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Comment by rayiner | Hacker News Reader

I don’t understand the bi-partisan dislike of Tik Tok. As far as content goes, it’s pretty wholesome compared to what you see on movies and TV these days. It’s much better at giving kids age appropriate content than other sites. There is also a lot less commercialized stuff. Way better than cartoons that peddle toys and junk.

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When I first signed up for TikTok it showed me stuff to figure out what I would like. It showed me some of the most racist humor I'd heard since I was a boy in the deep south. If I'd liked it, it would have shown me more and more and more of it. As it is, I don't see it now because the algo feeds me stuff I actually like.

I do think there's a content problem on TikTok, but I think it's hidden away from the people who would point it out due to the way the algo works.

I don't see the problem you're trying to allude to. Sounds like the algorithm worked as intended. TikTok quickly learned what you like and stopped showing you stuff you didn't.

Unless you're implying (not saying you are, just asking for clarification) that we should limit free speech based on words you (or some government official) find objectionable. Isn't that what China already does and what the US wants to avoid?

Should Andrew Shulz be banned because a lot of his jokes are racial? I'm guessing you'd be offended by a number of them, but I don't think that means Netflix/Youtube have a "content problem".

There's nothing necessarily inherently wrong with TikTok, we as a society just aren't ready for it https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beer_Street_and_Gin_Lane

I'm sure some people can use TikTok responsibly but many can't. I also wouldn't want a foreign government (any foreign government) to have such a powerful psyop tool under their control. The extremely rapid feedback loops allow beliefs to coalesce so quickly that I imagine many people will get stuck in harmful local minima.

> As far as content goes, it’s pretty wholesome

Content really depends on the user. It's a very tailored experience.

100%. If you are a wholesome person, it will be wholesome. If you are hateful, there's so much hate on tiktok.

Some content may be wholesome, but the dopamine-stimulating AI algorithms that abuse human psychology are never wholesome. And we should never justify the dopamine abuse with "people have the power to choose" because that never worked out with cigs, opioids, crack, gambling, or any other addictive activity or substance.

I agree with this but I don't think the solution is banning by law. The solution for all of these substances you mention is education, prevention, and treatment. Just like with banning alcohol, people will get around it and find even less healthy ways to feed their addictions. I mean Instagram already stole tiktok's functionality, now they just need to tune their algorithms to match the same level of dopamine drip that tiktok supplies.

Trust me, I'm aware of how addictive tiktok is, I had to swear off it after finding myself multiple hours deep in scrolling holes multiple times. But banning one platform (over something unrelated, privacy/data concerns) will do nothing to stem social media addiction.

You just described every big social media platform.

For me it started wholesome, it used to make me happy when I used Tik Tok. Comedy, music, interesting self development content. All of it from clever and innovative independent content creators. Then it slid into exclusively red pill and relationship content that pushes a deeply cynical and pessimistic view of relationships. It appeals to something in my brain the same way a car crash or train wreck does. I know it's a distortion and will poison all of my healthy relationships if I really let it sink in, yet I found myself not wanting to look away, so I uninstalled the app.

If Tik Tok stayed the way it was when I first got into it I'd say it's fine, but the content it pushes now makes me concerned it will poison our culture with apathy, pessimism and cynicism.

> I don’t understand the bi-partisan dislike of Tik Tok. As far as content goes, [...]

The quality of the content is the reason. It's excessively cringe.

If it were simply "because China" then this bill wouldn't be targeting social media specifically. But it does, and other Chinese apps aren't addressed. If it were because of foreign social media influence, this bill wouldn't be calling out TikTok solely and specifically, and would presumably also mention WeChat, etc. But it doesn't. It's about TikTok specifically, and I think the reason is a visceral disgust for the content on TikTok.

Tik Tok is wholesome. Now that’s a new one.

Something something china bad.

> I don’t understand the bi-partisan dislike of Tik Tok.

It's not hard to understand, it's literally because it's controlled by China.

Exactly. They can use it to boost the opinions that they favor. The feedback loop of "I talked about opinion X and got tons of love" and "I talked about opinion Y and everyone got mad / ignored me" is very powerful, especially on young people.

Likewise:

* "X seems to be a pretty big deal because I keep hearing a lot of people upset about it"

* "I haven't seen anything about X. It must not be that big of a deal."

All social media seems to be moving toward individualized echo chambers, but it's another level when it's an individualized black box controlled by foreign interests.

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