TikTok users have been deleting the app at a higher rate since the company announced that its U.S. operations would be housed in a new joint venture.

The short-form video platform’s daily average app uninstalls in the U.S. have increased nearly 150% over the past five days compared with the previous three months, market intelligence firm Sensor Tower told CNBC.

      • A_Random_Idiot@lemmy.world
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        I continue to argue that it was nothing but a Psyop campaign to test how to manipulate the American public by the chinese government. and tI doubt that lingering, baseline purpose has changed at all with the new right wing propagandist owners.

        Just look at all those insane “trends” it got people to do, like Kicking in strangers front doors, assaulting people, destroying public property, etc etc.

        It turned violent sociopathy into an upvoteable activity.

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          Cinnamon challenge. Planking. Flash mobs. Harlem shake. Tiktok isn’t responsible or necessary for people to do stupid viral shit

          • A_Random_Idiot@lemmy.world
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            “You’re wrong on your opinion of apples! So heres a list of positives about oranges that totally disproves your comments about apples!”

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              Ok then.

              Happy slapping. Gallon smashing. Salt and ice. Those ones violently stupid enough for you?

              • yermaw@sh.itjust.works
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                Happy slapping was mental, it started happening like the absolute moment we were able to share videos online

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    More enshitification. Whatever the current “administration” touches turns to shit, dies, and rots.

    Boycott everything you can that’s from the US. Even if you are IN the fucking US. Nazis are not your friends (and if they are, fuck you, you’re a Nazi too).

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      I downloaded it. It’s very barren right now, no more than a few comments per post, if any. Hopefully it gains some traction

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        I know it sucks but you’ve just gotta shitpost through it. No comments? Guess you gotta generate some content. We are the algorithm, and we are the bots, here on fedi.

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        It was like that here when Reddit fell caused people to leave and look for something better. Give it time, and interact!

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            I think its mostly because of lurkers, but also, I first joined on midwest.social then something broke the feed and caused a bunch of federation issues. Now this is my “alt” but I can’t see content from piracy@dbzero or whatever now

      • ReptileVessel@lemmy.zip
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        Think of it as an exclusive club where your content has a higher chance of being seen by elite users

      • John@lemmy.ml
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        Kinda like fediverse in general. That’s the price of a non-corpo platform

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        I don’t see how few comments is a bad thing? Do you really sit and scroll through the vile idiocy that is tiktok comments? Nowhere does more comments etc. mean it’s better. If anything less people is good.

      • sqw@lemmy.sdf.org
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        ive poked around on there over the past year or so. not much to see and often quite broken.

        • WhyJiffie@sh.itjust.works
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          what client do you use? it seems as if it even removed your own default upvote, maybe it’s the thing that is broken

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            I always un-upvote myself. I tried the latest loops client, it’s way more performant than it used to be. id say the only thing i didnt like about it was the overlap in the feeds and the wrap-around feeds. if it’s out of content, it should just say so.

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      Cool to see how much loops has grown even just in the last year. It gets more and more viable as an alternative all the time. Love seeing the fediverse continue to grow

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      It must be really demanding in terms of hardware and network to host video content like tiktok. I wonder if the fediverse voluntaries will be able to keep up with it if the userbase grows too much

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      Oof, this still isn’t up on F-Droid or either main app store. That’s a shame, I thought this moment would be a great time for Loops to get some user base, but it seems like it’s still not ready for wider adoption.

      That said, it does look a lot better now than it did a few months ago when I last tried it. Here’s hoping it picks up some momentum. I finally tried TikTok last year, and was really impressed by the breadth of videos and how quickly it was able to start showing me things I enjoyed. With the recent change in ownership, I don’t know that I’ll revisit it much if at all. Would take quite a lot to replicate even a little bit of the zeitgeist TikTok had going. But like with Lemmy and Mastodon/Bsky, I’m hoping I can do my little part by choosing where to put my attention. Just don’t know that I’m going to find much there I care to see, for now.

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    Up 150% sounds crazy… but like, what’s the rate of installs vs uninstalls here? How has the rate of installs changed?

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        Nope. Your math is wrong. 6 people uninstalling would be a 50% increase from the 4 since 2 (the extra people uninstalling) is 50% of 4. For a 150% INCREASE you’d need 10 to uninstall (4 for the origional, 4 more for the extra 100%, and 2 on top of that for the extra 50%).

