I want to see what TikTok is about but also want to retain some privacy. If its on F-droid, playstore or as a APK I don’t mind.

    • @Fisch@lemmy.ml
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      02 years ago

      For some reason this isn’t shown as a hyperlink, eventhough the syntax for it looks correct

      • @onlooker@lemmy.ml
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        22 years ago

        But it is, in fact, incorrect. Square brackets go first for the name, and then regular brackets for the URL. It’s easy to get them mixed up, though.

  • OrangeSlice
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    32 years ago

    There’s not really a way around getting the app, it’s all closed-loop proprietary stuff. I believe that you can browse on the website if you’d prefer, but you’ll still need an account for it to be worthwhile, and most of the content is designed for mobile screens.

    Just like most corporate social media you will need to make some compromises on your privacy and data sharing to use it, but it’s not necessarily worse than any other apps of this type.

  • @TheAnonymouseJoker@lemmy.ml
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    22 years ago

    While I may not have provided the answer to your question, I would like to supplement the privacy part of it aptly, because I am tired of the unspoken Western Big Tech apologia. TikTok OBJECTIVELY collects far lesser data than Big Tech apps and services, according to reports from 2 reputed data collection analysis companies. Moreover, the below assumes you have an account, which is not even needed to use TikTok, unlike Instagram or Snapchat.

    https://clario.co/blog/which-company-uses-most-data/ https://www.truepeoplesearch.com/insights/info-tech-companies-collecting-from-you

    One of the key important aspects of threat modelling for your desired privacy is the acceptance of facts instead of false nationalist opinions.

    • @quaver@lemmy.ml
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      02 years ago

      Though I am with you in hating Western Big Tech apologia, I don’t agree with this point overall. Even the sources you linked show that TikTok collects an ungodly amount of data on its users. The Clario study shows that it’s in 6th place… is being lower than Facebook and Instagram supposed to be an accomplishment? And it’s much higher than Twitter and Zoom, which is definitely not a good thing.

      • @TheAnonymouseJoker@lemmy.ml
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        12 years ago

        I do not think you understand how TikTok is treated compared to Facebook and the likes amongst biased Westerners. Hell even in India here, it is banned for no reason other than political posturing. For some reason, TikTok activates Sinophobia, but discussion about Facebook, Instagram or Snapchat (which collect incomparably more data and latter 2 unusable from browser) is good manners.

        From a very, very old comment I made once on reddit:

        The sentiment of a lot of Westerners across reddit is like this, and I strictly feel that this is very unfair, because Western companies do not get the same treatment and bashing. Primarily because 70% of reddit is used by US, Canada, UK and West Europe. I also observe Sinophobic comments in general, plenty of which I have avoided on this very post of mine to not ruin my credibility as someone who is helping a lot of people, giving a lot of people hope for attaining privacy.

        I am from India, so being accused of being a pro-China Chinese citizen does not work. It is all rational thinking. I have been trapped myself in the heat of discussions plenty times, but that has helped me mature thankfully.

        Why do I think sentiment is Sinophobic? Because political and partisan arguments start to be used instantly on any post that even mentions any Chinese technology company in good or bad light or even no light, and then it becomes whataboutism, and then inception of whataboutism, strawman arguments, logical fallacies, bashing, flaming, trolling, baiting… you know the drill. And that becomes a mess, most of what reddit sadly is.

        We need to learn to be rational and not have nationalistic prejudices when talking about technology, because when one cites Chinese surveillance law, they also need to cite US Cloud Act and Patriot Act that do the exact same thing for ages. Most countries are doing the same thing, and we need to objectively analyse every piece of technology when sensitive topic like privacy (virtual or real) is discussed, instead of baiting and citing wrong sources to prove oneself right.

        • ᗪᗩᗰᑎ
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          12 years ago

          I think the difference is that ultimately China (the government, not it’s people) is an enemy of the “wester alliance” - “the west”, if you will. You can work, and even cooperate, with an enemy to a degree, but you don’t let them into your house. It’s pretty basic at it’s core. TikTok is from a simplistic POV, is at the whims of the Chinese government - much like Facebook/Insta/Snap are to the US government although to a much lesser extent. We don’t worry about FB/Insta/Snap because they operate within the “western” jurisdiction and are “trusted” within their domain.

          Being rational also requires you take real-life risks into consideration. This would be like saying “why don’t you treat your friends the same way you treat the local crackhead when he walks through your store? He’s just there to buy essentials” - yes, he may be there to actually buy things, but he’s much more likely to do something nefarious than your known friends.

  • @dstep@lemmy.ml
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    12 years ago

    Don’t use tiktok, it’s really bad for your privacy, a super addictive app. The main point is to just watch recommended videos rather than searching, which makes it more like TV. It also censors content, and most of what you’ll find there is actually bad. The app is proprietary, therefore making a different client is hard. (Newpipe for example doesn’t recommend videos to you that aren’t in your list, but tiktok’s recommendation algorithm can’t be done this way. Anyway, better not to get started, it will just waste your time.

    • Vegafjord eo
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      02 years ago

      Horrible answer. I can see you haven’t tried it just based on your comment. Also, you didn’t even answer the question.

      Understand me right, tiktok is surveillance just like youtube, so it’s comparatively bad as youtube. It is centralized, it heavily relies on algorithms.

      However, there is nothing wrong with the content. I have learnt a lot from using tiktok. In particular, I have received the perspective of marginalized people. The creators compete for delivering the most concise arguments.

      Additionally, the tools to create videos are great. It uses elements of creative commons. Using stitching for creating debates, dueting for showing solidarity. Adding wise words from other creators on top of your juggling videos.

      We should take inspiration from tiktok from what it does right. And to see that people reduce this platform to only it’s cons makes me infuriated because it does a hell of a lot right.

      • weex
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        12 years ago

        We should take inspiration from tiktok from what it does right.

        I agree with this. If anyone’s interested to work on a tiktok replacement, let’s find a way to join up and work on making these various right things work in a privacy-respecting, fun, and FOSS set of projects. @libre_warrior@lemmy.ml are you aware of any good rallying points? A new community perhaps or existing software project?

  • @Jason123santa@lemmy.ml
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    12 years ago

    You can always just look on Youtube for videos from tiktok. People always post videos from tiktok on Youtube. There is also videos on reddit from tiktok.

    • Vegafjord eo
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      12 years ago

      That is a horrible solution. If you do that you end up getting the most surface level understanding of what tiktok is. I know, because I have used both tiktok and searching for tiktok on youtube.