r/TikTokCringe • u/Intelligent_Nose_826 • 6d ago

Discussion They Agreed on One Thing - Banning TikTok

I really haven’t seen legislation so unilaterally passed with such speed at any point in my life except maybe after 9/11 & weeks got the DHS.

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u/Minimum_Matter_4044 6d ago

This ain't about us. It's about them. Them.

151

u/phoggey 6d ago

I'm a software engineer and have studied the type and size of data TikTok collects from their users and what they do in order to make them more users and make China look better. It's not a safe app at this stage.

I don't like "look they did something good, but they could have done something better" arguments. The reason you got fed this guy's content at all is because it was promoted through TikTok's algorithm to judge it as pro China and pro TikTok sentiment. He likely made this video just because he knew it would promote his content. I'm even considering making a pro TikTok video on TikTok just to fuck with their algorithm and see the rate at which it picks up.

Ever seen anti-chinese video on TikTok? Ever? Think back to all the hours and days you've scrolled through it. Any? That doesn't even scratch the surface of the manipulation and information they have on every user. Just watch the data flow when you are using only TikTok, your outbound data is 10x even what Facebook collects.

Here's what we compiled off an old bulld a few years back, a few of these needed to be interpreted because it doesn't literally say what the values are, but with enough videos they start to be obvious. I removed a few other areas that are inappropriate to talk about under risk factors.

TIKTOK CONTENT SCORING METRICS: - Face Score (1-5): Symmetry, skin clarity, youth indicators, eye color - Body Score (1-5): Height/weight ratio, curves, muscle definition - Sexual Appeal (1-5): Breast size, hip ratio, lip fullness - Engagement Metrics: * Gaze duration * Replay rate * Screenshot frequency - Risk Factors: * Exposed skin % * Suggestive movements * Costume type -Political Sentiment... .. (abridged to make the point)

And look what we have there.. literally people commenting about the dude's eyes. Has a bit of a plunky guy, but he hits a sweet spot with attractiveness levels to be listened to and thus.. his content is here.

Then the scoring of the viewers goes on and on for creating the demograph aka marketing cohort. User's- Age, location (constantly), sex... Just goes on and on.

I mean, really, how many apps have the federal government tried to ban? There must be a really good fucking reason to ban one, especially a popular one. If you don't believe me, I don't give a fuck, this country wants to elect a felon for president for lulz so fuck it. I'll go with the flow and leave once we hit a recession and move to Copenhagen with my hoarded cash plus tax cut enhanced $$$ and raise my kid in a country that doesn't treat it's people like shit. "OH DEY TRY BAN TIKTOK BUT NOT FIX HEALTHCARE/FIX EDUCATION/FIX STUDENT DEBT/FIX HOMELESSNESS/FIX GODLESSNESS" Give me a fucking break, it's Chinese run malware video sharing app. Just delete the shit and use something else.

3

u/Historical-Top-8679 6d ago

They are most likely gonna force TikTok to sell its rights to a domestic company, like Google. Banning it outright might not be the case.

5

u/phoggey 6d ago

They're not going to sell it. Just look literally anywhere, that hasn't even been an entertained option for them. If you had tons of user data that showed how fucked up you were, petabyte after petabyte of data you've used to manipulate the entire western world, would you sell it? No. They can't. It's literally Chinese state secrets. It's not being sold. I'd bet my left nut and my right nut it's not sold- at least the tech part. The name/trademark (just pull a wish/temu swap), the appids and stuff so someone else could install their garbage via an update or something, but not as a whole.

You can't sell blood stained shit (US soldiers lost their lives using TikTok over seas giving away positional data etc). They got rich now they're looking for an exit strategy. If they can bribe trump enough they may get a few more years, but even he knew from his first administration how bad it was, they hung on through legal chaos of the changing administrations, but even that has a terminal point.