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Ukraine war: China's TikTok “more dangerous” in terms of spreading Russian disinformation than the Russia-founded messaging app Telegram, Ukrainian expert says (therecord.media)

submitted 1 month ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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cross-posted from: https://feddit.org/post/3758180

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Chinese social media giant TikTok is “more dangerous” to Ukraine in terms of spreading Russian propaganda and disinformation than the Russia-founded messaging app Telegram, according to Alina Aleksieeva, the deputy head of Ukraine’s State Center for Countering Disinformation (CPD).

[...]

“We often perceive Telegram as the primary culprit, given its abundance of anonymous Russian channels and the impersonation of Ukrainian ones,” said Svitlana Slipchenko, deputy executive director of the data analytics platform Vox Ukraine.

“But the problem extends beyond Telegram — fake news is widespread on TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, and Threads,” she added. “The danger is focusing too narrowly on one platform while Russian propaganda continues to thrive across the entire digital landscape.”

Earlier this year, the CPD published a list of over 80 TikTok accounts used for Russian disinformation. The list includes official accounts of Russian state media, such as TASS, Sputnik, and RIA Novosti.

[...]

Ukraine has previously considered banning TikTok. The app’s future in the U.S. is uncertain due to concerns that ByteDance may have ties to the Chinese government. U.S. authorities have also accused the app of spreading harmful content and misinformation and posing privacy risks.

[...]

Ukraine has been paying close attention to foreign social media apps due to the risks they pose to its users amid the ongoing war. Earlier in September, Ukraine banned Telegram on official devices used by state and security officials, military personnel, and employees of critical infrastructure facilities.

[...]

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[–] [email protected] -4 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Can we stop blaming platforms for what their users post on them?

It's not TikTok, Telegram, Twitter, Mastodon, Lemmy spreading misinformation (or correct information for that matter), it is their users. People used to understand this, somehow they don't anymore.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 month ago

The platforms are responsible because they curate and serve the content. Their algorithms can be and are exploited, but the fact that they're algorithms doesn't absolve them of responsibility.

Nobody told them they have to serve and intake millions of hours of content every day. If a human editor put that stuff out we'd hold the business accountable for that person's actions.

Algorithms and AI aren't excuses.