TikTok as a new weapon
With just a click of a link, psychological manipulation can be performed without spatial, temporal, and spatial limitations. According to experts, excitement can now be considered a weapon to neutralize enemies. And the first weapon of mass destruction could be a small smartphone app like TikTok.
TikTok is seen as a new weapon that is tying the hands of young people. Picture: Gurwinder/Prism
dangerous
TikTok is one of the fastest growing apps in history. Launched in China in 2017 under the name Douyin, the service quickly caught on. According to App Annie, ByteDance will be the most downloaded app in the world in 2020. According to Cloudflare, the platform will overtake Google as the most visited web domain in 2021.
While platforms like Facebook and Twitter use recommendation algorithms as an advanced feature, TikTok includes a For You algorithm as its core product. Users only have to look and look, the content will continue to be displayed and adjusted so that they don’t leave the application.
“After a while, the highest TikTok system hits you. It can then suggest what you need, and it’s addicting,” says Gurvinder, the book’s acclaimed author. Corner with more than 110,000 Twitter followers, comments.
Because you prioritize instant engagement, which is why constructive videos are typically left out to make way for “interesting but unnecessary” information. In fact, many famous TikTokers can only dance or sing along, and that’s exactly what ByteDance originally created Douyin for.
In accordance Bloomberg, personally such videos are harmless, but the algorithm does not only show the user one content. Once the attraction signal is received, the algorithm repeatedly displays the hypnotic content, amplifying the imprint in the user’s brain. Therefore, many dangerous and misleading trends are still circulating on TikTok, which are difficult to eradicate.
In the name of “challenge,” many people are willing to do stupid things in hopes of gaining fame on the platform, such as sucking sunscreen through their noses, eating chicken boiled with cough medicine and tearing it to pieces. car or passed out.
Dangerous Weapon
According to experts, TikTok has the frightening ability to encourage stupid and risk-taking behavior by influencing the human brain. “This could lead to the possibility of using it as a weapon and incapacitating the enemy not by inflicting pain but by inducing honor,” Gurvinder said.
Technological developments have shortened forms of entertainment. From film and television in the early 1900s to one-minute videos on YouTube to second-length clips on TikTok. On TikTok, the gap between desire and satisfaction is almost instantaneous. Viewers are slowly running out of patience or effort to get what they want. Some psychologists fear that the mental health of users, especially young children, will soon be forgotten and gradually “collapse”. Slowly but surely, this can turn young people into TikTok addicts who are often distracted.
Short social networks like TikTok are currently banned in some places. India banned ByteDance in 2020 for distributing child pornography and failing to prevent cyberbullying, and the US is considering a similar proposal.
Meanwhile, according to Ross Andersen Magazine AtlanticAlso, are the risks associated with collecting personal data from apps like TikTok. He predicts that in the near future, every user entering a public space can be instantly identified by AI, which compares and cross-checks them against data warehouses, including written communications, app work, great-to-watch videos… in addition to personal information. previously provided. Apps like TikTok can help collect this kind of data easily.
Parents can install software on mobile devices to restrict children’s access, Gurvinder said. “But this is only a short-term measure. “In the long run, the only way to prevent digital dementia is to raise awareness about the nerve damage caused by apps like TikTok,” he said.
TikTok Ban Bill Proposed Again
Republican Senator Marco Rubio and Independent Democrat Angus King introduced a bipartisan bill on February 10 to ban TikTok and similar apps in the United States.
The fate of the bill is unknown as it could face opposition from tech industry lobby groups and anger millions of young US users. A similar bill introduced by Senator Rubio and two Democrats in the US House of Representatives in December 2022 failed.
However, the new filing shows that US lawmakers are increasingly concerned about the risks of US user data being collected through “weapons” like TikTok.
On March 23, TikTok Show CEO Zi Chu is set to testify before the US House of Representatives Energy and Finance Committee, where he is expected to face numerous questions about the handling of user data and a host of other issues.
US President Joe Biden’s administration has reached an agreement to store US user data on Oracle servers. However, US lawmakers and experts remain skeptical about the measure’s effectiveness, saying it could still leak information to China.
Testifying before the US Senate in September 2022, TikTok COO Vanessa Pappas stressed that the company always tightly controls data and data location, insisting that it does not provide any information to the Chinese government.
Bao Lam-Diep Anh (in accordance Prisma, Bloomberg)