For example, I don’t use TikTok. I never have, and I never will, and I’d advise everyone else to get off the platform too. I genuinely believe it’s objectively harmful to people’s mental health and possibly even a threat to democracy. That said, I also believe people should be free to decide for themselves whether they want to use it or not, which is why I’m against the U.S. government banning it.

  • bdonvr@thelemmy.club
    74·
    18 days ago

    I have no problem with TikTok, their owners, or the company beyond my usual concerns with corporate platforms. They’re as bad (maybe even a little less) as American corporate media.

    I just stay away from it because I don’t think short form doom scrolling videos would be good for my productivity or attention span

    • Black History Month@lemmy.world
      203·
      17 days ago

      Be advised TikTok is literally Chinese spyware on your phone. It’s collecting all sorts of data on all it’s users all the time. This is a known thing, and the initial impetus of many organizations to ban it internally

      Edit: It’s not racist to point out China is currently surveilling America as hard as it can. It’s doing this as part of parralel warfare. They’ve hacked our phones, emails, servers, businesses and even individual routers - all at the behest of the Chinese government. They are afraid and it shows.

      • bdonvr@thelemmy.club
        88·
        18 days ago

        And Facebook, X, Google apps, etc are what exactly?

        They’re just as bad or worse on privacy. People throw around that “Chinese” label like it’s supposed to make it worse, somehow. Seems a bit racist to me. At least “the Chinese” aren’t feeding that data to government entities that have actual power over me.

        • Black History Month@lemmy.world
          4·
          17 days ago

          I’ll find the tech that broke it down. He monitored the android system and say it hooks into a lot more than any other social media app. If that’s not enough, the owner and creator of tiktok has already been involved in some snooping and questionable data handling. Anyone telling you otherwise just isn’t educated enough. It needs to go 100%.

          • Aux@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
            12·
            17 days ago

            The problem with Facebook etc is that they monitor you even outside the app. TikTok is a little kid surrounded by hungry sharks of social media.