      • edgesmash@lemmy.world
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        4 -> 6 would be a 50% increase, or 150% of the previous number. 4 -> 10 would be a 150% increase, or 250% of the previous number.

    • BanMe@lemmy.world
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      Facebook, Insta, YouTube. I know they’re fun and entertaining. But they’re all destroying your mental health. I promise you’ll be happier if you pull the plug on all of them. Delete your account. Touch grass. Volunteer, talk to your neighbors, start a social club.

      • ABetterTomorrow@sh.itjust.works
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        Besides Lemmy, I left everything else in 2014. Growing up with it all and now seeing the other side…… I’m worried about people.

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    This is now a right wing propaganda machine. I deleted awhile ago.

    Several social media posts pointed to language in the new policy that describes the types of data TikTok may collect, including sensitive information such as “your racial or ethnic origin” as well as “sexual life or sexual orientation, status as transgender or nonbinary, citizenship or immigration status, or financial information.”

    Despite the social media uproar, that language does not appear to be new. An archived version of the policy from August 2024 includes the same provisions.

    • FiniteBanjo@feddit.online
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      It was always a rightwing propoganda machine, it helped Trumo get elected.

      Now its 50% Blue Fascist in addition to the Red Fascist.

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    I understand TikTok to be the bastion of communication and community for Gen Z.

    But so much of the content is uncreative. The same songs and sound effects to some stupid reaction video.

    That said, I do hope TikTok crashes and burns so the new owner loses on their bid. And I do really hope Gen Z can collectively find a new platform to communicate on freely because TikTok has been a force for them just as Twitter and Reddit was for Millenials.

    • lobut@lemmy.ca
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      The same songs and sound effects to some stupid reaction video.

      Dear God. My friend sent me a video about some Japanese person with some cooking method or something that he recommended I should make try. The video he sent me was annoying as fuck. It was a couple screaming at each other: “OMG IS THAT THE NEW JAPANESE ____ METHOD?” “YES I THINK I’VE HEARD OF THAT” interspersed with the actual narration-free video. Had to stop it after 4-6 seconds.

      I asked my friend how he could even stand watching it the video and he said his brain filters it out. I don’t know why it just repulsed me so much.

      There’s also many videos with some person just playing another’s person’s video and they just point a finger upward to the actual playing video with some useless look on their face and the nodding.

      I think this is the nature of these TikTok videos but I’m not really on TikTok much, I just get them sent to me every once in a while.

    • Asafum@lemmy.world
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      I do hope TikTok crashes and burns so the new owner loses on their bid.

      They bought it to control the narrative on important topics so a loss isn’t a big deal to them. You apparently already can’t talk about Epstein and anti-ICE stuff gets hidden.

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      But so much of the content is uncreative.

      Enshittification, baby. Once people know where the feed bar is, they just keep slapping it until pellets stop falling out. The Algorithm rewards imitation, not invention.

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    For anyone looking for new alternatives, I’m sure most Lemmy users can suggest more open-source pubfed options, but for anyone trying to generate a bit more presence (not that there’s much) I did find a YouTube video highlighting some “indie social media” sites, mostly focusing on nostalgia of simpler versions of the historically popular ones.

    Having the whole world operate off of publically-owned shared systems is probably an ideal, but having them at least in tight competition, with easy destinations to abandon off to, is still quite a bit better.

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    Ok, but what are the counts for uninstalls generally? 150% sounds like a lot, but if it’s only a thousand uninstalls a week then it’s only jumped to 1,500 uninstalls. When there are millions of users, that’s…not very much.

    I’m not arguing against progress. I’m just saying they are making it sound like this big exodus when it might be minimal in reality.

    • Joelk111@lemmy.world
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      If they’re up 150% and it was 1000 before, it’d now be 2500. Your point still stands, of course.

      • WindyRebel@lemmy.world
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        Yes, you’re correct. Math is difficult and I forgot to add the 100% on top of the original number. Thank you!

    • Peruvian_Skies@sh.itjust.works
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      That era is still alive and well, unfortunately. I had to use a browser without an adblocker the other day and I’m pretty sure it gave me PTSD.

  • rumba@lemmy.zip
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    Careful on your uninstall, once my wife uninstalled from her phone*, all of a sudden her account can’t re-connect to delete her data. There’s lots of talk about this on the forums. Delete your account and uninstall all at once.

