Social TikTok is a Cyberweapon

[KOPPE]

There's no privacy on the internet.

 

[Chad R. Thundercock]

Disregard the China bots on various platforms that are defending Tik Tok. Tik Tok is a CCP tool used to brainwash the impressionable youth of Western nations.

 

[Cajun]

Boomers are more scared of tiktok because it's the 'new' thing.

These people who are suddenly terrified of Russia and China crack me up. Then they go and call everyone else 'brainwashed' and 'propagandized' lmao.

Reminds me a lot of the 'they hate us for our freedoms' crowd back in the early 2000s.

There is a reason to be cautious of China though. All the IP theft etc.... they are not our friend here. Congress is not all boomers.

 

[Cuauhtemoc]

If tiktok gets banned it is not because it brainwashes children etc
It's because of lobbying by American social media companies. Stop watching tiktok and go to instagram reels, snap chat, YouTube shorts etc
And because Tiktok doesn't censor anti-Israel stuff.
That guy you posted is a massive shill for Israel, he even wears a star of David despite being a "Christian"

 

[William Huggins]

I'd say it's more of a distraction from the real cyberweapons, which are targeting infrastructure, logistics, strategic production and distribution chains in tech and energy.
facebook, instagram, google are just as toxic for people.
nobody should use social media anymore.

It's part of a combination of tools, this one is subversion and data mining........

 

[rearnakedchoke]

TikTok is a great example of capitalism. Not sure why the west is so scared.

 

[USA!USA!]

If tiktok gets banned it is not because it brainwashes children etc
It's because of lobbying by American social media companies. Stop watching tiktok and go to instagram reels, snap chat, YouTube shorts etc
And because Tiktok doesn't censor anti-Israel stuff.
That guy you posted is a massive shill for Israel, he even wears a star of David despite being a "Christian"

What is the difference between Instagram Reels and Tik Tok? Don't they do essentially the same thing?

An actual question as I don't use either and don't know.

So its not the user behavior that they have concerns with (since both essentially do the same thing).. it is just the content, seeing as how Tik Tok is run by the Chinese government?

 

[Tatra]

It is, but if you had a healthy culture virtually no one would have any interest in using it. It's all your own fault.

 

[Ballsaque]

I don't remember who it was, some GOP senator I think. His argument was basically that the Chinese use it as an educational tool in China and a means of distraction for our kids here. If you think about it, its a really stupid argument.

How so?

 

[jx820]

I'd say it's more of a distraction from the real cyberweapons, which are targeting infrastructure, logistics, strategic production and distribution chains in tech and energy.
facebook, instagram, google are just as toxic for people.
nobody should use social media anymore.

It's potentially far more dangerous than than most infrastructure attacks could hope to be.

A cyber attack that causes a critical infrastructure failure could cause billions in damage. It could potentially kill some people, but we'd get through it and come out the other side more or less the same.

China having a dossier of all the private communications and interests of every potential political leader of the next 20-30 years could alter the the course of western politics forever. Radicalizing and misinforming a generation or two will pay dividends in the future that we can't fathom today.

Those things may be happening now with american big data firms and it's likely why our politicians won't lift a finger to pass sweeping privacy reforms, but the risk posed by China to silently influence our society from the outside is collossal.

 

[Fox by the Sea]

It's potentially far more dangerous than than most infrastructure attacks could hope to be.

A cyber attack that causes a critical infrastructure failure could cause billions in damage. It could potentially kill some people, but we'd get through it and come out the other side more or less the same.

China having a dossier of all the private communications and interests of every potential political leader of the next 20-30 years could alter the the course of western politics forever. Radicalizing and misinforming a generation or two will pay dividends in the future that we can't fathom today.

Those things may be happening now with american big data firms and it's likely why our politicians won't lift a finger to pass sweeping privacy reforms, but the risk posed by China to silently influence our society from the outside is collossal.

any "future leader" that you can get info on by checking what he posted on tiktok 20 years before isn't that likely to get in power. you underestimate how dumb the content is. whatever dumb level you can think of, it's waaay dumber. there's literally nothing of value there. and if america selects someone that dumb, it has bigger problems than china knowing that person's history.

 

[Ruprecht]

I have had conversations with old HS and college friends who use TikTok and they are mostly really against the forced sale of TikTok out of Chinese hands. It's insane how much they've been brainwashed by the app.

I searched Tiananmen Square and Uyghur Muslims on TikTok and saw posts defending it only The comments section is even more hilarious - blaming it on the US.

It is 100% a security threat and I don't understand how normally not stupid people can't see that?

