ted (not lasso)
@ted
this is meaningfully concerning. TikTok is a great platform for entertainment, and a terrible one for news. its capacity to cause harmful social contagions is unparalleled. vids have 3 secs to capture attention (10 words) with zero way to fact check content (unlike community notes), and the algo boosts controversy.
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Ed
@eds
Important to keep perspective imo. My dad's stepmom never used the internet, but nevertheless knew all kinds of conspiracies (e.g. Clintons orchestrated the death of JFK Jr). I think she got them from some right-wing newsletters popular in SoCal in the 90s. And that's nothing compared to stuff like Weather Underground
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Ed
@eds
I hate TikTok and would be happy to see it banned, but there's also a performative element to some of the radical content. Kids *want* to be provocative to older people and feed off the outrage it creates.
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ted (not lasso)
@ted
agree that conspiracies and misinformation will always exist. the speed at which it spreads is critically important. a newsletter can’t be seen by 1M <30yo across the US in 3 hours, but a TikTok can. TikTok has more high-speed influence over young culture than any platform, spreading like a contagion or wildfire.
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