    • my brain said the work i was thinking it wasn’t
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    I find it funny that millions of people had no problem with an evil foreign government like the CCP, that’s well known for collecting data for military purposes and spending mind boggling amounts on propaganda campaigns, controlling the app, but now draw the line at some Silicon Valley billionaire doing essentially the same thing.

    I never liked the short content format so I never had an interest downloading TikTok, but I knew that I would never, ever download it when I learned that this Chinese app is actually banned in China. They a have a separate clone of this app that’s exclusive to China that uses a different algorithm that promotes positive and educational content. The fact that billions of people use this shitty weaponized piece of Chinese spyware is depressing, especially when the Fediverse exists.

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      Well for starters - The United States government is kicking in doors in my local area right now.

      The CCP would have to travel many thousand miles to kick in my door.

      • Gorilladrums@lemmy.world
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        That’s a false sense of security. The CCP doesn’t need to kick down your door to weaponize your data. It should be common sense to not trust an authoritarian regime.

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          OK, as an American in the USA, what is the worst China can do to me with my “weaponized data” that is worse or the equivalent of me being tracked down and summarily executed a death squad which is the worst thing that the Trump regime can do with my data (which every US corporation is willing to hand over to them). It’s not that I trust the Chinese government. I just don’t care about them right now because my country is being destroyed by Nazis and find it bizarre that anyone would still be trying to sell us the “beware the Yellow Peril looming in the east!” neoliberal cold war horseshit.

          Remember in the 80s when scary Japan was supposedly about to morph into some sort economic singularity and wipe us out with a thousand ultra mega Pearl Harbors all at once? Kind of reminds of the shit we hear about China today.

          You know back then it was perfectly fine to be cozy with the PRC even as they propped up the murderous Khmer Rouge regime. But hey they illegally invaded Vietnam and cut ties with the Soviets so we loved them then. When Vietnam liberated Cambodia the official US narrative was that Vietnam was bullying the poor Khmer Rouge and the genocide was just a smear campaign to make our friend China look bad. Vietnam was the big bad yellow peril enemy then.

          And now, Vietnam, still just as communist, still authoritarian, is our friend now!

          Funny how the propaganda shifts like this depending on who’s befitting from it. Tomorrow it will be someone else. But go on about how this time the “Yellow Peril” threat is real this time.

          • Gorilladrums@lemmy.world
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            What a load of bootlicking crap.

            It’s very simple, if you’re willing to go to such lengths to defend China using spyware, collecting your data, and using it as they please… then why not go use Chinese social media yourself? If you think China is a non threat and all the concerns people have about it are fugazi, then why not go use their platforms? They’re bigger, have way more content, way more users, and they’re better developed than the Fediverse… again why you here if you don’t value things like privacy, freedom, ownership, and control over your data? It sounds to me like you have inconsistent values.

          • Laereht@lemmy.world
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            But didn’t you know they’re occupying our cities! They’re killing innocent civilians and rounding up black and brown and indigenous civilians and forcing them into camps!

            No, wait. That’s the us government. My bad.

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              China is harvesting our data and weaponizing it! You see they’re taking the data and umm… sharpening it into punji sticks or something.

              Look what ever they’re doing it’s evil and bad. And way worse than our home grown Palantir genocide machine.

          • Gorilladrums@lemmy.world
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            That’s a false dichotomy. I’m not going to suddenly spread my ass for a shitty authoritarian regime like the CCP because the US government is going through it. If you want to lube up for Chinese spyware and data collection then that’s on you. Personally, I’m not going to let a fallacious false binary like this cloud my judgement, I’ll always strive to own, protect, and control my data from governments, corporations, or whoever.

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              You’re missing the point.

              China might use your data and hurt you in some far future, whereas the USA will use your data right now in a direct and violent way.

              I can explain how the US government having access to the database of all of TikTok’s data might directly result in a visit from ICE. The path to damage caused by China may exist too, but is much more nebulous, and much more difficult for China to execute on.

              Yes, if you are in a government position, or in the army, you probably shouldn’t use TikTok under China’s management. But Joe Schmoe from California has little to materially fear from them. But he does have reason to fear the USA government who might well come over and arrest him.

