[magic_hamster]

TikTok is just the current trend. Remember "vines"? I don't think TikTok offers something truly disruptive. They had the right timing and marketing for a specific audience. In a couple of years it will be something else.

[Silverback_VII]

TikTok is disruptive and has replaced other disruptive technologies. And I'm sure, that not a few computer nerds are busy programming the next time and life sink.

It's a competition for how much man is willing to flush his existence down the toilet.

[908B64B197]

Vines had to make money distributing video.

TikTok (Douyin 抖音) can just lose money and have it's losses covered by the Chinese Government, as long as it keeps broadcasting the right message abroad.

[maigret]

What is the message?

[r2_pilot]

I personally know someone who used a Magic Eraser to whiten their teeth after watching a TikTok video. That is a terrible idea for so many reasons. Messages like those possibly benefit America's enemies by weakening the populace, whether through sketchy medical advice, promoting risky behavior like challenges, or suggesting illegal activities like hot-wiring cars.

[jrochkind1]

Your suggestion is that the Chinese government is subsidizing tik-tok in order to increase the amount of crackpot medical advice and other scams Americans are subject to, in order to weaken Americans?

I am pretty confident Americans are quite capable of selling plenty of crackpot medical advice and monetizing viral scams to ourselves on our own, thank you very much. It may be something we are in fact #1 at, with no sign of diminished capacity.

[maigret]

That sounds very much like Facebook ads.