Majority of Americans Say TikTok Is a Threat to U.S. National Security

Odusei@lemmy.world to Technology@lemmy.world – 199 points – Majority of Americans Say TikTok Is a Threat to U.S. National Security
variety.com

The majority of Americans — about 59% — say TikTok a threat to the national security of the United States, according to a recent survey of U.S. adults. The findings from Pew Research Center’s…

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“Majority of Americans think dungeons and dragons is a threat to the national security”

Most of those probably just don’t like that their kids are on it all the time. At least some do understand that the real threat is all the data it is constantly collecting from our cameras and microphones as well as location data. It’s not limited to kids either, plenty of adults in jobs that should be secure are walking around with a Chinese wiretap/homing beacon in their pocket.

I’m honestly more worried about local companies getting this information from me at such a constant rate. We have plenty of enemies at home, and the rich around here have done infinitely more damaging things to me and my family than anything the Chinese have done to us yet.

I get this perspective, but I think it really down plays the lack of control we have over foreign products.

Like, if a US company put a bunch of employees in place and then had them simultaneously break into people's houses, the US could arrest those who orchestrated the problem.

If a Chinese company did the same thing, sure we can arrest the individuals (if they're still in the county), but we're completely powerless as a nation to do anything to those that started the problem or those that escaped the country before we found out what they did.

Like the normal concepts of what's legal are just out the window, everything is legal when you're talking about nations vs other nations.

Thing is, neither the US nor Chinese company doing a home break-in is a realistic concern.

Realistic concerns are more along the lines of them sharing data that could rightly or wrongly get you on the radar of US law enforcement, or get you discriminated against in some way.

In terms of realistic concerns, your data being in US rather than foreign hands seems like significantly more of a problem.

Data is one of those things that you don't know how it's going to be used against you until it is. If somebody is going to have that data, I'd rather my own government have that data vs a foreign government... Harming one's own citizens isn't a great strategy to get your way, but harming another's citizens is quite effective.

The other thing I'll note is this isn't just about what they collect, it's about what they put out/promote; i.e. their ability to shape (or distort) their image. I think lots more people would be concerned if they saw the Chinese govt creating rally halls around the country with high turnout, even if "they're just putting on plays" in those places.

Data is one of those things that you don’t know how it’s going to be used against you until it is. If somebody is going to have that data, I’d rather my own government have that data vs a foreign government… Harming one’s own citizens isn’t a great strategy to get your way, but harming another’s citizens is quite effective.

I don't know what government actions you've been watching, if all of modern history is a guide, it's a lot easier to make a profit by harming your own citizens rather than harming another country's citizens.

From where I've been sitting, the normal pattern is a country's rich and powerful exploit the commoners of their own country for profit and power. It's much harder to gain from exploiting another country's citizens, i.e. you can't directly tax them, you can't take away their things, you can't sell their rights to your powerful friends, etc.

So borderline free Chinese labor hasn't enriched US corporations? The waters for cheap oil and sugar -- those ended really well for the country on the receiving end right? What about the British spice trade and India?

Sure you can collect power within a nation and become a sort of "god within" that nation, but that's nothing compared to nation vs nation conflict. Some of these people don't even have clean running water.

I mean it is in the same way Facebook is.

Yeah, but I also want to get rid of Facebook. Like I don't think every nation is entitled to their own toxic hell site.

Roughly 70% of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents say TikTok is either a minor or major threat to national security in the U.S.

Either a minor or major threat. 😂

Polls are bullshit, both to design and to report. It's maddeningly hard to whittle down human opinions to neat little answers. It's a science and an artform, really.

You're not entirely wrong, but I have a related degree and actually did polling back in the day, so I'll add some nuance.

Most reputable political polls are surprisingly good. Pollsters get it wrong far far less than people think they do. Which is astonishing, given you're often polling a thousand people, to discover the opinions of millions. The problem is that people fail to read the small print, don't understand basic statistics or probabilities, and media misreport what they actually say.

Best example: 2016 US election. No one who knows a bit about polling was at all surprised by Trump winning. IRC if you aggregated, he had a 1/3 chance of winning. Him winning was invariably within the margin of error of many many polls. But the media misinterpreted them and then blamed bad polling for their own mistakes.

And that's not surprising. Polling how someone will tick a box on an election day in the near future, by asking them to do the equivalent of tick a box in a poll? Likely to be quite good predictor.

More vague stuff like this, it's harder. You're not necessarily measuring what you're measuring, and because the media invariably misrepresents scientific studies and polls, you need to read the small print and what they actually asked.

In any case, here's the pollsters article on it (including sample size, methodology, etc.):

https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2023/07/10/majority-of-americans-say-tiktok-is-a-threat-to-national-security/

And the questions they asked:

https://www.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/SR\_2023.07.10.23\_tiktok\_topline.pdf

For example, it would have been interesting if they'd asked "Is TikTok a threat to national security in the United States?" rather than "How much of a threat...?"

Changing the answer scale would likely also have resulted in different answers.

Also, do respondents know what national security is? It's a pretty vague term for layman.

Hell, do all respondents know what tiktok is? Because if you asked people if the Umbrella corporation is a threat to national security, it's like that many would answer yes.

It was bound to be one of those, sooner or later.

It is absolutely a threat to national security because it's a threat to your security, like most social media apps. It just gets more attention because it's foreign-owned here in the States.

How about all social media is a threat? Facebook and Twitter haven’t been doing anyone a favor lately with how they spin misinformation to manipulate people.

All of it should be shut down. Life was a lot better before social media.

Well it is proprietary software from a subsidiary of a de facto state-owned government currently participating in genocide. I changed torrent clients for even less than that.

Majority of Americans need a Xanax. Or maybe less Xanax. It can only be one or the other.

Threat to something or not, it’s pure cringe and should be banned nevertheless

I see this take a lot across forum based socials like reddit/Lemmy etc, but honestly since I've started using it in 2021 it's by far the most advanced algorithm at feeding me solid reoccurring and new content I actually want to see.

I only want to weigh in with the opposite experience, not trying to convince anyone or make a point. But I've had an account for over a year, a few subscriptions, just wholesome or comedic stuff, and get the most garbage or vile sewage on my feed. I am reluctant to open a link to TikTok, because I know it will show me something horrible first. Anyone else have this experience?

No! I don't really use it much, or like it at all, but I just followed a load of dnb artists cos I like seeing bits of people's sets, and pretty much all I get is dnb.

It used to be ok a few months ago but my god, all I did the other day was scroll past train, stolen video clips and general utter shit! How anyone likes that crap is beyond me but I guess thats what happens when 90% of the population have been turned into morons!

It’s gone from slightly entertaining to TV level shittyness so ended up deleting it so now hove nothing to entertain me when on the throne! 😞

it's by far the most advanced algorithm at feeding me solid reoccurring and new content I actually want to see.

Well, yes, that's the problem. It's designed by psychology experts to extract as much dopamine as possible from your glands so that you continue using TikTok instead of doing literally anything else with your time, allowing them to expose you to ads and sell fucktons of your data. Algorithms good enough to be addictive ought to be illegal, they're predatory, take advantage of quirks in our brain's reward system, and steal tons of time from our lives we could be using on more fulfilling things.

is there an open source alternative to Tiktok?