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Majority of Americans Say TikTok Is a Threat to US National Security (variety.com) 118

According to a recent Pew Research Center survey, the majority of Americans (59%) say TikTok is a threat to the national security of the United States. Variety reports: The findings from Pew Research Center's survey of U.S. adults come as TikTok, the popular short-form video app owned by Chinese internet conglomerate ByteDance, continues to be targeted by American lawmakers wary over its ties to China and how TikTok handles user data. Just 17% of Americans say the platform is not a threat to national security, while 23% say they are unsure, per the Pew survey.

Opinions about the national security threat posed by TikTok differ by political affiliation and age. Roughly 70% of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents say TikTok is either a minor or major threat to national security in the U.S., compared with 53% of Democrats and Democratic leaners. The perception of TikTok as a threat also varies by age: Just 13% of adults 18-29 say TikTok is a "major" threat; that rises to 24% among those 30-49, 35% among those 50-64; and 46% among Americans 65 and older.

Not surprisingly, adults who do not use TikTok are more likely than those who do to consider it a national security risk. Among non-users, 65% say the app is a security threat, including 36% who view it as a major threat. Among TikTok users, just 9% see it as a major threat and about one-third say it's a minor threat. The Pew survey was conducted May 15-21, 2023. [...] A survey Pew Research Center conducted in March found that 50% of Americans support a U.S. government ban on TikTok, while 22% were opposed and 28% were unsure.

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Majority of Americans Say TikTok Is a Threat to US National Security

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  • by 93 Escort Wagon ( 326346 ) on Monday July 10, 2023 @09:28PM (#63675969)

    Lately my wife is spending lots of time on TikTok - and so have her friends. Now if I've learned anything about the internet over these past 20 years, it's that the kids start fleeing any platform once the old people show up.

  • So? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by zenlessyank ( 748553 ) on Monday July 10, 2023 @09:28PM (#63675973)

    Most Americans are stupid. So many things so much more important than this it is ridiculous.

    • Most Americans are stupid. So many things so much more important than this it is ridiculous.

      Actually, what surprises me is that there are independent Americans, who affiliate with neither the Republicans nor the Democrats.
      It's almost as if there's room for more than the two political parties there...

      • Re:So? (Score:5, Interesting)

        by zenlessyank ( 748553 ) on Monday July 10, 2023 @09:51PM (#63676019)

        Well, I am in neither party. I'm 55 and I have never seen a candidate here worth a damn. It's about time for a revolution, I just don't think it will turn out like everyone hopes.

        • by Anonymous Coward
          Please elaborate. How do you think people hope it will turn out, and what do you think will really happen? I'm seriously curious and interested.
        • by Anonymous Coward
          Revolutions rarely turn out the way most people who advocate for them think they will. I doubt most people who lived through the Bolshevik Revolution thought they were truly better off afterwards when Stalin started his purges. The French Revolution was such a mess that eventually the population allowed Napoleon to become Emperor and that led to the Napoleonic Wars. The Chinese revolution led to massive purges, poverty, the Cultural Revolution, etc... Revolutions typically require one or more central fi
      • Re:So? (Score:5, Insightful)

        by SirSpanksALot ( 7630868 ) on Monday July 10, 2023 @09:53PM (#63676025)

        It's almost as if there's room for more than the two political parties there...

        Not until we change our voting system to something other than first past the post. First past the post always will ultimately result in 2 main parties with an additional acting as spoilers. Ranked choice, Range, Star/Approval are all superior and allow for additional parties to exist without the spoiler effect.

        • by xlsior ( 524145 )
          Since any major overhaul of the voting system requires both parties to sign on, that is extremely unlikely to happen since it will undermine the duopoly they currently reap the benefits on. More democracy means less power to the current establishment.
          • by chthon ( 580889 )

            Then there needs to be a group of citizens who work together to defame and character murder both parties, or members of the parties. The parties must be destroyed first.