Second point - The TikTok CEO went in front of Congress and said China or the CCP doesn't affect TikTok USA content. Then WHY TF is Taiwan Independence content censored? I thought TikTok USA was independent of China? OBVIOUS LIE.

People over 20 use Tik Tok?
News to me.

Edit: More than I would of imagined. Pity there's not a break down of the ages by nation.

 

[NoSmilez]

I don’t have TikTok but I just googled it. It has Taiwanese independence on it. There doesn’t seem to be censorship on it. I can’t post the screenshot but it is directly from TikTok site.

Same with Tiananmen square. It shows up in thumbnails I see the tanks etc etc. I didn’t watch the videos though.

I will try Uighur or falungong later

 

[Renard]

It says it in the name doesn't it? Tik tok, tik tok, time bomb style.

The entire world is a cyberweapon at this point though.

 

[jx820]

any "future leader" that you can get info on by checking what he posted on tiktok 20 years before isn't that likely to get in power. you underestimate how dumb the content is. whatever dumb level you can think of, it's waaay dumber. there's literally nothing of value there. and if america selects someone that dumb, it has bigger problems than china knowing that person's history.

It doesn't have to be "creator content". It can be shared content or a private message.

I disagree that all the content is dumb, but more importantly content doesn't need to be smart, just influential. Libsoftiktok is absolute nonsense, but it's profoundly influential drawing the attention of Ron Desantis, AOC, Donald Trump.

And we've selected some pretty dumb people, they just weren't in a position to be blackmailed (as far as we know) by a foreign power.

 

[Fox by the Sea]

It doesn't have to be "creator content". It can be shared content or a private message.

I disagree that all the content is dumb, but more importantly content doesn't need to be smart, just influential. Libsoftiktok is absolute nonsense, but it's profoundly influential drawing the attention of Ron Desantis, AOC, Donald Trump.

And we've selected some pretty dumb people, they just weren't in a position to be blackmailed (as far as we know) by a foreign power.

china can already access facebook, instagram, google metadata hosting centers through espionage. i don't know if you ever went to the dark web, but you can look for passwords there from the massive leaks that basically every social media and email company suffered from. if you want to have some surprises, check your email on haveibeenpwned on the clearnet.

if there's one case to be made against tiktok, it's not access. it's dumbing down of the kids.

 

[Andy Capp]

china can already access facebook, instagram, google metadata hosting centers through espionage. i don't know if you ever went to the dark web, but you can look for passwords there from the massive leaks that basically every social media and email company suffered from. if you want to have some surprises, check your email on haveibeenpwned on the clearnet.

if there's one case to be made against tiktok, it's not access. it's dumbing down of the kids.

For me, it's that the app allows the Chinese access to your browser history, search history, and the contents of your clipboard. That last one concerns me a lot and I will never use the app because of it.

 

[jx820]

china can already access facebook, instagram, google metadata hosting centers through espionage. i don't know if you ever went to the dark web, but you can look for passwords there from the massive leaks that basically every social media and email company suffered from. if you want to have some surprises, check your email on haveibeenpwned on the clearnet.

if there's one case to be made against tiktok, it's not access. it's dumbing down of the kids.

There's a difference between maybe getting something from a secure data center breach, or hacking the accounts of a handfull of people who didn't have 2FA and having an entire generation hand you unfettered access to all of their private communications, device storage, access to other apps, camera access, microphone access. Someone may break into my house, but I don't leave the door open all night because that's a possibility.

I'm not particularly comfortable with the idea that some senator's kid could be carrying a live mic and camera home that's directly plugged into the chinese government.

It's crazy that we've allowed this to go as far as it has and it's crazier still to pretend that it's easier to allow this to continue than just structure a sale to a non-government entity.

 

[Ruprecht]

For me, it's that the app allows the Chinese access to your browser history, search history, and the contents of your clipboard. That last one concerns me a lot and I will never use the app because of it.

The list of apps that does that isn't short. Personally I was always amused when Chinese students tried to tell me that QQ being spyware and trojan malware was western propaganda. Not computer science students, but even so, a bit of popularity and use by your social group is all it takes for people not to care or outright dismiss data privacy issues. National, corporate or PPP.

 

[Hog-train]

People over 20 use Tik Tok?
News to me.

Edit: More than I would of imagined. Pity there's not a break down of the ages by nation.

A lot of people get their news from TikTok. 150 million in the US alone use it.

I don’t have TikTok but I just googled it. It has Taiwanese independence on it. There doesn’t seem to be censorship on it. I can’t post the screenshot but it is directly from TikTok site.

Same with Tiananmen square. It shows up in thumbnails I see the tanks etc etc. I didn’t watch the videos though.

I will try Uighur or falungong later

Click the links in Tiktok. And also look at the comments.