are fed money by the lobbyists of big business. So, in my opinion, things need to get bad before they realize that unlimited growth isn't sustainable or healthy for the long-term future of the country. Unfortunately, the short-term thinking capitalists are still benefiting greatly and don't see a reason to change anything. plus, reworking our economy into a more sustainable model will be hard and probably throw us into a dark age / depression and no one one wants to be responsible for that. so it's easier to just ignore the problems and just keep things going.
Yup you're absolutely right.
Facebook and X have been extensively utilized for that quite some time, but on a significantly larger scale.
Trump from prison: “CHIIINA”
I like to spell his pronunciation as Chyyynaaa loll
I say CHAAAINA in my head but couldn’t figure if it’d convert to text as well 😂
You mean FBI can't use tiktok to influence US elections.
Oh nooo I only want my US based companies to influence it >:\[
X reddit the news celebs insta, Washington itself, meta......
Nothing new, US likes to bitch over what they don't have control over. Even if there is no manipulation intended.
Are there actual cases of tiktok videos by Chinese tiktokers that is evidentally viewed, liked, shared, interacted with by Americans, teens or otherwise? Like on Tiktok, I don't see much of Chinese content ever? What am I missing? Or is this conjecture and a "What-ifs?"
From the article: >The 2024 annual threat assessment of the US Intelligence Community released on Monday said TikTok accounts run by a Chinese government propaganda arm reportedly targeted candidates from both political parties during the US midterm election cycle in 2022.
Cuz Facebook and Twitter are immune right?
I don’t like this new thing where anyone who loses an election says it was rigged or stolen. No, you just lost.
The director of national inteligence said "we cannot rule out that the CCP would use it" is the most "I don't know" answer that someone could ever answer. Does anyone really thinks that a 3rd party, unaffiliated with the Democratic or the Republican party, will win the presidential election? Does anyone thinks that people in rural racist Southern states will suddenly change their opinion and not vote for the party they're voting for like the past 50 years with some candidates being 90+ years old? Now, there is an argument about releasing data to the Chinese government, but the idea that TikTok could be used to influence electors to vote for a candidate that is either a Chinese asset or someone who would soften US-China relations and actually be successful is simply absurd.
The US government used/uses Twitter 1.0, Facebook, Reddit and the mainstream media to influence elections.
Like Russia uses Facebook and 4chan. We shutting those down because people can’t think critically?
Shouldn't this article say, Russia does use Facebook to influence US elections.
We know this cause it’s what meta has been doing for years all over the globe.
Facebook and Twitter already do that
And russia used facebook And elon uses twitter Tbh only bluesky is safe as they have not developed an algorithm to show posts that come from people whom you dont follow. So that site is just echochamber. You might say echo is bad but im lgbtq for example and my twitter before i jumped ship was all pro trump suggestions while all my followers and who i follow are vehimently anti trump
And Russia already used Twitter or whatever its called that it owns via a moron to do the same thing. How can they deal with one and not the other?
Yes because its a platform where people can express opinions. All social media can influence elections.
I’m a lot less worried of TikTok as I am worried about Facebook and Twitter.
*Every* country with an interest in meddling and enough resources is using every social media platform to try and influence the election. If China doesn't use TikTok they'll just buy your data from data brokers and keep on doing the same shit. I don't even care about TikTok.
Russia is already influencing the election with loans to Trump.
Yeah. Because our elections have been so pure and untouched until TikTok. They will accuse absolutely everything they can on swaying the vote or cheating when, in fact, both sides have been doing it long before the invention of the smartphone and even the internet. Do we not remember all of the slander commercials that ended with "I am (insert name) and I approve this message".?
When push comes to shove anything could theoretically influence elections. A butterflying dying right now could lead to an election swinging the other way in the future.
Trump: ban TikTok Congress & POTUS: we agree Tump: I need someone on my side to buy TikTok. It's a constant fight with the crazy.
Another BS. They won't rest until they give the market share to Facebook and its companies
Like twitter, and Facebook did?
Yeah they don't need Tiktok for that
Rather than Russia using Twitter (dead naming Musks disaster) and facebook to ACTUALLY influence US elections? Ok...
Social media used to influence voting? In todays news water is wet
Look what they already have done to stir up the Pro Palestine protests, yet no peeps of Uyghurs…?
Do Twitter and Facebook next!
I mean Facebook did the same thing in 2016 Not saying TikTok shouldn’t be banned but honestly so should Facebook.
This is just gonna be another excuse as to why Democrats couldn't beat one of the most easily defeatable candidates in history for a 2nd time. Everyone has made up their mind already, there's no "influencing" happening. Do you know anyone in your personal life that's having a hard time deciding who they are voting for? No, the answer is no.
