Toutiao, One of China's Most Popular News Apps, is Discovering the Risks Involved in Giving People Exactly What They Want Online (nytimes.com) 29
The New York Times reports: One of the world's most valuable start-ups got that way by using artificial intelligence to satisfy Chinese internet users' voracious appetite for news and entertainment. Every day, its smartphone app feeds 120 million people personalized streams of buzzy news stories, videos of dogs frolicking in snow, GIFs of traffic mishaps and listicles such as "The World's Ugliest Celebrities." Now the company is discovering the risks involved, under China's censorship regime, in giving the people exactly what they want. The makers of the popular news app Jinri Toutiao unveiled moves this week to allay rising concerns from the authorities (Editor's note: the link may be paywalled; alternative source).
Last week, the Beijing bureau of China's top internet regulator accused Toutiao of "spreading pornographic and vulgar information" and "causing a negative impact on public opinion online," and ordered that updates to several popular sections of the app be halted for 24 hours. In response, the app's parent company, Beijing Bytedance Technology, took down or temporarily suspended the accounts of more than 1,100 bloggers that it said had been publishing "low-quality content" on the app. It also replaced Toutiao's "Society" section with a new section called "New Era," which is heavy on state media coverage of government decisions.
Last week, the Beijing bureau of China's top internet regulator accused Toutiao of "spreading pornographic and vulgar information" and "causing a negative impact on public opinion online," and ordered that updates to several popular sections of the app be halted for 24 hours. In response, the app's parent company, Beijing Bytedance Technology, took down or temporarily suspended the accounts of more than 1,100 bloggers that it said had been publishing "low-quality content" on the app. It also replaced Toutiao's "Society" section with a new section called "New Era," which is heavy on state media coverage of government decisions.
It's important to realize that this is true (Score:2, Interesting)
From a "Winston" point of view: the authorities are putting a lid on negative public opinion. If they can't talk about it, it doesn't exist.
Re: (Score:2)
This is the essence of a shame based society rather than a guilt based society. If you can't see it or talk about it, it never happened.
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Seriously. How do we do it?
I think that's the number one question for Humanity over the next 500 years. It's now or never.
So is it actually now, never, or in the next 500 years?
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Vote libertarian.
Not that it will ever happen, but the common thread among them is to quit trying to be everybody's parents (Democrats are overly motherly, while Republicans are overly fatherly.)
Unfortunately, politics and power in general tends to attract people seeking control, i.e. authoritarians.
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Most of us want a civilized society with services -- so if you're in a federal country, let's simply shift the parenting down a level. Elect libertarians at the national level and socialists at the state level. That way you've got all the services you want, but you've also got oversight with the national government acting as a watchdog passing laws that stop surveillance and propaganda and other abuses of citizens by their states.
I'm OK w/ Gov't Conflating Frolicking Dogs & P (Score:3)
tragic humor (Score:2, Insightful)
1,100 bloggers that it said had been publishing "low-quality content" on the app.
You must realize that they are equating porn/critical discourse as equivalent to spam. This is fairly similar to the idea that sinful thoughts (such as homosexuality) are just the devil trying to trick you, and a test of your commitment to what is "right". This is dangerous and stupid thinking, but to hear them use such a phrase is almost comical if it weren't actually happening.
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1,100 bloggers that it said had been publishing "low-quality content" on the app.
You must realize that they are equating porn/critical discourse as equivalent to spam. This is fairly similar to the idea that sinful thoughts (such as homosexuality) are just the devil trying to trick you, and a test of your commitment to what is "right". This is dangerous and stupid thinking, but to hear them use such a phrase is almost comical if it weren't actually happening.
You are perhaps new to China? They are communist totalitarians, and this is what they do. This is what we crazy old anti-communists were talking about all those years ago.
In other news, Facebook and Google say that they are going to protect us from other unapproved thoughts; they are just different unapproved thoughts then those that China is worried about. And lots of people are all for that.
Enlightment needs to sting a little. (Score:2)
In general the problem with the Internet as a news source medium. Is that we are fed information that for the most part we really want to hear.
Depending on the sources our side is always winning or the other side is just comically failing. Or we will just avoid any painful information at all and just fluff.
Please, we need more government involved! (Score:1)
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Having thankfully not been to a college in ages, is it really the college administration pushing this? Is it as wide-spread as you claim?
Having attended a HBC about 20 years ago, and can attest that is was the administration allowing it then. I actually filed racism complaints and was told that there was nothing that could be done, because that particular professor had marched with Martin Luther King.
* Do I point out how it's ironic that for the longest of times, the right-wing mocked protests on campus and now they're upset that the right-wing can't protest on campus?
There's a difference between mocking a protest and showing up with black masks and baseball bats to assault people.
There's also a difference between a "protests" that is in reality a mob destroying property, and an invited guest speaking at a
I get how geeks didn't see this coming (Score:4, Insightful)
So the risk is that the government...? (Score:3)
On another order of things... Yes, the algorithms are getting very good at giving us what we want but the risk is to live in a bubble that leaves out opinions we don't like and important things that are unlike we read before.
Also, I've realised that constant usage of social media has left me unable to cope with even short moments of doing nothing. My brain craves novelty non stop.
No it is not. (Score:3)
"Editor's note: the link may be paywalled"
The article is not paywalled. YOUR browser cookie just counted the allowed articles.
Since it is _your_ computer and _your_ cookie, just delete the cookie and there's no paywall.
Frolicking Dogs AND Vulgar Information?! (Score:3)