Spotlight — Addressing the TikTok Threat

Imagine it's the Cold War. Imagine that the Soviet Union puts
itself in a position to influence the television programming of
the entire Western world — more than a billion
viewers. 


While this might sound like science fiction, it’s representative
of the world we're living in, with TikTok being influenced by the
Chinese Communist Party.


TikTok, the flagship app of the Chinese company Bytedance,
recently surpassed Google and Facebook as the most popular site
on the internet in 2021, and is expected to reach more than 1.8
billion users by the end of 2022. The Chinese government doesn't
control TikTok, but has influence over it. What are the
implications of this influence, given that China is the main
geopolitical rival of the United States?


This week on Your Undivided Attention, we bring you a bonus
episode about TikTok. Co-hosts Tristan Harris and Aza Raskin
explore the nature of the TikTok threat, and how we might address
it.

RECOMMENDED MEDIA 

Pew Research Center's "Teens, Social Media and Technology 2022"


https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2022/08/10/teens-social-media-and-technology-2022/


Pew's recent study on how TikTok has established itself as one of
the top online platforms for U.S. teens


Axios' "Washington turns up the heat on TikTok"


https://www.axios.com/2022/07/07/congress-tiktok-china-privacy-data?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email


Article on recent Congressional responses to the threat of
TikTok

Felix Krause on TikTok's keystroke tracking


https://twitter.com/KrauseFx/status/1560372509639311366


A revelation that TikTok has code to observe keypad input and all
taps

RECOMMENDED YUA EPISODES


A Fresh Take on Tech in China with Rui Ma and Duncan Clark


https://www.humanetech.com/podcast/44-a-fresh-take-on-tech-in-china


A Conversation with Facebook Whistleblower Frances Haugen


https://www.humanetech.com/podcast/42-a-conversation-with-facebook-whistleblower-frances-haugen


From Russia with Likes (Part 1). Guest: Renée DiResta


https://www.humanetech.com/podcast/5-from-russia-with-likes-part-1


From Russia with Likes (Part 2). Guest: Renée DiResta


https://www.humanetech.com/podcast/6-from-russia-with-likes-part-2

 


Your Undivided Attention is produced by the Center for
Humane Technology. Follow us on Twitter: @HumaneTech_