Bonum Certa Men Certa

ByteDance is a National and International Threat, TikTok is Just a 'Command and Control' Front End

You would not let kids try narcotics, would you?

Fentanylware: Who's there?



Summary: TikTok, a weapon manufactured and managed by ByteDance, does much harm; we remind readers what ByteDance is really up to and cite a dozen news links about it

THERE is not enough recognition that TikTok is a dangerous weapon which deserves banning. For over a decade all the media scrutiny was directed at Twitter and GAFAM (or MAGMA, which includes LinkedIn, YouTube and Facebook after the "Meta" rebrand).



"For ByteDance, there's no need for a business model."We don't typically condone banning or "censoring" things, but in this case it's like saying that issuing a call to ban nuclear weapons is a censorious action. We intend to keep reminding readers, at least once a week, what TikTok truly is. TikTok is not social control media but a tentacle of a spying operation, ByteDance. It's controlled by China, contrary to what ByteDance tried to say some days ago [1-2] (face-saving lies), and it is doing real harm to Western societies [3] while sporting so-called "Influencers" [4-5] (euphemism for shills, which it now bankrolls to lobby for ByteDance).

For ByteDance, there's no need for a business model. It's just spying on billions of people. The Communist Party can cover the expenses. In fact, there are no sign of a commercial success (things get shut down again [6-8]), but the data stays forever. Moreover, the harm done to one's surroundings is irreversible.

TikTok divides society (see the examples published in Daily Links earlier today [9, 10]. It's by design. It also encourages the so-called "users" to vandalise and harm their surroundings... unless they are in China or in close Chinese allies (see the documentary what ByteDance internally calls "spinach" vs "opium" TikTok). It controls behaviour. It can seed discord. The "app" makes an army of "zombies". They are remotely conrrolled, in very large numbers (at scale). Consider our ongoing series about the 'Cancel Culture' Industry [1, 2, 3, 4].

"Even if the government does not ban TikTok, you really need to get TikTok out of your life and, if possible, out of the hands of loves ones."There's growing recognition in the West that TikTok harms kids' minds. It also harms their bodies (incidentally, the famous Facebook whistleblower speaks about it again; Facebook too does both). A week ago, responding to this perception criris, TikTok decided to "give parents even more control over what their teens see", but it's actually ByteDance controlling what they see.

While it's nice to see YouTube and Twitter circling down the drain (among other social control networks), let's not forget the threat which is ByteDance. Even if the government does not ban TikTok, you really need to get TikTok out of your life and, if possible, out of the hands of loves ones.

Related/contextual items from the news:



  1. 2023-06-30TikTok tries to convince users it’s keeping their data safe
  2. 2023-06-30TikTok-owner ByteDance debuts Ripple music creation app
  3. 2023-06-28 [Older] Desperation for a Viral Moment Is Driving Concerts Off the Rails
  4. 2023-06-26 [Older] Influencers Gas Up Shein After Sketchy Factory Tour: No Slave Labor Here!
  5. 2023-06-28 [Older] TikTok Bankrolls Influencers' Lawsuit Against Montana Ban
  6. 2023-06-27 [Older] TikTok Discontinues BeReal Clone, Adds Parental Filters
  7. 2023-06-27 [Older] TikTok Is Axing an In-App Feature Called TikTok Now That Mirrored BeReal
  8. 2023-06-27 [Older] TikTok is jumping off the BeReal bandwagon by killing TikTok Now

Recent Techrights' Posts

Exposing Corruption and Crimes Against Women Isn't a Crime, It's an Imperative
When evil and greedy people are so desperate to silence you it typically gives you more motivation - not less - to do more of the same
New EPO Leaks: Replacing Patent Examiners and Classifiers With Deficient Bots (Without Even Asking for Permission)
Any consultation about it? Any media coverage? No.
Gemini Links 12/04/2025: Sigrblot and Conway Calamity
Links for the day
Gemini Links 11/04/2025: Microcosmographia Academica and Ada Language
Links for the day
 
