[Air-L] best article I've read so far about Tik Tok

[Paul Levinson]

Sorry Chris, I'm way too busy with my own work to provide such detailed
explanations.  But here are some bullet points:

   - excellent explanation of how and why Tik Tok was founded
   - why it inevitably ran into trouble with the totalitarian Chinese
   government
   - why it ran into trouble with the fascist Trumpian American government
   - why it's running into less but still some trouble with the current
   Biden administration
   - the "secret" to Tik Tok's enormous success
   - the predictable attacks on Tik Tok from Facebook

And much more, but that'll have to be it, from me.

-- PL

It's Real Life <https://vocal.media/fiction/it-s-real-life> -- free, new
alternate history short story about The Beatles & WFUV, now being made into
a radio play



On Sat, Dec 24, 2022 at 10:13 PM Chris Leslie <chrisleslienyc at hotmail.com>
wrote:

> Hi Paul,
>
> Along with the link, it would be nice to hear what you think is admirable
> about this article. I read it when it first came out and I didn’t care for
> it too much, but maybe I am missing something.
>
> The author does not clearly analyze what the national security concerns of
> TikTok are, especially from a technological angle.  It takes for face value
> the statement that TikTok can’t be carried on US government phones without
> explaining the software or hardware concerns (or explaining why the current
> security architecture in phones is inadequate). The suggestion that sharing
> information and promoting Chinese businesses is a threat to US national
> security is an interesting ideological theory that’s not explained by the
> story well.
>
> In general I’m suspicious of NYT reports about China. The editorial group
> often adds weird spins to even normal reporting. Jack Ma wasn’t accused of
> being monopolistic. In a planned economy, who is going to make this charge?
> Ma and ANT proposed a new business model of providing loans directly to
> consumers, bypassing banks. Alipay is already an important commercial
> payment service, but they wanted to use the money they’ve been collecting
> as small loans, maybe like payday loans.
>
> The idea that ANT wanted to do this was already suspicious - they won’t
> vet the lendee’s ability to pay, unlike a bank - but also they planned to
> make all of those loans subject to the support of outside investors. The
> central government raised concerns about this and Ma responded by
> complaining about China’s economic and legal system. In other words, he
> used his fame to suggest that the Chinese system was backward and didn’t
> make his criticism in the context of reform or supporting new policies,
> just for his own personal interests. Not so smart - and now I guess he can
> go back to being a tour guide.
>
> Can say the same for the six or seven other potted plants the article uses
> for window dressing.
>
> Chris
> ------------------------------
> *From:* Air-L <air-l-bounces at listserv.aoir.org> on behalf of Paul
> Levinson via Air-L <air-l at listserv.aoir.org>
> *Sent:* Saturday, December 24, 2022 1:44 PM
> *To:* air-l at listserv.aoir.org <air-l at listserv.aoir.org>
> *Subject:* [Air-L] best article I've read so far about Tik Tok
>
> Best article by far I've read about Tik Tok -- I'm going to assign it to my
> students in the upcoming Spring semester
> https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/20/magazine/tiktok-us-china-diplomacy.html
> #TikTok @nytimes
>
> -- PL
>
> It's Real Life <https://vocal.media/fiction/it-s-real-life> -- free, new
> alternate history short story about The Beatles & WFUV, now being made into
> a radio play
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