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Comment by epolanski | Hacker News Reader

I'm sick of this being repeated over and over until it becomes true.

We have had multiple studies at this point and not a single one concluded that there's any kind of particular manipulation on Tik Tok. Not one. They all conclude that the bias is not different from other platforms.

HBO run a segment on the ban and goes a bit more in depth:

https://youtu.be/5CZNlaeZAtw?si=-4f7Pyww-nazCrSM

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I think there are pretty strong traces of pro-china manipulation on Tiktok.

See https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/24/briefing/tiktok-ban-bill-...

Content about something like Hong-Kong protests or the Tiananmen square are suppressed.

There isn't even a clear methodology explained (where/when/how where the accounts created, etc) on that NCRI "study".

Even the data is often self contradicting.

All we see is that there's much less political discourse on TikTok than ig.

If there's manipulation, the only thing that this study shows is that the manipulation goes towards avoiding politics in general.

Not only that, but the study itself may show the reverse to be true: that IG pushes some narratives more than others.

There is no evidence whatsoever presented in that paid for NCRI study.

In fact, the same result can be used to interpret as "strong traces of anti-China manipulation on American social medias".

The biggest manipulation seems to be people thinking that TikTok is brainwashing the youths.

When I see people looking at Tiktok videos in the bus, they usually look like possessed by something, a few seconds of gaze with glassy eyes, flip, flip, flip. It is so weird, I feel a bit sick in my stomach when I see it. Regardless of its potential as a brainwashing and manipulation vector, I personally completely banned it in my household (facebook/ instagram was always banned).

Same feeling for me about people watching TV, playing video games, gambling, listening to talk radio, attending sporting events, going to church, etc.

I don't think it's brainwashing, at least obviously (could be covert operations behind the scenes and we'd never know, like anything), but i will say it has pioneered a form of 'brain rot' that is simply leagues above all else. Not the freedom of expression, the dopamine dependance and impulsion of the infinite scroll. I'd much prefer we outlaw that specific technology, i think the world would be better for it. Stop the autoplay too. It almost feels sometimes like my eyes are being held open ala clockwork orange. People see so much shit in there that they don't remember ingesting that i can believe there's brainwashing experiments going on. You could do anything with that feed and no one would notice, but they would still see it. There's already discussions online about how "is everyone else getting these kind of videos now?", i see it about every 2 weeks. Some popular personality (to me) goes on and says, "have you seen this crazy looking homeless guy?" And everyone in the audience says "omg yes, he showed out of nowhere for me to and i can't stop seeing his vids". I've seen this play out around a dozen times now with thousands and thousands of people in agreement. So, i mean, no one controls their own algorithm. Maybe that's what we need. Let me see the code, let me alter it if i so choose, but let me see if you're changing my weights or pushing specific things to me. They'll never do that though unless it's an American company that can be forced to do so.

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