Technology @lemmy.world Olivia @lemmy.today 7 mo. ago

It Appears Users Are Getting Bored With TikTok

www.techdirt.com It Appears Users Are Getting Bored With TikTok

We’ve been covering many stories about a potential TikTok ban, including how unconstitutional it clearly is, how pointless it clearly is, and how even those who back it don’t seem to have a good ex…

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We’ve been covering many stories about a potential TikTok ban, including how unconstitutional it clearly is, how pointless it clearly is, and how even those who back it don’t seem to have a good explanation of why, beyond some vague handwaving about “China.”

The bill isn't nearly as bad as they want you to think. It bans companies in Russia, China, North Korea, and Iran from operating social media apps in US markets, forcing them to sell if they already do. These four countries are already restricted from accessing sensitive parts of the US economy, with forced sale being a legal option. Really, the only novel part of the bill is applying these kinds of restrictions to software.

And the bill doesn't actually punish or restrain users' speech. It does restrain the social media company's speech, but that may not be enough to overturn the bill on 1st amendment grounds. If you understand that social media exists to collect vast amounts of user data then you must also understand how the government has a legitimate interest in keeping that data out of an adversary's hands. The only real question is whether the government has a compelling interest, because that's the standard that a court would apply to this bill. And I daresay it might.
- I hate the amount of data American social media companies collect and what they do with it
  
  I REALLY hate having Chinese or Russian or [Insert Authoritarian Hostile Country] doing it.
  
  American companies do it for the pursuit of profits, Companies from these countries are doing it to topple our government or whatever.
  
  Something something the devil you know...
  
  What if it becomes profitable to overthrow the government?
  
  It's profitable for the companies to sell it to the government... Basically just adds a step to the government getting it
  
  redacted
  
  this but the opposite, Chinese social media companies are taking my data for profit, American social media is doing it to topple the US government (also for profit)
  
  You do know that those mere profits are used to purchase whatever they want from the government, right?
- Yeah, it's very clearly not unconstitutional.
  
  The constitution doesn't grant jack shit for rights to enemy states.
- Meanwhile the biggest nazi platform on earth is being run by a south african who is getting top secret defense contracts. Make it make sense.
  
  Musk's companies are already based in the US. The issues you raise, however valid, are not really relevant to a discussion of this bill.
- So they are going to put in place some hard data collection and selling regulation, right? Right?
  
  The question is irrelevant to whether this bill is a good idea.
- While I agree - the part you're missing is the vast majority of TikTok users are outside the United States.
  
  TikTok doesn't want to sell. They want some sort of "independent" subsidiary where ByteDance still profits from (and controls) TikTok and the subsidiary worries about compliance with US law. But the thing is, that's already the current structure.
  
  I wouldn't be surprised if they refuse to sell and wind up being banned. ByteDance doesn't want to lose all their US customers, but they'd likely prefer that to selling.
  
  the vast majority of TikTok users are outside the United States.
  
  Then they can decide that it would be better to not serve the United States users and keep the "vast majority" of their userbase as-is
It appears I am getting bored with the entire Internet.

When we had web forums with thread bumping, I got an endless stream of interesting and entertaining things to react to despite there being relatively few users.
- I miss those days :(
TikTok’s DAU growth rate has collapsed.

That might as well be saturation. If you already have nearly 100% of the target demographic on your app, there's not much room to grow.

Also, that data is from some mobile analytics firm, how reliable are those numbers?
- Also, that data is from some mobile analytics firm, how reliable are those numbers?
  
  With all the data these damn companies vacuum up, it better be damn reliable, otherwise what is even the fucking point lmao
  
  We don't know that. What are they even measuring? New installs? New accounts? What is a DAU? Opened the app this day? Engaged with the app? Looked at a notification? What is the measured user base? Can this population be called representative for the entire user base?
  
  Without detailed information about that, this kind of data is basically astrology.
The US government has a long and storied history of closing the gate after the horse has bolted.
- just making sure it doesn't come back 🤠
- I imagine, that's most governments. The political pushback will be lessened a lot, if people lose interest, so then a block is more likely to go through.
- Politics going for worthless easy quick wins instead of lasting changes for the better has a history of it's own.
Permanently Deleted
- Any stimulus loses its impact with repeated exposure.
- Tech moves fast ma dudes.
Good. That ~~platform~~ malware needs to die.
TikTok is just pushing advertisements and people who promote their shop. In-between you have 2 or 3 videos where it's on of the few trends going around.
Good
But since it's banned, it's interesting again. /s
It's too long
- We need a service built around 30 millisecond videos.
Okay, Biden

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