I’m not here to claim that Tiktok is completely harmless, or that it’s even a good site. I’m sure they absolutely do collect as much personal information as they can, and I’m sure they give it to the Chinese government whenever they ask. But I don’t understand how Meta and Facebook are meant to be any better? There’s always a lot of hoo-haa going on with politicians promising to ban tiktok, and (at least back on Reddit) everybody’s vowing they will never use tiktok because it’s such a privacy invasive site. Yet I never see anybody going up against Facebook, at least the average person, but they collect just as much personal info and I’m sure hand it over whenever any government agency in the US asks them to

It kind of feels to me like this is some sort of country thing. China is bad, so they shouldn’t have your personal info. But the US is the last bastion of free speech and privacy, so their companies would NEVER dare to invade your privacy, and their government would never abuse their power to get people’s personal info

I’m aware Lemmy probably isn’t the best place to ask since most people here seem to be deep into open source software and often privacy focused (so I suppose wouldn’t use either) but this also feels like the only place on the internet I might actually get an answer that isn’t just “TIKTOK BAD”. If you refuse to use tiktok but are ok with Facebook - why?

  • Otter@lemmy.caEnglish
    191·
    5 months ago

    Real quick --> these discussions tend to spiral off into bad faith arguments and whataboutism, I’m going to try and avoid that

    I think there are a few things that come to mind for me, and I apologize for this being very disorganized

    • Both are bad and privacy invading, I avoid both as much as possible
      • facebook where I am (and likely through north america) is more embedded in how we communicate. Both individually, and with companies/institutions. This isn’t a good thing, but it’s what has happened.
      • I don’t post much or at all on either, and I use the web browser when possible. Unfortunately, I’m forced to use facebook stuff more than I am forced to use tiktok (which I don’t think happens at all)
      • Because TikTok is newer, it’s also easier to restrict it. I think if Facebook tried to enter today, we’d push it away much harder
    • Is one actually worse? Maybe, but I’ll defer to people that know more. I think on the app level, TikTok collected more data (and types of data) than the apps for Facebook products.

    For me, it’s less about who is getting the data than what data is collected. Especially because once the data is collected, it won’t necessarily stay with the one entity. I wouldn’t be surprised if both Facebook and TikTok benefit from the data that the other one collects, making that point somewhat moot

    • Baku@aussie.zoneOPEnglish
      102·
      5 months ago

      these discussions tend to spiral off into bad faith arguments and whataboutism

      Yeah, that’s a large part of the reason I haven’t asked before. But I’m asking in good faith, and I hope I’ll receive answers made in good faith

      Both are bad and privacy invading

      This is my sentiment too, and why I get annoyed when people claim one is worse than the other

      Because TikTok is newer, it’s also easier to restrict it. I think if Facebook tried to enter today, we’d push it away much harder

      This is a really good point - thank you!

    • XeroxCool@lemmy.world
      41·
      5 months ago

      facebook where I am (and likely through north america) is more embedded in how we communicate

      This is where I’m at with it. Tiktok (and Instagram) are only about entertainment via content streams. There not meant to be 2-way or group communication platforms. Facebook, despite its best efforts, is still a communication platform. It’s useful for local info and hobby info. Obviously pictures of cool projects get pushed to the top due to react engagement, but there’s knowledgeable people keeping those groups useful.

      Same as why reddit is still alive and well, despite the mini migration that brought me here. My hobby interaction was more than halved when I left. Classic forums are still dilapidated