Comment by JumpCrisscross 20 hours ago
> 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
> 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.
> people in likely financial distress with addresses close to military installations
Sure, that's possible, but I think it's a bit of a stretched argument. Can't you target people like that on Facebook with ads? Can't you buy data about these people from U.S. data brokers? Can't you already access this data publicly because people share it openly on social media?
> Can't you target people like that on Facebook with ads? Can't you buy data about these people from U.S. data brokers?
Ads have too low of an SNR--you'll blow your cover before getting anything useful. Buying works, but (a) you'd need to be careful about hiding your intentions and (b) it's never going to be as high fidelity as the direct data stream. (Think of the amount of unique data they got from their copy-paste hijacking alone [1].)
Having the data yourself means you can silently query high-fidelity real-time data on a third of the American population. That's difficult to replicate. Again, if you need a familiar bogeyman, consider what the NSA would ask Meta to do if Instagram weren't banned in China.
[1] https://lifehacker.com/is-tiktok-really-recording-everything...
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.