Links 12/04/2025: "Part of the Problem" and "Facebook Is Just Craigslist Now"
Links for the day
The Consensus is Changing and Web Sites View LLMs as Evil, a Malicious Force of Plagiarism and a Source of DDoS
It's not about "AI" but about plagiarism of sorts
Slopwatch: Lots of Fake Articles About "Linux" Infect the Web, Google News Still Promotes These as 'News'
people who go to a site like google.com or Google News or even social control media (where users get links from Google) will be directed to read slop, i.e. pure garbage.
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, April 11, 2025
IRC logs for Friday, April 11, 2025
Links 11/04/2025: LLMs as Worthless Gimmicks, People in Trouble for Saying Too Much in (or Before) 'Cheeto Era'
Links for the day
Links 11/04/2025: "Getting Screamed At" and LLM Crawlers as Vandals Online
Links for the day
At the Root of the SLAPPs There Are Matters of GitHub Corruption and Microsoft Competition Crimes
Keep both eyes on the ball; this is about monopoly abuse and attempts to muzzle critics
Open Source Initiative (OSI) Privacy Fiasco in Detail: More on the Complaint, Which Also Points the Finger at Stefano Mafulli and Deb Nicholson
Focus on what they are attempting to distract from
"Linux" Foundation, Besieged by Microsoft, Isn't About Science But Against Science and Against Facts
(and for Microsoft Dogma, Microsoft Domination, Microsoft Money)
IBM Pays IDG's IDC to Market Proprietary Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) Under the Guise of "Research"
Proprietary RHEL promoted by FUD (Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt or just plain fear-mongering)
Links 11/04/2025: Microsoft Mass Layoffs Again, Zelensky Doubles Down on Claim That Many Chinese Are Fighting for Russia
Links for the day
Slopwatch: A Sea of LLM Slop About SparkyLinux, Kubernetes, Ubuntu, and Linux Kernel
Welcome to the future? The future of the Web?
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, April 10, 2025
IRC logs for Thursday, April 10, 2025
Gemini Links 10/04/2025: "Secret of Happiness" and Overthinking POSSE
Links for the day
Links 10/04/2025: NNCPNET Email Network, RSS Readers, and IRS as 'Immigration Enforcer'
Links for the day
IBM Layoffs in Markham (Canada) Apparently Still Happening
"Still going on... Got laid off today. TEL Canada, Band 9, 19 years with IBM."
Links 10/04/2025: Fentanylware (TikTok) Perils and Internet Shutdown
Links for the day
Microsoft's "Linux" Foundation Pays Writers to Publish Propaganda and Then LLM Slop Sites (Slopfarms) Repeat the Propaganda, Using Microsoft LLMs
consider the latest LLM slop
Once You Slop You Can't Stop and If You're a Serial Slopper Nobody Will Believe You Really Wrote an Article (Even If You Did)
It's a lot like, "if you're a serial liar people won't believe you even when you say some truth" (or "once a cheater, always a cheater")
Pressing Against SLAPPs (From Americans Who Strangle Women While Microsoft Pays Their Salaries) is a High Priority for Us
We also need to ensure that greedy firms/people that facilitate the SLAPPs get "disbarred" or "struck off"
Mozilla Firefox Already Down to 1% in Brazil
Don't people crave the surveillance and the slop?
Links 10/04/2025: Hardware, Politics, and Internet
Links for the day
Gemini Links 10/04/2025: Creativity and Agitation, Life in the USA, CSS Naked Day 2025
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, April 09, 2025
IRC logs for Wednesday, April 09, 2025
Alleged Layoffs at IBM Consulting in Australia
IBM loses many government contracts these days
The Rumours Were Likely True: Sixth Wave of Microsoft Mass Layoffs in 2025 (Days After "50" Anniversary and About 5,000 Layoffs)
5 hours ago, by Ashley Stewart