            • Re:So? (Score:4, Insightful)

              by thegarbz ( 1787294 ) on Tuesday July 11, 2023 @08:35AM (#63676871)

              Then there needs to be a group of citizens who work together to defame and character murder both parties, or members of the parties. The parties must be destroyed first.

              One party is running a horrendous conman sexual abuser currently facing multiple felonies as their main candidate, who also tried to overthrow the self-proclaimed world's greatest democracy, and it looks like a not insignificant portion of the public will vote for him.

              There is no destruction to be had here. It doesn't matter how low you bring them, there's nothing you can do to defame them anymore than they are already defaming themselves. And people will still vote for them.

      • by Anonymous Coward

        They could also be people like me, who study history, didn't forget Jan. 6 happened with no consequences to those in power who attempted it, and realized that if the Republicans ever get control again, they will never, ever let go without bloodshed regardless of any subsequent law or vote.

        In that America, being a registered Democrat would become a very bad thing far more quickly than people realize. It's safer to be a registered independent.

        It's not the most probable outcome, but it definitely has a double

        • by Anonymous Coward
          You can't just brush it off as a fringe of the party either. Fully 50% of Republicans still think the election was stolen and Biden isn't the legitimate President.
    • by Anonymous Coward

      The average person on Earth is pretty stupid. You shouldn't take it too personally that stupid Americans currently rule over you. You're simply a victim of statistics.

    • by Anonymous Coward

      The majority of Americans cannot find the US in the world map.

      The majority of Americans never had a passport and never set foot outside of the country.

      The majority of Americans simply think what the media tell them to think.

      The majority of Americans had been brainwashed to accept anything can be a "threat to national security".

      After years of smear campaign against Tiktok, it would have been news if a poll showed the majority of Americans isn't scared of Tiktok.

    • Some crappy poll showed that most people who bother to answer it (i.e. those with nothing better to do) believe in stupid things. Is this representative of opinion at large? I doubt it.

    • Yeah I figure tiktok is as much a threat to national security as facebook, twitter, instagram, and other big social media services.

      It all treats people the same way, and many people seem to get into echo chambers / go crazy over stupid shit using those services.

    • I would not say most. You're implying a majority. I would say that our stupids amount to just a minority of our population. However, our stupids vastly outstupid your stupids, Have you seen their Tik-Tok videos? Yes, I said it. America's stupid people are the dumbest in the world, and our worst import to the rest of the world is our stupidity. "Which bathroom do I use?" "I cut my dick off" "Yesterday I was a man, today I am a woman. Don't misgender me" "I identify as a cat"
  • "Majority of Americans Say TikTok Is a Threat to US National Security"
    • by sd4f ( 1891894 )
      Yea, I think that's the elephant in the room, tiktok is the one social media app that comes to mind, that has a lot of users, and has a chance of being outside the NSA's ability to coerce or control via the owners, since they're in China...
      • Yea, I think that's the elephant in the room, tiktok is the one social media app that comes to mind, that has a lot of users, and has a chance of being outside the NSA's ability to coerce or control via the owners, since they're in China...

        I agree. Convince me NSA, CIA, FBI, and friends aren't tapping Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Gmail, cell phone location data, and all the other technology we use every day and then I'll start worrying about being observed by the Chinese government.

    • The NSA can get whatever it wants from your phone, which has an entire processor in it that the manufacturer is literally not allowed to give you access to, on the basis that if you could tamper with it you could make the radio do unapproved things to the cellular network. This is for five eyes.

  • Just 13% of adults 18-29 say TikTok is a "major" threat; that rises to 24% among those 30-49, 35% among those 50-64; and 46% among Americans 65 and older.

    So, that means to get to "the Majority says that its a threat" means they mostly polled people age 50+?
    • by Entrope ( 68843 ) on Monday July 10, 2023 @09:58PM (#63676037) Homepage

      No. You could follow the first link, which has a nice picture at the top with a graphical representation of the survey results.

      Among adults 18-29, 13% say it is a "major" threat and roughly 36% say it's a minor threat, for a total of 49% who say it's a threat. Among adults 30-49, 59% say it's a threat. The two older groups are at 64% and 65%, so not much different from the 30-49 group. Somewhat more interesting is how much difference there is in the fractions of people (grouped by age) who say "not a threat", rather than "threat" or not sure.

