[kornhole]

I am curious why. A foreign government has almost no power over you. They cannot put you under surveillance, lock you up, or put you on naughty lists that mean anything. Your own government, domestic data brokers, and other corporate entities can have more direct control over your fate.

[edgyquant]

There’s no way you’re “curious” here. A foreign adversary now has real-time data about the inter working of the U.S. population down the the individual level for tens of millions of people. This is a treasure trove of intelligence gathering so don’t play coy or devils advocate.

[ransackdev]

Twitter existed before this app. YouTube. Reddit.

Not defending TikTok but there’s a wealth of public real time data from not just the US, but the entire world, some public api calls or scraping scripts away. Tiktok isn’t any more invasive than any other social media post, many of which are public and anyone in any country who wants to use the data can do so easily.

What trove of intelligence is being gathered by self obsessed videos of people mouthing a clip of some song or inspirational talk while begging for attention in the form of likes and follows?

I haven’t seen any sign of intelligence on TikTok that they even could gather lol, and if anything the app’s purpose isn’t to spy on us, it’s to make us dumb, inattentive, mindless consumers who all fight over everything and can’t compromise or work together.

My dad literally comes home from his job and scrolls TikToks of increasingly radical political rants and half naked chicks before inevitably passing out in his chair, phone in hand, mouth open, and whatever TikTok was on screen when he fell asleep playing on loop until he jerks awake or the phone dies. He’s not unique. So much of people’s lives are wasted on social media and it does them no positive

[kornhole]

I tend to agree that the intelligence gathering value is limited. The DOD seems more interested in narrative management. Trust and safety AKA censorship departments are being staffed now by natsec and NATO people from the cognitive warfare operational domain. https://www.mintpressnews.com/?s=tiktok https://www.projectcensored.org/18-the-human-mind-as-new-dom...

[cloverich]

> A foreign government has almost no power over you.

1. For now 2. ...unless you have family abroad, particularly in China 3. ...also assuming you don't need to travel to said country (now / in the future)