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TikTok hits 1.5B downloads, outperforming Instagram

(www.businessinsider.com)
298 points elorant | 16 comments | 19 Nov 19 14:09 UTC | HN request time: 1.054s | source | bottom
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komali2 ◴[19 Nov 19 16:04 UTC] No.21574384[source]▶
Aight, conspiracy theory time.

I'm becoming concerned about PRC influence in my country (USA). From my perspective the PRC (government) is blatantly evil, and happily engaging in cultural warfare, and nobody seems to be fighting back.

I see absurd astroturfing and shilling on social media here (Reddit, Twitter, Facebook). It's always obvious - whereas a genuine criticizer of the Hong Kong protestors might ask about violence, the shills will always use the word "ISIS" somewhere in their message.

It's everywhere and we don't seem to be fighting back. I browse Chinese social media and while my Mandarin isn't great I'm not seeing any level of AstroTurfing at all. So am I just a crazy conspiracy person? Is the PRC astroturfing not a big deal? Maybe my concerns are valid but that doesn't justify further concern about the influx of PRC messaging vectors to the USA, i.e. tiktok?

When I worked in the PRC I got to see first hand the strong-arm of the Party. Every business involved in communication had a government official whose entire job was to ensure the company "protected the social wellbeing of the people of the PRC" or similar. I can only assume tiktok has the same and I can only assume it's a matter of time before the Party starts directing the company to leverage their access to a massive US audience in a way that benefits the "social wellbeing," i.e. by disseminating PRC propaganda.

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pcroh ◴[19 Nov 19 16:06 UTC] No.21574430[source]▶
Exactly the way I feel about American influence in Europe. It's not too bad, you'll get used to it.
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oarabbus_ ◴[19 Nov 19 16:21 UTC] No.21574634[source]▶
You mean to, in supposed good faith, suggest that USA influence in Europe is similar and/or equivalent to Chinese influence and interference in the USA?
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pcroh ◴[19 Nov 19 16:21 UTC] No.21574639[source]▶
Yes. Are you familiar with the NATO?
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9dl ◴[19 Nov 19 16:24 UTC] No.21574683[source]▶
Did you mean that old organisation which defend world from soviet invasion?
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1. GordonS ◴[19 Nov 19 16:54 UTC] No.21575136[source]▶
I hope this is sarcasm?

The things the USA did supposedly in the name of stopping "red danger" were utterly dispicable, and still have an impact today.

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2. 9dl ◴[19 Nov 19 17:06 UTC] No.21575301[source]▶
Wait

So you think that "red danger" was fake?

Or "red danger" did (and do) less despicable things?

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3. merpnderp ◴[19 Nov 19 17:23 UTC] No.21575508[source]▶
"red danger"? Like when Cuban intervened in Angola and murdered 10's of thousands or dozens of others horrors around the globe?

Hell, just think of how many excessive deaths have been caused around the globe by the USSR's push of socialism, retarding growth by decades everywhere it won.

You'd have to be a hard core ideologue to not look at the 20th century and think the "red danger" wasn't the most evil thing to ever happen to humanity.

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4. 9dl ◴[19 Nov 19 17:41 UTC] No.21575748[source]▶
soviets never pushed socialism

Never

That word was a mask for totalitarian ideology

5. rumanator ◴[19 Nov 19 17:45 UTC] No.21575792[source]▶
You are simply wrong on so many levels. NATO is the reason why the iron curtain stayed where it was and why the Russian federation hasn't steam-rolled Western Europe.

If you believe the US is the only actor that benefitted from this development, you're somehow ignoring about 800 million people and over two dozen countries who remained free and independent thanks to NATO.

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6. GordonS ◴[19 Nov 19 18:03 UTC] No.21576036[source]▶
> So you think that "red danger" was fake

I didn't say that - I think the US reaction to the threat was horrendous.

> Or "red danger" did (and do) less despicable things?

That's whataboutism - you would hope that a country that bills itself as "land of the free" would aim for a little better than that.

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7. GordonS ◴[19 Nov 19 18:08 UTC] No.21576086[source]▶
The 2 scenarios are not mutually exclusive - the threat from communism could have been averted without overthrowing democracies, arming terrorists etc.

Something like 200k people died in the civil war that ensued in Guatamala after the US-backed coup. And that is but one example. It could be argued that a lot of the violence and instability in Latin America is as a result of US intervetion.

8. GordonS ◴[19 Nov 19 18:23 UTC] No.21576282[source]▶
> Hell, just think of how many excessive deaths have been caused around the globe by the USSR's push of socialism, retarding growth by decades everywhere it won.

Hell, just think of the violence, misery and excessive deaths that have occurred across Latin America and the Middle East because of the USA's interventions.

My point is that just because the USSR did worse, doesn't excuse the USA's actions, which still have an impact to this day.

9. McWobbleston ◴[19 Nov 19 18:38 UTC] No.21576518[source]▶
Are you conveniently forgetting the forceful seizure of an entire continent, displacement of native populations, importing millions of human beings to be used as slaves, colonization and plunder of natural resources across the globe, and deliberate destabilization of regions for profit?

You need to check out the rose glasses you're wearing yourself

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10. izacus ◴[19 Nov 19 19:04 UTC] No.21576866[source]▶
> You are simply wrong on so many levels. NATO is the reason why the iron curtain stayed where it was and why the Russian federation hasn't steam-rolled Western Europe.

There are no historical artifacts claiming that USSR ever had a serious plan to "steamroll" Western Europe. If anything, they were deathly terrified of NATO incursion into Russia and almost pathologically attached to creating a buffer zone of Warszaw Pact states.

Please do not mix up US cold war propaganda with historic facts, those are not quite the same.

11. larnmar ◴[19 Nov 19 19:17 UTC] No.21577010{3}[source]▶
This whole thread is based on whataboutism! It’s supposed to be about Chinese influence, and then someone derailed it into talking about American influence, and now the whole thread is 90% comments about America and 10% comments about China.

Note: this also happens in pretty much every other thread about a country that isn’t America. God forbid anyone ever discuss anything else, Americans want to relitigate the same old tired “why my country sucks” debates!

And for what? Is any useful information being conveyed? No, it’s mostly just some kind of social status signalling — Americans of certain insecure social class feel the need to complain about America at every opportunity to distinguish themselves from people of a lower social class because patriotism is coded as a low-class activity.

Yes you’re all very sophisticated and I’m sure you like high speed trains and such. Can we please stop talking about the same thing all the time?

Love,

A non American

12. dang ◴[19 Nov 19 19:28 UTC] No.21577159[source]▶
Please don't take HN threads further into nationalistic flamewar. This is the last thing we need here.

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

13. dang ◴[19 Nov 19 19:28 UTC] No.21577166[source]▶
Please fight the cold war somewhere else. We don't want flamewars here.

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

14. dang ◴[19 Nov 19 19:29 UTC] No.21577173[source]▶
Nationalistic and ideological flamewar are not welcome here. No more of this, please, on HN.

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

15. dang ◴[19 Nov 19 19:30 UTC] No.21577193{3}[source]▶
Please don't take HN threads further into nationalistic or ideological flamewar. Also, please be careful not to cross into personal attack, which is a force multiplier on all things bad here.

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

16. dang ◴[19 Nov 19 19:30 UTC] No.21577197[source]▶
Please don't take HN threads further into nationalistic or ideological flamewar.

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html