Bonum Certa Men Certa

TikTok is a Chinese Weapon Controlled by a Dangerous Company (ByteDance) and We Must Treat It Like a Chinese Weapon for Our Own Sake

Fentanylware: Who's there?



Summary: Many people believe -- or get paid to say -- that TikTok is no worse than social control media made by the West and controlled by the West; those people clearly have no clue about TikTok (where the stated aim is harm, it is not merely a side effect)

TikTok is, bluntly speaking, a Chinese weapon disguised as an "app" or "site". Consider some recent examples such as [1] (some idiot "arrives at his own funeral in helicopter after faking his death"). As we noted some days ago in the series about YouTube, this imperils emergency services, can cause a suicide, etc. What healthy-minded person does this? And what for? To teach one's family a "lesson"? See "Paramedics turn on premier in TikTok tirade" [2], "The Battle for Control" [3] (yes, it's about TikTok), and then witness disturbing trends [4]. Even German media [5] has had its say.



For those who do not know what ByteDance is, Wikipedia says this: "ByteDance Ltd. (Chinese: 字节跳动; pinyin: Zìjié Tiàodòng) is a Chinese internet technology company headquartered in Beijing and incorporated in the Cayman Islands." Well, "internet technology" is a typo (should be capitalised i, but Wikipedia is no longer known for quality) and calling it "internet technology" is a gross understatement. It's a surveillance giant that farms behaviour. It's like a Chinese "profiling" or "scoring" system for the entire world, operated by youths for the most part but aimed at adults.

Yesterday the New York Times wrote [6]: "On the short-form video app, long-established facts about the 1912 disaster at sea are being newly litigated as musty rumors merge with fresh misinformation and manipulated content."

Yes, "misinformation and manipulated content" is very common there because it is actively being encouraged and promoted (selected to go viral, by hostile forces). It harms people's safety, feelings, self-image, and education.

Techrights has been consistently and unapologetically against TikTok, more so than any other social control media. If you know someone who uses TikTok, do your best to wean them/him/her off it.

Related/contextual items from the news:


  1. 2023-06-15 TikToker arrives at his own funeral in helicopter after faking his death
  2. 2023-06-15 [Older] ‘Hey Chris Minns, remember us?’: Paramedics turn on premier in TikTok tirade
  3. 2023-06-14 [Older] The Battle for Control: TikTok, Parental Consent, and the Rights of Children
  4. 2023-06-14 [Older] Fewer People Trust Traditional Media, More Turn to TikTok for News, Report Says
  5. 2023-06-10 [Older] Drohnenkrieg: Die TikTokisierung des Grauens


  6. The Titanic Truthers of TikTok
    On the short-form video app, long-established facts about the 1912 disaster at sea are being newly litigated as musty rumors merge with fresh misinformation and manipulated content.




Recent Techrights' Posts

Twitter (X) is Dying, Now It's Just Like a Mafia-Type Operation of the Man Who Does Nazi Salutes in Public
a form of extortion
The Price of Exposing Corruption in Poland (and Elsewhere)
It's easier to participate in corruption than to merely do the right thing and oppose it
Abuse Inside the Polish Patent Office (UPRP) - Part IX: Minimum Wages For You (Experienced Scientist), Alicante/EU Paydays For Me (Unproductive, Corrupt Official)
Does UPRP maladministration extend to the false belief that qualified and experienced scientists can play the role of circus clowns?
"The Liberating Power of Simply Telling People the Truth."
'polite' bullying
Who Imitates Who? Plagiarist as Client (From Microsoft), 'Plagiarism' at the Law Firm?
let's revisit the subject
EPO's Central Staff Committee (CSC) Scrutinises the Man Who Illegally Grants (and Forces Others to Illegally Participate in Granting) Software Patents in Europe
EPO compels examiners to break the law in the name of obeying illegal "rules" or "orders"
The Latest Rumour Says The Next (as Correctly Predicted Before) Wave of Layoffs at Microsoft is 3 Weeks Away, "Larger Than the First Wave"
Step 2
TV Licensing Used to SPAM Your Postbox, Now It Does the Same to E-mail
First they ask for your E-mail address; then they start nagging you via E-mail
 
