Comment by ethbr1 14 hours ago
You don't consider a massively deployed app, on a majority of mobile devices, via which blackmailable individual profiles can be assembled "security-sensitive"?
I'd absolutely consider Meta to be security sensitive. And Microsoft. And Google. And Netflix.
> What does that even mean in this context?
TikTok's CSAM problem is well documented [1].
Disposable idiots are a necessary asset for any intelligence operation. Kim Jong-nam's assasins, for example, "were told to play harmless tricks on people in the vicinity for a prank TV show" [2].
[1] https://endsexualexploitation.org/articles/tiktok-under-fede...
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assassination_of_Kim_Jong-nam
Doesn't that imply that TikTok would be deliberately protecting high-profile individuals from CSAM prosecution? That seems like the sort of thing that should have triggered some warm-up scandals before requiring Chinese disinvestment.
It isn't like TikTok are the only part of the internet with a CSAM problem. By default anything that offers file hosting has a CSAM problem. To keep the Chinese away from blackmail material the US would have to ban any form of image hosting served from the Chinese mainland - the CSAM people go to the CSAM, it doesn't proactively seek people out.
> It isn't like TikTok are the only part of the internet with a CSAM problem
Of course not. I was just providing an easy example of what TikTok may have that we don’t want the CCP to.
> TikTok's CSAM problem is well documented [1].
Did you mean for that link to go somewhere different?
> TikTok's CSAM problem is well documented [1].
Your link doesn't say anything about TikTok?
> Kim Jong-nam's assasins, for example, "were told to play harmless tricks on people in the vicinity for a prank TV show"
What? How is that connected to "blackmailable individual profiles"?
How can they blackmail me? Please explain. You mean like "I see you watch cat videos so now go revolt against your government or I will tell everyone you watch cat videos?", this is the blackmail part?
> How can they blackmail me? Please explain
They may not be able to. But it sure would be helpful to have a list of people in likely financial distress with addresses close to military installations. Such a person may not ask questions if given a job offer from an influencer or whatever to take selfies around town.
I'm curious what netflix behavior you imagine would ever be blackmailable?
"You watched Red One, and we'll tell you employer and wife about it unless you ..."
How does this work?