RedNote's Surge Shows the Hypocrisy Tearing the Internet Apart

Meanwhile, American users are flocking to RedNote because authorities have worked themselves into a lather over privacy concerns about TikTok, while U.S. tech giants harvest user data with industrial efficiency. The difference? American data collection is done for profit, and Chinese data collection is done for control. Pick your poison.

Hard to argue Zuck and Elon don't want control either...

I’d argue profit and control are two sides of the same coin
- "In this country, you gotta make the money first. Then when you get the money, you get the power. Then when you get the power, then you get the women."
- not necessarily
Isn't it the exact opposite? The only thing China can do with my data is try to sell me stuff. Meanwhile, the authorities in my own country have the power to kick in my door and drag me away to some blacksite.

If I were Chinese, I would rather the US government have my data than the Chinese government, but since I'm American, I would rather the Chinese government have it than the US. Pretty much everyone anywhere in the world ought to regard their own government as their highest security risk.
- The only thing China can do with my data is try to sell me stuff.
  
  Anyone that collects your data could use it for many legal and illegal activities. If you see it only as marketing, you are not imagining the possibilities of stolen identity, fraud, blackmail, etc.
- Liberals: MUH SENSORSHIP NOOOOO
  
  Reality: every U.S. leftist content creator has been physically visited by FBI agents and have a file maintained on them, despite never once making a threat or call to violence.
  
  Meanwhile, China has lifted hundreds of millions out of crushing poverty and built the world’s best high speed rail system, only in the last 10-15 years.
  
  And they make fun of Xi and criticize their government just fine.
  
  Every accusation liberals make is a confession. Really weird how they keep acting indistinguishable from literal Nazis while accusing the left of doing the same thing.
  
  Oh look, there it is again. Libs just can’t stop taking Ls.
How do people not think that China is also a hyper capitalistic society, especially in the tech sector. Your data is 100% being sold if you are on any Chinese platform, just like in the U.S.

If anything, Chinese big tech tends to be less privacy-respecting than the west, because they don't need to operate in area with basic privacy laws, like Europe and California; and there are much less alternative products to choose from because of the GFW.

The founder and CEO of Baidu openly stated that "Chinese people are less sensitive about privacy, which gives us more data to work with" See https://m.163.com/dy/article/DDRTB01Q0511FQO9.html?spss=adap_pc
- They all operate under the same laws in any given area. And neither respect your privacy if not forced by laws that are actually enforced.
profit is simply a means of seeking control...
The difference? American data collection is done for profit, and Chinese data collection is done for control. Pick your poison.

No the difference is that these US companies give the US government a backdoor into everyone's data (while also harvesting it all for profit) while the Chinese apps don't in favor of giving the Chinese government a backdoor into everyone's data. They don't give a shit about propaganda and brainwashing occurring which is why they'll allow the app to stay up in the US just so long as it's an American company controlling it here because then they can install their backdoor for the US government.
- And all of this social media shit is a distraction from real problems in the world. This is what our government does to run out the clock and prevent meaningful change.
  
  Unfortunately nothing will meaningfully improve until the rich fear for their lives
The article talks about how America is mirroring China's tactic. So yeah, now they want control too.
This is crystal clear now, but it was less clear before.

I started saying that social media finally figured out how to monetize the platform and it's customers aren't people, aren't even companies, the customers are now billionaires and foreign governments.
- foreign governments
  
  The influence of foreign governments is negligible next to what the US exerts on us. Americans have the jester's privilege, we can say whatever we want, as long as they know it doesn't matter. As soon as the government feels like it matters, they have a million tools to silence you.
Yeah, this may have been true before the upcoming administration, but Trump's government (which will be a full-blown oligarchy) absolutely wants Chinese/Russian style control over its citizens.

"This massive corporation sucks too!" Have you tried not going with a massive corporation?

The only winners in this scenario are governments that want more control over their citizens' digital lives.

And that, as the saying goes, is not a bug. It's a feature.

Man I wish European governments would take more control of our digital town squares that are entirely owned and handled by foreign corporations who seek to erode democracy.

What happens when Americans start posting about Hong Kong not being a part of China?

You mean mainland Taiwan? Never heard of this China.
- Judea and Samaria agree.
- I did, it's a superpower
- You know the official name of Taiwan's government is The Republic of China right?
The same as already happens on lemmy.ml 😂
- Really? Let me try.
  
  Hong Kong isn't part of China. Taiwan is an independent country.
  
  Edit: oh, this community is in lemmy.world, not lemmy.ml. Still, for those disgruntled, report me for rule 2 & 6. I want to see how mods respond to this.
The same as when Americans posted about the gaza genocide on tik tok, the government cracks down.
TAIWAN #1!
Their account gets banned.

Same as any mention of Tienamen Square and anything else the Chinese Government deems unacceptable.
They'll probably get mocked and their posts removed.
China doesn't let it's own people use these apps...
- Rednote is mostly chinese users.
- I'd bet Chinese government WANTS people using these apps. They have established state control for rapid monitoring and data collection and rapid censorship and targeted groups for manipulation and propaganda.
The same thing that's happening right now with Americans claiming Taiwan is not part of China.
- To shreds you say?

I mean, trying to regulate technology at the speed of American politics was very obviously a nonsensical and futile proposition from the get-go.

**tearing everything apart

Anyone that knows anything about average TT users knew that if the ban was going to happen, that this was going to happen in some way, shape, or form.

I’m pretty sure Xiao Hong Shu translates to Little Red Note in English. I’m not using it, just clarifying the name to make it seem small / cute. Aduki beans are Xiao hong dou.

First of all, the name doesn't translate to "Little Red Note", but "Little Red Book."

Second, Little Red Book is literally the nickname of a Chinese political publication called Quotations from Chairman Mao Tse-tung.

Sorry, that name isn't cute at all.
- LOL my god, it's really that in-your-face blatant?!
- It's actually just a funny coincidence, though it's funny when people freak out about it. Mao's "little red book" is written 红宝书, while the app is 小红书, so the connection is only really there in English. Red is a reference to two institutions the creator was involved with, Stanford Business School and Bain & Company, both of which use red as their main color (I imagine the general association of red with good luck may have factored in as well). As for note vs book, I mean, a notebook is a "little book," and note is short for notebook (e.g. Death Note).
  
  If you actually look at the app and what gets posted there and what doesn't, it's pretty silly to assume it's a reference. It was originally called "Hong Kong Shopping Guide" and was targeted towards tourists, the userbase skews female and relatively well off. It's like Instagram, there's lots of cat posts and the the like, lots of fashion, I've come across some pretty impressive furries, and it's even got a decent sized queer community, particularly popular with lesbians.
  
  Even if it were an intentional reference to Mao's book, like, so what? The users are the ones putting out content and they're just regular people. Not everything is some sinister plot.

What has social media like tiktok or whatever done to improve peoples lives?

Man, just use Lemmy and stay off those toxic apps. I've had multiple people send me tiktok links and guess what, that shit stays unclicked. I want no part of it.

A lot of people have made it their main income. Whether you or I think that's good or not is irrelevent, but it does mean hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions, of Americans will lose their jobs as a result of this.
- I have just as much sympathy for those poor individuals as I would for health insurance employees that would lose their job as a result of U.S. universal healthcare. Well, a little bit more, as they at least made people smile on occasion.

Lol, 700k misinformed idiot Americans you mean.