14h ago

Frequent TikTok users in Taiwan more likely to agree with pro-China narratives, study finds

1d ago

Frequent TikTok users in Taiwan more likely to agree with pro-China narratives, study finds

20 comments

This is a case where you have to be careful about cause-effect order. I assume that Tiwanese people that are heavily opposed to China are more likely to avoid tiktok. But of course, it's been shown that tiktok tends to show more pro-China "content" as well, and likely influences the opinions of its users.
- Like you said, it’s not new information that Tik Tok hides posts on certain topics and promotes posts on other topics though, so it isn’t surprising either way. I’ll add that they do it with more than just pro-China content
- It’s not just that, it’s also culture takeover. A lot of young people in Taiwan speak and think like mainland Chinese now.
- I'm recon its a bit of both tbh.

This is because Tiktok slows spread of anti-CCP content and boosts pro-CCP content. Exactly like they keep swearing they don’t. ByteDance answers to their State Capitalism daddy Xi, they are not independent as they claim.
- Whatever anyone China-affiliated says they're not doing, it's a safe bet that's exactly what they're doing.
  I'm not going to push any conspiracy theories, but I believe the strongest evidence pointing towards Covid-19 originating in a lab is the Chinese government insisting that it didn't, while prohibiting anyone not under their control from investigating. That doesn't mean it did originate from a lab, but if anything, that's what it points to. To be explicit: My impression is that, currently, most available evidence points towards natural origins. However the Chinese government has done its best to convince me otherwise.
  
  The first week of the pandemic, a youtube channel posted ALL the info on the lab leak, it was scrubbed off the face of the internet. Showed the lab and the food stall the lab worker went to nearby. Also that a california lab was sharing reasearch with said lab in wuhan and stopped just a bit prior to the leak.

I'm staggered so many people seem to think TikTok isn't used to sway public opinions.
- It's people who run apologia for anything the Chinese government or even Chinese business does.
  Meanwhile I remember that TikTok helped Trump' s youth outreach campaign with the message they gave when US access was restored, so they've already signalled they're not on my side.

TikTok shows me BBQ techniques, random models, and teenagers trying to be professional stuntmen and almost dying. And that one time sea shanties. You have to train the algorithm.
- I've only ever tried to watch travel videos, yet they still feed me the occassional far-right propaganda and even islamism