Is the Tucker Carlson story few days back, about the tiktok algo promoting edu and wholesome content within China, but twerking and gender transition in the west true?
> The "'general tenor' of the show should then inform a viewer that [Carlson] is not 'stating actual facts' about the topics he discusses and is instead engaging in 'exaggeration' and 'non-literal commentary.'
and
> Fox persuasively argues, that given Mr. Carlson's reputation, any reasonable viewer 'arrive[s] with an appropriate amount of skepticism' about the statement he makes."
So if even the guys lawyers tell you any reasonable person would take him with a grain of salt, I would assume that everything he says is indeed exaggerated and non-literal as they phrase it. Or phrased differently: he will say what he thinks his audience wants to hear. What he says might be completely made up, have some important bits omitted or contain a kernel of truth with a truckload of fantasy.
From a European perspective this guy seems so over the top that I thought it was meant to be parody when I first saw a clip from him.
source: https://www.npr.org/2020/09/29/917747123/you-literally-cant-...
TikTok promotes the content that you respond to, no different than the recommendation algos we've gotten from our homegrown social media companies. Their biggest differentiator is that the signals they use are way better. If you see alot of gender transitioning content, then it says more about the content you watch.
That said, if you think critically, if Chinese users as a whole preferred educational and wholesome content on tiktok, that says more about Chinese society and what they value not that there is some boogeyman who holds a big level on whether to show you cats or twerking.
>Certain types of content is banned on Douyin but the idea that tiktok promotes "edu and wholesome content within China" is a myth spread
These two comments aren't really contradictory. Tiktok might technically not be "promoting edu and wholesome content" in china, but they might have banned the content that the parent poster thinks is repugnant (ie. "twerking and gender transition"). Indeed, depending on how much stuff is banned and what you consider as "wholesome", it's very possible that the chinese censors banned everything that you don't consider wholesome.
No, I think the phrasing of the statement is misleading. It implies that TikTok (or some Chinese boogeyman) is the one making the decision to "poison" American Tiktok viewers. That isn't the case; the two cultures are different - China may ban choose to ban twerking videos on social media platforms but the US could not do something like that without infringing on free speech.
The people want twerking videos (TikTok did not invent "sex sells"), whether or not tiktok gives it to you is a function of the countries government, not some Chinese mastermind.
That said, I don't think the statement is globally true. I opened TikTok just now on "unpaired words"[1], I've never seen a video on transitioning and I get plenty of educationally curious content. This content does exist on US TikTok and is being promoted; you just have to be interested in watching it.
No
It gives you more of what you watch and upvote. So the contents of your For You page are on you, after the first 5 or so videos.
Their use cases/journeys need a lot of work.
Also, TikTok is not accounting for views properly (Mr Beast reported it on TikTok among many others), they redirect users away from certain accounts when links are shared on web sites, and they even stop certain videos from playing and shadow ban US users if their content talks negatively about the platform... Just like the country it comes from might do.
psychological warfare