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Comment by nequo | Hacker News Reader

TikTok does exist in China. It is called Douyin. The reason that they have a separate service domestically is most likely not the addictiveness of it. From the introduction section of Wikipedia's article on TikTok:

  TikTok and Douyin have almost the same user interface but no access to each other's content. Their servers are each based in the market where the respective app is available.[11] The two products are similar, but their features are not identical. Douyin includes an in-video search feature that can search by people's faces for more videos of them and other features such as buying, booking hotels and making geo-tagged reviews.[12]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TikTok

Edit: I see what you mean. For all intents and purposes, I stand corrected.

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This is not true. The recent 60 minutes story specifically says the type of content is completely different because it is heavily moderated in China which is the total opposite of what we see in the US or elsewhere outside of China.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0j0xzuh-6rY&ab_channel=60Min...

I'm consistently surprised that many people in the tech community treat China as some unknowable country that we only get a few snippets of insight in from our media.

If you work in tech, you most certainly have a few Chinese citizens as coworkers and colleagues. Talk to them about what life is like if you're curious, don't rely on "60 minutes".

TikTok in China may be moderated but only to keep anything controversial from the government perspective off. I've seen this myth floating that somehow tiktok in China is much more wholesome, which is ridiculous. As far as the ill effects of social media, TikTok is arguably worse in China as it's almost entirely people trying to sell things and make a quick buck, flooded with get rich quick schemes and scams.

All of the things mentioned in that 60 minutes video can be found in the US version of TikTok, there is plenty of educational content. The idea that everyone in China is watching scientific experiments on tiktok while its corrupting American youth is ridiculous.

You're saying China doesn't have a time limit on daily use for children? Or the content that is available to kids vs adults isn't different?

There might be some half truths to the 60 minute story but AFAIK the time limit is real and the content available to children is different which is what the piece is referring to. It might be more similar for adults.

Do you know if it is possible to access Douyin outside of China? I think it would be an interesting experience to see it first-hand and also I guess the language barrier would no be a huge issue if the content is similar to TikTok.

A lot of Douyin content ends up on YouTube Shorts if you know where to look.

the 60 minutes piece was focused on how they moderate content for kids not everyone eg adult coworkers.

compare to the US where there’s no separate experience for kids and there’s no time limit.

You can just install

https://apps.apple.com/app/id440948110

Seems to be Kuaishou, similar but different to Douyin. Surprisingly it works and it doesn't look like I even need to log in to use it.

At a first glance the content is disappointingly similar to TikTok. Also, as I expected, with this type of content language is a non-issue.

Does anyone know if I can get the real Douyin? A search in the AppStore shows Kuaishou first and TikTok second.

Do you have tiktok? You can clearly tell that it promotes inflammatory content if you use it for a few days/weeks. This is legislation against the CCP, not against the people of China.

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