X11 is Free Software
Whether you agree (e.g. on politics) with the person/s forking it doesn't matter
The More Time Passes, the Better Our Advice on Social Control Media Seems
At the end of the day, any platform you do not control yourself is working for someone else
UK High Court Blasts Brett Wilson LLP for Misusing "GDPR" After Failed Efforts to Censor Critics Using 'Libel' Claims
No wonder this firm is rapidly shrinking
Recent Blunders in Microsoft GitHub (e.g. Slop-Generated Bug Reports or GPL Violations 'as a Service') Taking Their Toll?
Put bluntly, if you still use Microsoft GitHub, then you're slave to Microsoft
American Imperialism and Microsoft Plagiarism
Techrights will therefore do what Microsoft does not want it to do: it'll write even more about Microsoft
When They Have Nothing Left to Help Advance Abusive Litigation for Microsoft People... Other Than Throwing ~500 Pages of Someone Else's Work Into a PDF
Microsoft is having a very tough year
Slopwatch and Yet More Holes in 'Secure Boot' (as Usual!), Promoted Inside Linux by the Man We Are Suing
Today's Slopwatch will be short
Gemini Links 13/06/2025: People You've Left Behind, Life Update and OS Changes
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, June 12, 2025
IRC logs for Thursday, June 12, 2025
Links 12/06/2025: Portland Homeless Deaths Quadruple, COVID Cases Surge in Asia
Links for the day
EPO's Gareth Lord Asked About "Quality and Productivity" or, Put Another Way, Why the EPO Keeps Granting So Many Invalid/Illegal Patents
letter to Lord
The Toxic Playbook
Either you support Prince Mohammed bin Salman or you're a nazi
It's Possible That BetaNews Got Cracked, But Nobody Talks About It, The Site Contains an Outdated Old Image, No Activity
It's possible that they will never explain what happened to the site and users' accounts
Links 12/06/2025: Beach Boys’ Brian Wilson Dies
Links for the day
Gemini Links 12/06/2025: Video Game Diegesis and Steam Next Fest
Links for the day
Why the Militants Have Lost Every Battle Since 2022 (When Attacking My Wife and I in Various Ways, Even Attacking Our Employers)
This takes patience, sure, but at the end most evildoers face the consequences for their actions
Our Priority is Still Tackling Software Patents and Corruption in Patent Offices
Meanwhile we got compliments on our recent articles, which means that they are effective
Politics Will Impact Software Choices
Will those systems respect users' freedom?
EPO: Neglecting Children to Promote American Monopolies by Shielding Them From European Competition
Yesterday the Central Staff Committee at the EPO spoke about another "reform" at the Office
Slopwatch: Another Day, Another Slopfest, LLM Slop Scrapers Slow Down Our Site
We too have some slop issues; this past day this site and the sister site had to answer about 2.5 million requests (not counting Gemini Protocol) and it's slowing things down for everybody
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, June 11, 2025
IRC logs for Wednesday, June 11, 2025
Links 11/06/2025: More Vulnerabilities Found in 'Smart' Phones, China Extends Reach in the Pacific
Links for the day
Gemini Links 11/06/2025: Grain and Steam Next Fest
Links for the day
Links 11/06/2025: "Quantum" Hype From IBM, US Closer to Martial Law, and “The Nation” Celebrates Milestone
Links for the day
IBM's CEO Roasted, Sizzled and Grilled for Dumb and Inconsistent Vapourware Promises
It looks like being a chronic liar is what it takes to lead the company once synonymous with computing
IBM's Goal Is Not (and Never Was) Computer Users' Freedom
More than 1.5 decades ago I found IBM to be an "ally of convenience" because of OpenDocument Format (ODF)
Wayland Shows the IBM/Red Hat Way of Doing Things
IBM is trying to 'kill' X
GitHub is Proprietary, Controlled by Microsoft, and GPL Violation Warehouse
"IRS tax filing software [will be] released to the people as free software" ... In general this is good news
Slopfarm Catastrophe
Seems like BetaNews (or BetaNoise) has just suffered a major data loss and restored the site from a week-old backup
Abuse Inside the Polish Patent Office (UPRP) - Part VIII: Illegal Working Conditions
How many people need to die for these people to get their massive salaries?
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, June 10, 2025
IRC logs for Tuesday, June 10, 2025