January 19th • 3h 37m

1731: Cyber Timebombs

Tik Tok

TikTok says it is restoring service for U.S. users after Trump comments

Play Store no TikTok, but features Instagram

Looking for TikTok? Downloads for this app are paused due to current US legal requirements

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TikTok ban: U.S. Supreme Court upholds decision

The SCOTUS has done a severe injustice to the main economic output of our Country

The ability to create and use media to sell crap that no one actually needs

All because our technology industry focused on advertising instead if the obvious opportunities

We do not have an all in one solution

Google has the rigged search

Amazon has the store

Meta has the small business ad market

None of them know how to work together

Temu Opens US Warehouses in Expansion Effort | Elite Automation®

TikTok Shop details

TikTok's Head is on the Chopping Block – But it's Small Businesses That Will Die.

US small businesses—I’m talking mostly single-owner shops, crafters, and artisans—stand to lose OVER A BILLION DOLLARS in just ONE MONTH if TikTok goes dark. Let that sink in. A BILLION. That’s not some global figure; that’s American businesses, American jobs, American income vanishing into thin air.

Think of it like this: TikTok Shop became the new Main Street for a lot of these businesses. It’s how they reach customers, make sales, and keep the lights on. Gone. Just like that. Because, “Hi, we’re from the government and we’re here to help.”

And don’t forget the content creators. These folks built entire careers on TikTok. They’ve got followings, brand deals, the whole nine yards. There's even a whole niche of elderly people who share their wisdom and skills, using TikTok to financially survive. And there are homeless individuals living in their cars who are able to get by, and off public assistance, by documenting their experiences.

If you’re thinking, “Hey, they can do that on YouTube or sell their stuff on Etsy,” you do not understand the situation. YouTube, Facebook, Etsy, and Instagram have been no-notice suspending stores, deleting accounts, and demonetizing content. Whole swaths of people have lost their accounts—and I’m talking about woodworking accounts or aromatherapy stores. They aren’t doing anything wild or dangerous. And if it happens to you, you can’t get ahold of anyone to fix it. You’re just…gone.

Yes, people can always create a website and own it. But that’s a disingenuous argument, like saying, “Why don’t you just buy your building instead of renting the space?” Except it’s even worse than that because TikTok gives small businesses marketing tools and power usually reserved for Fortune 500 companies.

Here’s how it plays out: suddenly, some dude in his garage making custom dog collars or a mom making custom puzzles has a shot at reaching millions of potential customers and building a thriving business to support themselves and their family.

You don’t need thousands to market on TikTok. You can start with just your phone. TikTok has a sophisticated algorithm to boost sales. It figures out what people like and puts even one-person-band products in front of them if it’s a good match. So, even if you’re a tiny business, TikTok can get your stuff seen by the exact people who’d be interested. It’s like having a laser-guided marketing system without the million-dollar price tag.

TikTok also has its own ad system designed for the little guy. You don’t need a huge budget to run ads; you can start small and scale up. It’s easy to use and very cost-effective.

On top of that, TikTok will often offer customers free shipping, something small businesses usually can’t afford. The cost of shipping can eat up their entire profit margin. But TikTok picks up the tab. Sometimes they even offer coupons or discounts to help launch your store.

That’s why this ban is so catastrophic for small businesses and will have a deep impact on people’s ability to pay their bills. It’s not just about losing an app; it’s about losing their income, their community, everything they’ve worked for.

So, while the politicians are duking it out over national security or whatever their talking points are, remember who’s really getting screwed: the small businesses and creators just trying to make a living. This isn’t just about an app; it’s about real people, real jobs, and a whole lot of money disappearing overnight.

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Everyone who has developed an summitted an app to the app stores knows how much scrutiny there is, especially on user data.

Facebook said on Wednesday that Apple’s App Tracking Transparency feature would decrease the company’s 2022 sales by about $10 billion.

Unless Apple and Google are playing a covert game with TikTok, there's no way they can track more than any other app.

Tracking Session Replay SDK's

Firebase

Amplitude

UXCam

Mixpanel

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I did a deep dive into the SCOTUS TikTok hearing and unlike NotebookLM you'll actually learn something here

I feel TT's lawyers did them a disservice by making this a 1st amendment case, but it did raise several interesting definitions that will have possible effect on social media in the future

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TikTok Algo BOTG

Bytedance alum here. Chiming in because I thought you were on track with the discussion.

They operate an AI recommendation system.

It’s one of the more basics type of machine learning algos , but they’ve been training it for a decade at least now.

So it’s ingested every news source in the world and now all these videos and data points.

When I worked on the American version of their popular news app , toutiao in China , TopBuzz in the us … we had this complex backend system that would spit out the news that would get the most clicks . Yes a small us based content team , complimented by what might have been hoards of overseas Asian workers , would roll through a selection of the content to filter out low quality or illegal content , thus training the algo.

We would also set breaking news items to the top. At the time TikTok team would decide on trends to promote in app, and each worker had a set of influencers they managed , and these trends would be send their way to produce content and create trends. As you could imagine , brands would get involved , music industry would chime in and they would start to predictably manufacture some categories to follow .

I’d imagine that they have such a broad data set and a big head start so they are just a bit better at it .

My guess on US concerns , that TikTok is such a great data harvester that them having the lead can be spun as the threat , as sophisticated datasets are said to be the lifeblood of future autonomous warfare …

They shut down the news app rather than selling bc they didn’t want to give up the data and algo , and the product was essentially worthless without .

They still operate as News Republic in Europe . It’s not bad . There is one operation called Newsbreak that still operates that is similar , Chinese owned as well.

Love the show, hope to donate more in future once I get a new job!

Vaya con dios!

[2209.07663] Monolith: Real Time Recommendation System With Collisionless Embedding Table

Elon

Elon Musk Faking His Path of Exile 2 Account Proves He is a Fraud (And a Stupid, Petty Fraud at That), by Andrew Anglin - The Unz Review

Musk - In science we trust | CBC News

This may be what people are referring to when they say Elon is Canadian. There is a link in the article to the full documentary, but to summarize: Elon is the grandson of the 1930s-40s leader of a now banned group in Canada called Technocracy Incorporated--a "non-political" political party that wanted to dissolve government and borders and create a landmass called the Technate which would be led by engineers and scientists at the top of their fields.

This honestly sounds like what Peterson and Weinstein are after: let thou who art smartest in thine fields leadeth the slaves.

Link

Big Pharma

GLP1 Alcohol Nurse BOTG

Southern California psychiatric nurse checking in, I just wanted to let

you guys know what the deal could be for the alcohol cancer news all

over the place.

At our hospital there has been talks

amongst the doctors of what they feel about using GLP-1 drugs for

alcohol addiction. Some are wary some are intrigued. Just google “GLP-1

drugs alcohol addiction” and read the many articles and you see pages of

articles about it dating back to 2023. There has been research done on