People don’t like it because:
- It’s the new thing. If alcohol were introduced today it would be banned in every country on earth. People tolerate Facebook, Twitter, Insta because that’s what’s been around. They all do the same thing, but TikTok is new and scary.
- Short form video is scary! It’s a new form of entertainment, and old people don’t like new forms of entertainment. See: every newly introduced form of entertainment in history, books included.
- They are misinformed about what data a mobile application can and cannot do, and the level of security built into both iOS and Android. Rest “assured”, they are collecting as much data as they can – just like every app creator on the planet. What they aren’t doing is capturing mic data while you’re sleeping (that’s not how microphones in phones work), stealing your passwords from your clipboard (OS’s notify users about clipboard paste)
- China bad. This primes people to consider negative press about it with a less skeptical eye, feeding the above points. (Don’t misconstrue me as being pro-China, I’m not, and that’s not what this post is about.)
Which data? What are they going to do with it?
Usage data that profiles your political leanings and in turn allows them to counter adjust your feeds to make you more sympathetic to said nations views, or even more maliciously, incite artificial political discourse. Profiles made from usage data could also be used to determine individuals who have access to sensitive information which could be made into phishing campaign targets. Or even further, these profiles could be used to monitor and keep tabs on western individuals visiting the country or even monitor Chinese individuals abroad.
I feel like you have to be willfully ignorant to ignore the very real risks that exist here.
Like the incredibly well documented YouTube red-pill pipeline?
If you’re going to China or are one of their citizens traveling abroad, TikTok profiling is probably not the top of your surveillance concerns. If you don’t want impacts from Chinese data collections, don’t go to China 🤷 I sure won’t.
See the comment about willful ignorance.
See the comment about China bad.