TikTok has been pushing Chinese propaganda to millions of users in Europe: analysis::More than 1,000 ads from Chinese state media outlets have run on European users’ TikTok feeds since October 2022, according to the platform’s latest ad library update that was analyzed by Forbes.
And American social media does the same for America. Every dog barks for its master.
You’re not necessarily wrong in all respects, but this comment is peak whataboutism. Western tiktok is targeted mostly at children and young adults who are obviously highly impressionable, so I would argue that regardless of whats happening on any other social media platform, this is unwanted and harmful and therefore shouldn’t be accepted.
Are children and young adults really more impressionable than Fox news, and thereby Facebook’s, audience?
I also don’t know that I agree with “targeted mostly at children and young adults”. There are very large parts of TikTok that would be wholly unappealing to your average kid. Not to mention that American social media started out very much targeted at children and young adults. Or have we already forgotten what the main demographics of Facebook and myspace used to be?
The problem with whataboutism here is that these conversations pretty much always involve TikTok and rarely other platforms until it’s brought up in comments where it can be dismissed as whataboutism.
Either they’re all a problem (it’s this one) or none of them are. We need to stop drawing arbitrary lines between offenders. It’s just giving a bunch of shit bags freedom to continue being shit bags.
Fox News isn’t being paid by the Federal or State Governments to run “Ads” that attempt to put a positive spin on negative events.
Suuuure. Not paid directly by the gov, but unless you’ve been living under a rock, everyone knows that politicians and big corporations (or in this case: Fox News) work hand in hand to push propaganda… Or like you said “put a positive spin on negative events”.
People just like to jump on TikTok and be like CHINA BAD!. As if America was an angel lmao.
WTF is wrong with you? China is running ads trying to convince people that they’re not really genociding the Uyghur Muslims they’re just detaining them to send them all to school!
I never said it was, again WTF is wrong with you in your head? Criticizing one group doesn’t equate to support for an opposing group.
Does it count when a major political party, that does that all the time, uses the money it pilfered from that government, or is that different somehow?
What about that the only reason they’re not doing it directly from the government account is because of the safeguards against that kind of thing they haven’t pulled down yet
A political party is not the Government nor do their ads attempt to whitewash Government misdeeds.
A political party makes up parts of the government and uses their ads to whitewash their own actions within the government.
This division is not at clean as you’re trying to make it
Oftentimes they’re connected to party members mate. Trump literally spoke to a bunch of their broadcasters daily.
Was the US Federal Government paying Fox News to run ads talking about how the mass murder of American Indians was a good thing?
No? Then GTFO out of here with this whataboutism. It’s fucking gross.
The same people fund both the government (through elections) and the news media. I guarantee you Murdoch is friends with many of his fellow billionaires.
L
The difference is there is American federal policy being put in place around TikTok specifically that is not being done against other social media apps.
Yea when people organize an attempted coup on Chinese tiktok, your point may hold more water. Not saying it’s a good thing, but it’s clear that Facebook et al’s primary motive is not promoting nationalistic goals; domestically or aboard.
Bro Youtube is still very often full of grifting, hawkery and other disgusting stuff.
Moreover, how is anyone sitting in America (or a country with American bases) primarily concerned about the Chinese government? We have endless military and culture war/ propaganda barriers erected against them; we’re basically untouchable, unless we plan on physically going to China.
(The answer is related to the propaganda barriers themselves – it’s acceptable / encouraged to criticize China).
Can you describe what “propaganda barriers” means? From my perspective, it’s absurdly easy for foreign governments to bot-farm posts in an attempt to sway public opinion in the US.
And of course it’s acceptable/encouraged to criticize China. But it’s also acceptable/encouraged to criticize Joe Biden, Donald Trump, AOC, DeSantis, Obama, and on and on. There’s not really a shortage of hateful and divisive content out there right now. The rage-bait about what The Other Team just did and how America is in terminal decay are the biggest propaganda wins of all time. And news orgs, desperate for revenue in an age of digital media and ad blockers, will chase whatever is stuck in people’s heads so they fuel it even more.