08-13-2024, 03:58 PM
Here's something interesting about how "push notifications" on TikTok have become unpredictable and potentially hazardous.
The point of the article is about bashing TikTok (of course) but the point I'm making is about "algorithms."
From ArsTechnica: Push alerts from TikTok include fake news, expired tsunami warning
TikTok has been sending inaccurate and misleading news-style alerts to users’ phones, including a false claim about Taylor Swift and a weeks-old disaster warning, intensifying fears about the spread of misinformation on the popular video-sharing platform.
Among alerts seen by the Financial Times was a warning about a tsunami in Japan, labeled “BREAKING,” that was posted in late January, three weeks after an earthquake had struck.
Other notifications falsely stated that “Taylor Swift Canceled All Tour Dates in What She Called ‘Racist Florida’” and highlighted a five-year “ban” for a US baseball player that originated as an April Fool’s day prank.
The notifications, which sometimes contain summaries from user-generated posts, pop up on screen in the style of a news alert. Researchers say that format, adopted widely to boost engagement through personalized video recommendations, may make users less critical of the veracity of the content and open them up to misinformation.
Now I know that for the "West," TikTok-bashing is well-received in many circles, both conservative and liberal... but the "problem," in my opinion, is not TikTok.... it's relying on a collection of clever data processing algorithms (and calling them "AI") to "decide" what to "push." Especially when the objective is keep stoking 'attention' by "pushing whatever you can."
These clusters of 'automated decisions' are relied upon to avoid having to pay a human... except what they labelled as "AI" sucks and is unreliable... when will they learn?
The point of the article is about bashing TikTok (of course) but the point I'm making is about "algorithms."
From ArsTechnica: Push alerts from TikTok include fake news, expired tsunami warning
TikTok has been sending inaccurate and misleading news-style alerts to users’ phones, including a false claim about Taylor Swift and a weeks-old disaster warning, intensifying fears about the spread of misinformation on the popular video-sharing platform.
Among alerts seen by the Financial Times was a warning about a tsunami in Japan, labeled “BREAKING,” that was posted in late January, three weeks after an earthquake had struck.
Other notifications falsely stated that “Taylor Swift Canceled All Tour Dates in What She Called ‘Racist Florida’” and highlighted a five-year “ban” for a US baseball player that originated as an April Fool’s day prank.
The notifications, which sometimes contain summaries from user-generated posts, pop up on screen in the style of a news alert. Researchers say that format, adopted widely to boost engagement through personalized video recommendations, may make users less critical of the veracity of the content and open them up to misinformation.
Now I know that for the "West," TikTok-bashing is well-received in many circles, both conservative and liberal... but the "problem," in my opinion, is not TikTok.... it's relying on a collection of clever data processing algorithms (and calling them "AI") to "decide" what to "push." Especially when the objective is keep stoking 'attention' by "pushing whatever you can."
These clusters of 'automated decisions' are relied upon to avoid having to pay a human... except what they labelled as "AI" sucks and is unreliable... when will they learn?
