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

Microsoft Can PIP Workers (Silent Layoffs) Until Almost Nobody is Left
Microsoft is gradually vanishing
Brigading Against Women - Part VIII - Misogyny Embedded; Like Firm, Like Clients
It's about back doors
Tech Labeled "Smart" Does Not Make People Smart
People who insist on making everything digital are not advancing progress
Brigading Against Women - Part VII - 'Trolling' Courts and Legal Systems in America and in the UK (Europe) Costs a Lot to Taxpayers
They only attend hearings after being arrested
 
Chaos Imminent at Red Hat (This Week)
IBM is 'finishing the job' an ex-IBMer (Ron Hovsepian) did at Novell.
The Cyber Show Says Truth Always Requires a Fight, a Struggle
"Truth-tellers always face struggle and run risk"
Maladministration at the EPO as a Crisis for the EU and for Portugal's Image in Europe
Some time soon we'll publish a long article about what EPO leadership means to Portugal
3 Years of UK Hosting
We commend the webhost for standing firm in the face of misogyny
Gemini Links 28/09/2026: Truncated Sleep, Plain Text, and Slop Problem Kept Out of Geminispace
Links for the day
Links 28/09/2026: "A Growing North Korea Problem" and Independent Journalism as a Lifeline
Links for the day
Links 28/09/2026: Microsoft Chatbot "Giving Extremely Specific Advice to a School Shooter on How to Maximize Casualties", ‘Suicidal Empathy’
Links for the day
Microsoft's Attacks on Courts in the Netherlands Result in GNU/Linux Growing to About 10% There
One core issue that justified this and led to this outcome is Microsoft's interference with the administration of justice
They Create the Conditions for People to Leave, This Way They Don't Call it "Layoffs"
We keep seeing many stories like these
Gemini Links 28/09/2026: Wildfire, DOS, and Backups
Links for the day
European Patent Office (EPO) Series: The Portuguese Talent For Bureaucratic Empire Building
Portugal’s success in securing senior executive appointments at the EUIPO and the EPO is a notable example of how countries seek to strengthen their influence within European intergovernmental institutions
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, September 27, 2026
IRC logs for Sunday, September 27, 2026
Gemini Links 27/09/2026: Writing Well, Productivity, and a Relaunch in Geminispace
Links for the day
Making This Site More Useful to More People
Search engines (as a concept) are under attack
Exposing Crimes of Americans (From the UK)
We must ensure UK prisons are never misused to punish/silence people who expose crimes in America
Spam and Chatbot Spam in Internet Relay Chat (IRC)
Maintaining one's own IRC network requires some housekeeping, but it's simpler than outsourcing to malicious companies
Search Engine of Techrights Improved for Better Signal-to-Noise Ratio
Our growing community needs more search facilities
Microsoft: We Love Layoffs, We Do Silent Layoffs, More Microsoft Projects/Teams/Studios Confirmed to be Shutting Down
XBox is dying. Piece by piece.
Brigading Against Women - Part VI - On Garrett and Lozza, Defamation, Attempts to Crack My Wife's Accounts, Social Engineering to Try to Take Sites Offline, Subscribing Us to Mountains of SPAM
tried swatting us
Links 27/09/2026: "Provost of Dartmouth Busted Using Hey Hi (AI) Slop for His Own Writing in Newspapers and Academic Journals" and "UK Government Enforcement Reform"
Links for the day
People and Sites Wish a Happy 43th Birthday to GNU (Today)
We've collected some examples
Dejan Panovski Outs linuxize.com as a Slopfarm, Another Site That Sold Out and Became LLM Garbage
From what we can gather, both images and text are slop
A Microsoft Lunduke OS (LCOS) is Not Even in Top 100 in DistroWatch, Microsoft Lunduke Just Games the Numbers Like Linspire Did (and Got 'Banned' for It)
Linspire used to send people to 'its' DistroWatch page to make the illusion of popularity
Links 27/09/2026: Microsoft Fired People a Day After Promotion, "Fragility of Online Journalism"
Links for the day
Brigading Against Women - Part V - SWATTING, Extortion Against Webhosts, and Lawfare Under Sworn Oath (Perjury Also)
Matthew Garrett has no qualm about still collaborating with Lozza
20 Years Later
There's a strong anti-democracy movement brewing in many places
Gemini Links 27/09/2026: Telescopes/Gskyer, Writing for Writing's Sake, and Writing Tools
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, September 26, 2026
IRC logs for Saturday, September 26, 2026
Gemini Links 26/09/2026: Computer Cases Dreary, Web Drowning in Botspam
Links for the day
Reform UK auditor: Electoral Commission accounts, Companies House accounts, a going concern or not?
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
European Patent Office (EPO) Series: Temporary Public Office or Permanent Personal Feather-Bed?
there are no visible signs that the Administrative Council has the slightest interest in contemplating a change in leadership at the EPO
Brigading Against Women - Part IV - Death Threats, Threats to Women, and Threats for Pointing Out, Correctly and Based on Hard Evidence, That Garrett and Lozza Talk to Each Other About Me Every Year (for 4 Years)
Brett Wilson LLP too is a toxic manosphere
More GAFAM Layoffs at Apple, Second Time in Weeks (Silent Layoffs Silently Target Older and "More Expensive" Staff)
How many layoffs happen at Apple silently and go unreported or very scarcely reported?
Gemini Links 26/09/2026: Rant About Slop Ruining Crafts (Drowning the Signal With Plagiarism) and "Going Mechanical"
Links for the day
Links 26/09/2026: Microsoft Says Notification Data Breach/Surveillance Hole There by Design, EU Rapidly Dumping Microsoft for Digital Sovereignty
Links for the day
The Former Linux News Site ostechnix.com is LLM Slop
Please do not link to sites that promote and/or spread slop
Links 26/09/2026: Volkswagen Recalling ~50,000 Cars, US Attacks Its Own Media
Links for the day
Making Oneself Obsolete With Slop
Dr. Lemire also puts on display a degree of hypocrisy
Brigading Against Women - Part III - Racism Looms Large, Not Just Sexism
threats from a racist
Microsoft CEO Calls Layoffs "Streamlining" and Says Microsoft Layoffs Are "Great to See"
The lack of honesty here is only to be expected from Microsoft
Media silence deafening as Reform UK on brink of administration
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Gemini Links 26/09/2026: Travel, Group Insurance Death Spiral, Stargazing, and Lagrange Meets LLM Slop
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, September 25, 2026
IRC logs for Friday, September 25, 2026