Facebook, Google, et al

[Shirley]

That's a Steve Miller song, right?

I'm a space Karen.....

[ousdahl]

I also like "Phony Stark"

[ousdahl]

yea this is full Qusdahl. But I also encourage anyone who would like to, to identify exactly what's so kooky about it.

Make no mistake: the TikTok hearings had nothing to do with the baseless threat of Chinese surveillance and everything to do with maintaining the dominance of U.S. capitalism. TikTok is the most popular and most frequently downloaded social media app worldwide, boasting 150 million users in the United States alone. The overall time users spend on TikTok now far exceeds some of its U.S. competitors, and it has been rapidly pulling digital advertising away from these same companies.

The hearings were just the latest in the U.S. tech war against China—a key front in the new Cold War—and Silicon Valley has found as its ally rising anti-Chinese sentiment and, through the arm of the capitalist state, is weaponizing such Red Scare tactics to ensure tech dominance. This explains why the U.S. government is trying to force the sale of TikTok to a U.S. company, or ban it entirely, which would drive its users to U.S. competitors like Meta, Instagram Reels (owned by Meta), Snapchat, or YouTube Shorts.

Either way, Silicon Valley stands to benefit. And even if the U.S. government doesn’t go through with a TikTok ban, the spectacle of the hearings and fearmongering over Chinese surveillance was enough to drive up stocks for Meta and Snapchat.
...

The issue of TikTok for the U.S. government is not one of national security or the CPC obtaining American user data—the issue is that the government itself wants access to that data and cannot strongarm ByteDance into handing it over like they can U.S. tech companies, who often comply with Justice Department officials when requested to release information.

https://www.liberationnews.org/tiktok-o ... -on-china/

[KUTradition]

then why are other countries instituting bans?

[ousdahl]

are they?

maybe I'm not familiar. May be a good point. It may be for the same reasons as the US - as much as anything, cuz the Meta types are pushing gummints so hard to do so. It's mostly more western capitalist-friendly countries banning it, right?

I guess the big thing I'd like to distinguish is, what sort of "spying," or other user data and privacy concerns, is Tik Tok doing, that hasn't already been done by Zuck?

[KUTradition]

India did this before there was even talk of it here in the US

[Shirley]

Fuck China.

WhatsApp and Facebook, among other social media outlets and Google, are essentially banned in China.

[KUTradition]

twitter labeled npr as state-sponsored media

[pdub]

Musk is unhinged.
He has the Dogecoin logo as their logo now.
Twitter has to collapse here within a few years, no?

[ousdahl]

Twitter’s search feature used to be maybe the best among platforms for breaking news and current events and niche searches and such, but it’s kind of a mess now

[ousdahl]

twitter labeled npr as state-sponsored media

As if every npr story doesn’t include “…oh by the way, (insert megacorporation in question here) is among our sponsors,” among other lulz

[pdub]

NPR is far more transparent than other programs.
Their content has leaned too far left ( gasp, yes ) for me to listen for stretches but they are very much still reputable - or moreso than a number of other sources for news.

[Shirley]

NPR is far more transparent than other programs.
Their content has leaned too far left ( gasp, yes ) for me to listen for stretches but they are very much still reputable - or moreso than a number of other sources for news.

It's not NPR's fault that reality has a liberal bias.

[KUTradition]

^^^^

also, any metric i’ve seen of news outlet biases has npr at center or just left of

so, my thinking is that if anyone views them as far left, that says more about them than npr

i don’t think pdub is far right by any means, but i could be wrong

i think we’ve also gotta be careful to not conflate npr (national/international) with local public radio affiliates

[Shirley]

Twitter’s search feature used to be maybe the best among platforms for breaking news and current events and niche searches and such, but it’s kind of a mess now

Glad to know it's not just me.

I spend < 5% of the time on twitter now compared to what I used to before Space Karen overpayed for it and made it so much better.

[ousdahl]

NPR is far more transparent than other programs.
Their content has leaned too far left ( gasp, yes ) for me to listen for stretches but they are very much still reputable - or moreso than a number of other sources for news.

What sort of content do you perceive as too far left on npr?

[ousdahl]

Qusdahl alert!

[pdub]

NPR is far more transparent than other programs.
Their content has leaned too far left ( gasp, yes ) for me to listen for stretches but they are very much still reputable - or moreso than a number of other sources for news.

What sort of content do you perceive as too far left on npr?

This will be met with finger pointing and accusation and labeling here but it’s first the stories they cover and then the angle they take. I find it left leaning and I still consider myself “left”.

It’s very prevalent in their radio reporting when not speaking about international news.

For example, and I expect some passive aggressive vitriol, on their front page now their stories are Kansas banning transgender athletes from women’s sports, Idaho banning medication and surgery for minors who want to transition gender, a NC legislator switching parties to the GOP that will “create a path to stricter abortion laws” and airline riders will be in rougher weather due to climate change.

Most of you will respond “that’s not left leaning news! That’s just facts!” And you’ll be wrong in my opinion.

And then randy will think I’m on his side and say something like, “see! Elon Musk was right!” And he’ll be wrong.

[RainbowsandUnicorns]

"It’s very prevalent in their radio reporting when not speaking about international news.
For example, and I expect some passive aggressive vitriol, on their front page on their front page now their stories are ".

I honestly don't know, is their "front page" an example of their radio reporting?

At 6:53am I tuned in to NPR (WBEZ in Chicago) and they were discussing a NPR investigation about the US invading Iraq and a friendly fire incident.

[Shirley]

NPR is not immune to the same market forces that all the other media co.s are subject to, and for them, the bottom line is ears. (In Feb they laid off 10% of their employees to cut costs.) So, while I wouldn't argue that NPR doesn't have a liberal leaning, it's business, and they're merely attempting to appeal to their audience. And, like for any potential audience of any political or social persuasion: A house that isn't on fire, isn't news. So, they run the stories their audience is interested in because doing otherwise would be their demise.

People might say they want "just the facts", and certainly to an extent many of us do, but in today's culture, trying to stay in the middle of the road by both sidesing everything, does not provide your audience with the dopamine they're seeking, and is not the way to attract listeners and stay in business.

All that being said, imo unlike many of their media competitors, such as Fox News, NPR does make a good-faith effort to stick to the facts, and not promote falsehoods.


Edited to add: What a sad comment about the state of journalism, (and our society), to make a deal out of "make a good faith-effort"... smh