The fact that TikTok is an incubator for social contagion has to be deliberate, and here's my argument: If there wasn't some kind of subtle hidden hand behind amplifying the crazy, why would the CCP need an entirely separate-but-identical app for use in China? 1/4
You can't get TikTok in China, only Douyin, which is exactly TikTok but without any of the content that's on TikTok. You can download Douyin in the West but cannot get TikTok in China. They would easily have the ability to run one system with a China content filter but don't. 2/4
To me, that signals that the difference is in how the content algorithm operates in both system, since it would be much more complicated to run two concurrent content algorithms depending on what content is generated. Easier to have two separate infrastructures. 3/4
Basically, my theory is that TikTok amplifies insane people and fringe, radical, society-breaking stuff, but Douyin does not. They're relabeling domestic beer and shipping it abroad laced with rat poison. 4/4
@neontaster Yeah, I really doubt Douyin's algorithm promotes students pillaging a school bathroom, causing $15k in damages.
@neontaster You don’t have to change any of the algorithms, just the meta data that initializes the models. Also China has a longer term strategy. If they can gimp one generation just enough to let their domestic counterparts excel past them it tips the balance of power.
@neontaster This is the issue. The spy stuff is actually secondary.
@neontaster Reverse Opium Wars: x.com/lolnevertweet/…
@neontaster Reverse Opium Wars: x.com/lolnevertweet/…
@neontaster My TikTok feed is all very normal stuff. Hyper normal. Like, it is frat guy's stunting and sorority girl dancing stuff. Yeah, I follow libs of TikTok and I cringe at that shit. Maybe the US Congress can pass a law that silences the actual creators of that content.
@neontaster Tt doesn’t esp amplify insane ppl. (That’s Twitter) are you familiar with it as a regular user or just as someone who reads horror stories?
@neontaster Yes. But the rat poison is also what purely capitalist apps push as well, for different reasons (because it drives eyeballs and clicks)
@neontaster They do the same with most all social media there.