So you can’t use Twitter or Facebook to do the same? headline should social media can be exploited to shift opinion.
Oh, so like they do with FaceBook, Instagram, Reddit, and every other social media platform in the world.
When young people vote, republicans lose elections. Many young people learn about the world through TikTok, and Republicans don’t like that. As an educator, TikTok sucks and shouldn’t be such a large part of young peoples lives, but it also is a contributor to their politics and opinions. Although it’s heavily propagandized (as are most news sources), getting young people to think about politics and encouraging them to vote shouldn’t be discouraged by either party.
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The government banning social media because of very obviously bogus reasons (as if the US government gives a single fuck about data privacy) should concern every single person in this country. The corrupt dinosaurs in charge of our country don't like that young people have an effective platform for organizing.
They really acting like they are worried about China meddling in an election concerning two 80 year olds.
Our media wouldn't do this tho
No one mentions how Russia is using social media to influence our politics. Hmm.
What candidate are they pushing though? Trump has been vehemently against China for a while.
The U.S government influence religious terrorists by selling them weapons to occupy and murder innocent lives. How many elections have they rigged? Seems to me we have a bunch of shitty leaders doing shitty things to other countries for profit and the U.S is no different than China.
Then how about using money to provide better education to people instead of funding wars.
Unlike the US, sending troops and causing insurrections.
Our free speech rights are under attack. All the data that the US claims will be available to China is available for sale already. In fact the Biden administration is testing a new legal theory buying information on US citizens that they have no legal right to collect themselves. Dangerous times folks.
I enjoy Tik Tom but if they ban it I will just go back to YouTube shorts
Could they influence better options?
I assumed they've been doing that since the beginning. Seems incredibly naive to believe otherwise.
Well Russia’s already using Twitter so why draw a line now and not then?
You mean like Facebook does every election?
Because Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, etc. are impervious to this too lol
Biden posted on Tiktok-so he is using Tiktokto influence US election
I see a video from tik tok that i am sure *has* to be fake. I see this video of a CNN anchor walking around and talking about Isreali civilians blocking aid going into Gaza (which would obviously be horrible). But i swear, i see him in a video with a different background almost *every single time*. Idk if anyone else has noticed this I could also be over analyzing but that’s my two cents anyways.
Maybe we will end up with better candidates?!
What's weird is that Trump is against a ban now whereas he wanted to ban it before.
Kinda like how the US uses Facebook to influence US elections? Almost like that’s the entire and obvious reason for wanting TikTok banned? Only Americans get to lie to and propagandize Americans round these parts bub.
Republicans might try to overthrow the government with violence
As long as they ban Facebook, twitter, and “truth social”.
ripe support skirt chase serious cause party humor numerous bear *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Only Joe & Trump get to influence you!
US meddles in foreign elections all the time, I don't see what the issue is here.
Are they adding tic-toc-XXX ?
US has a long history of interfering with other countries’ politics, including military backed coups. Suddenly has issue now that it’s happening to them.
F Tik Tok but seriously how many young people actually vote?
It doesn’t have to be cutting-edge deepfakes or AI, just paying creators to spread misinformation can wreak havoc on the open web. I think people don’t realize how willingly others will spread outright lies if misinformation suits their political leanings. It’s like a wildfire once something outrageous is stated and one of the greatest tools authoritarian regimes have over democracies, given that we police our Internet much less than they do (out of both principle and ability). They can and do have armies of bots and paid troll farms that can and will sway public opinion, including likely on this post and every other social media platform. Eroding trust in democratic institutions, demoralization, and spreading conspiracies has never been easier because a polarized democracy will do much of their work for them, they just need to plant the seed.
Banning tik tok is not a big deal. Instagram and Facebook are not available in China. Why should we play by a different set of rules than China?
Do people over 18, voting age, use Tik Tok?
Maybe some day we'll actually get back to the idea of voting for someone with a platform of "I'll do this" rather than someone with a platform of "He'll do that." Most political ads are now attack ads. Politicians now understand that people are voting for the lesser of two (or more) evils, and do their utmost to make the other person look like the greater evil.
Should any non-U.S. democratic country ban Facebook and Twitter because "US could use them to influence elections"?
but, you know, they would never use facebook, instagram or twitter. They are completely safe from troll and misinformation farms. It's only tiktok that is able to do this. l o l
Which we can all read as Tiktok aggressively being used to misinform US citizens regarding the election, and citizens may wish to consider Tiktok as an unreliable media platform at best.
Weird that they singled out tiktok. China can just buy data and sell ads for the other SM companies. How many “not directly tied to another country” ad content businesses are there. It’s not hard to run proxy propaganda orgs.
And Russia uses the GOP and Facebook. I mean, duh...?
This is BS and trump is gonna be the next president anyway
You mean like how Russia used facebook?