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                I think we agree on that. my point is, we don’t need to use neither usa tech or chinese tech for our social media platforms. we shouldn’t celebrate china being there “to save us”.

                also, I think china could still hurt us, on the short term, by manipulating elections and other things through manipulating public opinion and the values people hold. they have both the data and the channels to execute it.

                • Rooster326@programming.dev
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                  my point is, we don’t need to use neither usa tech or chinese tech for our social media platforms. we shouldn’t celebrate china being there “to save us”.

                  You are right, we don’t need either but you are already preaching to the choir as you are here in the fediverse.

                • bearboiblake@pawb.social
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                  if you’re still scared of china at this point the propaganda has unfortunately broken through and taken root in your brain stem, i’m sorry, there’s very little any of us can do to help you

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                Joe Schmoe ended up in a situation no different than if tiktok had been US to begin with, since capitalistic companies will sell out everyone to keep the money flowing over shutting down. So country of origin never ended up mattering in making the app as much of a red flag as installing facebook, instagram, and twitter.

                Using corporate social media that encourages people to share their faces, names, and voices are sketchy to begin with while also having the apps so intrusive they get access to everything on your phone from contacts to phone numbers.

                I see people arguing country a lot, but I’ve never really understood it myself because I never believed who was collecting data would guarantee that data doesn’t end up in the hands of those unintended to get it.

                Just as the tiktok transfer shows.

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            Your horse were not on fire when TikTok got introduced en masse.

            So yeah, look for excusses

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      Respectfully, the CCP has been less of a direct threat than the US government as of late and most dont trust the government so why would they trust the propaganda? This isnt to say the CCP isnt a problem but are they as much of a direct threat to American citizens than ICE and such?.. ICE has now murdered more than one citizen in cold blood.

      P.S. People need more education as to what the Fediverse is but until then they will always go with whats easier to use and access.

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        That’s such a nonsensical take. Because you don’t trust the US government, you’re go to thought is to hand over your data to an opaque authoritarian regime like the CCP? What kind of a bullshit false dichotomy is that? Fuck that, my data is my data. It doesn’t belong to any government, corporation, or anybody who isn’t me or someone that I explicitly give consent to use my data. That’s the principled take.

        • epicthundercat@lemmy.world
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          No, I am just explaining to you why people have used it. Humans do human things… being upset at it wont change the why. Citizens are terrified of the current threat. Not one miles away. Humans are wired to react to immediate danger.

          • Gorilladrums@lemmy.world
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            I still disagree with that notion. That’s not normal human behavior. You’re making it sound as if people can only process the top immediate threat and disregard the rest. But that’s not humans work. Humans are able to have and process multiple threats at once. If what you’re saying is true then nobody would care about what’s going on in Ukraine, Iran, or Gaza because these conflicts are so far away… yet so many people do even though they face problems in their home countries that are much closer, more imminent, and have greater impact on their daily lives… like inflation or climate change or increased government tyranny.

            The point is that it doesn’t make sense from a logical point of view to reject a shitty government for being authoritarian and then disregard another shitty government that’s also authoritarian, if not more so. A rational person does process both as being threats for similar reasons. That’s a consistent and principled take. The one and only reason why one would cozy up to one over the other is because of ignorance, which is precisely what I think is going on here.

      • WhyJiffie@sh.itjust.works
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        and most dont trust the government so why would they trust the propaganda?

        because visually it’s not coming from the government but “independent content creators”. and regardless of who says it, people will trust propaganda that says things they want to hear, then over time, start trusting those who say that

      • Gorilladrums@lemmy.world
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        People on here are unfortunately very ignorant on the doings of the CCP. People here don’t realize that the US hasn’t lapsed China in tyranny, they’re merely catching up. The CCP has mastered authoritarianism to the point where they’re in a league of their own.

        Regardless, it doesn’t matter either way because it’s not a competition. If we walk down the path choosing between two evils, we’ll quickly find ourselves racing to the bottom, and we all lose. Luckily, it doesn’t have to be that way, we can simply reject tyranny in its entirety regardless of country, ideology, or regime.

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      evil forefinger government

      Okay well first that typo is staying, second I used to be minorly involved in politics (by which I mean fundraising for a homeless shelter feels and smells a lot like politics even if your goals are more altruistic) and I learned one valuable thing. The right thing morally and the right thing politically are rarely the same, and when it looks like they are you should investigate closer and reevaluate because you’re probably missing something important. That’s why government is almost always evil.