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The Trouble With TikTok Is Getting Old (www.theatlantic.com)

submitted 3 days ago by Powderhorn@beehaw.org to c/technology@beehaw.org

19 comments fedilink hide all child comments

This drama is getting tiresome. It’s just an app, and many Americans—at least those who are old enough to vote—don’t actually care that much about it. A 2023 Pew Research Center survey found that TikTok’s popularity was second only to YouTube among teenagers, but it’s far from the country’s most popular social-media app overall, despite its salience as a conversational stand-in for “internet culture” or “annoying thing that young people like.” “It’s a lot of fanfare and suspense over an app that, well, just isn’t all that important,” Kate Lindsay wrote in The Atlantic in January, pointing out that only a third of U.S. adults interviewed for another Pew survey said they’d ever used it. (More of these people say they use Pinterest!) Among young adults, she added, Snapchat and Instagram are more popular.

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[–] within_epsilon@beehaw.org 5 points 3 days ago (2 children)

We should only consume domestic media. Good thing the Bible is domestic media. \s

How is there less risk to Americans on a platform like X(itter) instead of TikTok?

[–] Fredthefishlord@lemmy.blahaj.zone 8 points 3 days ago (1 children)

... that's not what I said at all. I specifically said, "hostile foreign power" for a reason.

How is there less risk to Americans on a platform like X(itter) instead of TikTok?

See my statement on how all should be regulated. But the difference is that country can enforce the regulations.

I don't believe any media should be banned. But algorithms should be subject to regulation and worry, in my opinion.

[–] within_epsilon@beehaw.org 1 points 7 hours ago

If there are recommendation systems, maybe an open API for requests is required. Thereby a user can choose an algorithm. I would go as far as open sourcing it all.

I agree that the current form puts too much power in the hands of a few.

[–] Dark_Arc@social.packetloss.gg 2 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

It's not the media, it's the recommendation algorithm.

They're all a problem, but we have no way to regulate or monitor the algorithms as it stands.

Tiktok is an even higher risk because the recommendation algorithm is unknown to anyone on US soil. Nobody is going to whistleblow from the inside on TikTok because... they can't; it's all compartmentalized and nobody outside of China has access to the algorithm.

This whataboutism is about as valid as "her emails" because yeah, it's a problem but there are also other problems to consider and reasons to get started fully acknowledging we won't solve the entire problem.

[–] within_epsilon@beehaw.org 1 points 7 hours ago

I suppose the issue is the private ownership of the algorithm. Lemmy is a way to distribute ownership even though I think each instance is privately owned. It might be worthwhile to create a platform abstracting the data from the algorithm allowing the end user a choice of recommendation algorithm.

There is no money in it. Enclosure of the recommendation algorithm is profitable.