[falcolas]

Are folks using it to distribute propaganda? Yes.

Is there evidence - any evidence whatsoever - that CCP or bytedance is using tiktok to push a particular flavor of propaganda? No.

That said, TikTok's moderation is quite unfriendly to LGBTQ+ and Palestine creators (even though they find ways around it).

[tempsy]

The 60 minutes episode last year (?) insinuated that the CCP's main goal is social disorder eg they heavily restrict the Chinese version for kids to be education oriented where the American version is basically all ages softcore porn and ragebait.

[falcolas]

> American version is basically all ages softcore porn and ragebait.

My own experience, as well as my partner's, disputes this. My content is generally creators in the neurodivergant, LGTBQIA+, power generation for Alaska towns, wildlife rescues, D&D, cosplay, and news.

Only the last can occasionally contain ragebait, but it's generally not. Most of the things that make me angry are those like Nex Benedict's death, the death toll in Gaza strip, women being treated poorly by doctors, etc. Actual issues brought up in real time, not manufactured outrage.

My partner's content is generally "customer states", cats, dogs, ferrets, and couples sharing the amusing parts of their lives.

A data sample of only two, to be sure, but the absence of softcore porn and ragebait entirely makes 60 minutes' claims suspect.

[tempsy]

yes every person’s feed is entirely different based on watch history.

that’s not what i’m talking about.

start a completely new profile and see what is recommended.

[falcolas]

> start a completely new profile and see what is recommended.

That just speaks to what people in general find interesting. Instagram and YouTube shorts do the same thing.

Use the app for more than two minutes, and you're out of the "popular" bubble.

[tempsy]

It’s not just that because social platforms have the ability to easily uprank content they want people to see which is entirely the point here.

[fngjdflmdflg]

As someone who has actually used douyin (about one or two years ago) I can say for certain that that isn't true in the general case. Perhaps the rules are a bit stricter but I saw absolutely zero educational content at all in any form. I did see some military videos which seemed like propaganda as they showed up randomly but its hard to say if those only showed up because I watched the first one to its end for example. The only possibility is that they only enable the education mode if you are actually located in China or if you sign in as a child or something. But it didn't seem to be the default experience from what I saw first hand. It shows you want you want to see.

[brandensilva]

Id like to see the Uighar camps but sure as heck known that isn't happening. /s

It's hard for me to imagine a lot isn't filtered out. There is a reason they have a separate app. It's likely one is heavily filtered and the other is their propaganda tool but I'd like to see more evidence to indicate that but it's a hard thing to track given they could be just feeding kids the worst things for them or favorable views to their party and we wouldn't even know.

[harkinian]

The YouTube and Facebook short-video recommendations I got when those features launched were mostly young women wearing very little and doing something that I'm guessing is not the main point of the video. YouTube knows I like music, so it gave me women playing violin in tiny skirts, though I think this stopped happening at some point.

I didn't even watch the videos, they insisted on putting them on the home page despite me giving 0 engagement. I finally adblocked the element.

[rchaud]

In other words they have content restrictions in their country as with TV and other media, while the international version is more similar to its competition in Instagram?

[junon]

Your comment contradicts even itself, and is refuted by several comments in this thread.