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Comment on I'm OOTL: Why is TikTok being banned?

It is, but the relevance to the discussion is that China getting american’s data isn’t the reason for the ban. Nor is China influencing Americans because they tend to derank politically spicy videos. If China was controlling the algo to make the US look bad, videos tagged BLM wouldn’t have been deranked.

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Tedesche@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
It depends on the manner in which said “politically spicy videos” are being censored. If it’s being done in a manner that promotes Chinese narratives while demoting American narratives, that’s an entirely legitimate concern for the U.S. and I don’t really see why not demoting BLM videos is not in the CCP’s interest; videos that make America seem racist seems entirely in the interest of an Anti-American country.

I also don’t see why hiring former American intelligence operatives demonstrates a pro-American stance, as their motivations for doing so could be to learn about American intelligence-gathering methods while promoting Chinese interests.

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- alcoholicorn@lemmy.ml ⁨23⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
  
  If it’s being done in a manner that promotes Chinese narratives while demoting American narratives
  
  Spicy in this case means protests, police misbehavior, stuff the US wouldn’t want amplified. The big waves of censorship came in 2020 and 2022. You can search news articles from the time with lots of people wondering why they’re no longer getting that content in their FYPs and content creators getting <1/10th of the views. FB and reddit do the same thing.
  
  I don’t really see why not demoting BLM videos is not in the CCP’s interest; videos that make America seem racist seems entirely in the interest of an Anti-American country.
  
  Demoting the videos that show America’s response to antiracist movements makes America look like the racist country it is.
  
  I also don’t see why hiring former American intelligence operatives demonstrates a pro-American stance, as their motivations for doing so could be to learn about American intelligence-gathering methods while promoting Chinese interests.
  
  CIA agents living in America who disseminate intelligence-gathering methods while promoting Chinese interests get charged with treason.
  
  They were hired to help identify and amplify US state department narratives, same reason CNN and Fox hires them.
  
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  - Tedesche@lemmy.world ⁨23⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
    
    Amplifying the videos that show America’s response to antiracist movements would make America look like the racist country it is. Demoting them conceals that.
    
    No, that doesn’t make sense. Amplifying shows of division in a country promotes the view that said country is flawed and weak, in this case along racial lines. China has plenty to gain by showing that.
    
    And America is no less racist than China, btw. I would argue far less so.
    
    They were hired to help identify and amplify US state department narratives, same reason CNN and Fox hires them.
    
    That seems entirely speculative. There are plenty of other reasons to hire them. Can you provide evidence for your claim?
    
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    alcoholicorn@lemmy.ml ⁨23⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
    
    Amplifying shows of division in a country promotes the view that said country is flawed and weak, in this case along racial lines. China has plenty to gain by showing that.
    
    Exactly! So demoting those videos suggests that China is not using the algorithm to influence America.
    
    That seems entirely speculative. There are plenty of other reasons to hire them. Can you provide evidence for your claim?
    
    No, CIA agents don’t go around saying they’re working for media companies to disseminate propaganda, and media companies don’t broadcast that they take extra care to make sure their coverage lines up with the state department’s narratives.
    
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