I am tired of the unspoken Western Big Tech apologia. TikTok OBJECTIVELY collects far lesser data than Big Tech apps and services, according to reports from 2 reputed data collection analysis companies. Moreover, the below assumes you have an account, which is not even needed to use TikTok, unlike Instagram or Snapchat.
One of the key important aspects of threat modelling for your desired privacy is the acceptance of facts instead of false nationalist opinions.
Moreover, while TikTok collects basic data, it never forces you to login other than for commenting (for obvious reasons) and similarly personal things, unlike Instagram. If you open an IG link in web browser, you cannot replay the video second time, and if you scroll the account’s posted images and videos, you will not be able to flick through a second time.
Unlike Tiktok, with Western platforms and services like Facebook, you give phone number, contact book, IMEI, location data, email, some name or pseudonym et al. With TikTok, none, because you do not need an account for it.
Facebook/Instagram and major Western platforms’ data collection on a user is more than what TikTok does on a user, even if there is an account on both services. On top of this, TikTok does not have tracking pixels, ad networks, CDN and other methods of tracking on other websites, unlike Facebook ecosystem. This allows Facebook ecosystem to correlate, interlink and form data clusters on users and IP addresses. Remember how Facebook ecosystem disallows accountless access? Or how they C&D’d Barinsta developer Austin Huang, citing they dislike anonymous access to Instagram?
Western platforms also inject malware in browser using domains like netseer-ipaddr-assoc.xy.fbcdn.net, something TikTok does not do if you do not have an account.
This is precisely what makes TikTok objectively so harmless without an account, and even with an account, relatively far less harmful. It does not mean TikTok does not collect data, but the difference is too wide. These are the facts, free of American nationalist propaganda.
TikTok OBJECTIVELY collects far lesser data than Big Tech apps and services
This is not true for a number of reasons, first being that once the data gets sent to a Chinese server, it’s gone. It’s like a void. Those “data collections analysis” can speculate, but they truly have no idea what happens with that data. Another reason that TikTok is as bad as Instagram, is that they farmed all the data from the in-app browser. Every click, scroll, everything.
You can argue that they have a different approach to data farming, and they do: they try and rope you in, trick you into giving them your data. But it’s demonstrable wrong to say that they collect less data. I wouldn’t say they collect more data than typical west social media platforms, but I think it’s disingenuous to say they’re somehow better.
I read through the first link you provided, it doesn’t align with your claim “TikTok OBJECTIVELY collects far lesser data than Big Tech apps and services.”
Now remove the need to use TikTok’s app and account, and count what all metrics get sent when you use it like that. You can use TikTok freely in any web browser. That makes it WAY better than any Western Big Tech services.
And no, TikTok is NOT the worst in any category, and is far below Facebook and Instagram.
You misinterpret the data shown in there, and ignore what I said about not needing an account. Services like Instagram make it mandatory to have an account and its app to use it.
Oh really? This ban won’t effect people who use (for example) F-Droid to get the app?? That’s great to hear tbh. Hopefully this stupid ass decision will have the effect of turning more people on to FOSS stuff more than it will actually prevent people from using TikTok.
I don’t think they will put it on fdroid, because it has to really be open source to be there, but there’s certainly other app stores which will have it.
How can a ban be enforced? It’s always thru Google app Store or IP, and you can always bypass both.
In Aurora Store there’s TikTok. You can install aurora store here:
ok, thanks for the info. I don’t know a lot about how this kind of thing works (clearly), I just try to use and support FOSS and “piracy” whenever possible.
You can use VPN (paid or free) for instance and if the ban is really badly done even by changing the DNS server (which is free) access can be restored.
Nope. You can’t access tiktok through vpn in India. You need a patched/modded app. I live in India and I’ve tried doing that. It’s a non-existent platform here. Bans will affect user engagement.
Makes me sad to see people acting like the simple act of saying “Jews” is offensive. We survived thousands of years of persecution, the fucking holocaust, and you think this is where we draw the line? Come the fuck on lol.
Jew is the correct word to refer to a member of the Jewish faith. I don’t think anyone would suggest that it was derogatory unless they themselves were hateful toward Jews. It’s kind of like how people who hate Americans use the term “Americans” hatefully.
I stand firmly on the side of not stifling hateful use of “Jew” to avoid the risk of stifling regular use of it. They can’t make the correct descriptor of my identity into a derogatory word. I won’t let them.
That is technically true, though the dynamic of pointing at and labelling a minority who have historically been subject to persecution is its own message on top of that. As usual, context is everything, and this meme depends on the reader being aware of the history of Jews being singled out for persecution for its transgressive frisson.
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