    • The ""the Majority says that its a threat"" type phrases are complete bollox, how many of that majority has IT security experience to make that claim?
      • I don't think you need IT security experience to think a service with a fantastic algorithm that for all intents and purposes is "owned" by a foreign nation state which is somewhat or definitely (depending on timeframe) hostile to US interests is a threat. That goes without saying that all these services (tiktok, facebook, instagram, etc. etc.) that use algorithms to "engage" you and influence you are not exactly great for a stable populace. Doesn't mean you have to hide things from people but presenting v
        • China isn't nearly as big a threat to US citizens as the US federal government is to it's own citizens.

          • I mean, I would argue they're both threats, just in different ways. But yeah- just because both are bad means we shouldn't do anything about either? Maybe that's not what you meant but that's how I take it.
            • Well, presumably we could, in theory, do something about our local problems. Worrying about China and TicTok just seems like distracting us from our very real local problems. The proverbial "enemy at the gate".

              Our government would much rather wave it's hands around and have you believe that Russia, China, North Korea and Iran hate your freedoms and therefore want you dead. That's the perpetual enemy at the gate.

              The reality is they want us distracted from all the bullshit they are doing here. It's why our tw

      • The ""the Majority says that its a threat"" type phrases are complete bollox, how many of that majority has IT security experience to make that claim?

        You realise opinions are not restricted to subject matter experts right? You're off topic and looking for a different survey. Come back and join us in our discussion about the general public when you're ready.

  • are becoming a threat to US National Security in some form or another. We really need to try to get along more. People seem to always gravitate to an extreme opinion on different matters. Maybe just so it looks like they are trying to make a difference?
  • That is worrying (Score:5, Insightful)

    by gweihir ( 88907 ) on Monday July 10, 2023 @09:53PM (#63676027)

    All those nil-wits parroting something they do not understand and are unable to verify. Sheep, the lot of them. Sounds to me like people like that are much more of a threat.

    • by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

      Propaganda has always been effective.

      Western companies must be pleased that all the focus is off them for now. Facebook in particular.

    • All those nil-wits parroting something they do not understand and are unable to verify. Sheep, the lot of them.

      Everyone is a sheep and armchair expert when presented with a simple survey question without any accountability.

      You're not better. You've an opinion of these people but you're no psychologists.

      • by gweihir ( 88907 )

        but you're no psychologists.

        Indeed. I have still yet not mastered the art of being more than one expert at something.

  • More accurately... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by magnetar513 ( 1384317 ) on Monday July 10, 2023 @10:14PM (#63676063)
    social media is a threat to national, and every other form of security.
    • by cstacy ( 534252 )

      Tok Tok is the #1 news source for most of the US population, unseating Fox News as of a few years ago.

      What I recall from about a decade ago was that: (a) by a huge margin, the only people watching cable news were watching FOX; (b) hardly anyone in the country watches any cable news at all. Also around that time there was a claim that most people got their news from Facebook.

      It's been a while and I am not sure about the truth of those claims. You suggest that until last year, "most people" got their news from FOX. Do you have something to back that up with?

      I also find it hard to believe that most now get the

      • by Torodung ( 31985 )

        I'd like to think you're trolling someone by spelling it TicTok, rather than TikTok, but whom? Yourself?

    • Agreed. If TikTok is a threat then so is Instagram and every other app.

      I personally don't use social media at all and would never install any of these apps, but I don't have any illusions about the fact that my personal information is being hoovered up by a hundred other vectors.

      To single one app out is really quite silly. All major companies, these days, are multi-national and even if they weren't, are US companies that much more trustworthy than any other? I think that they have proven themselves not to b

  • by CommunityMember ( 6662188 ) on Monday July 10, 2023 @10:25PM (#63676071)
    What is a threat to national security is stupid people. Unfortunately, they are a protected class.
    • Unfortunately, they are a protected class.

      *Glances over at the President and Vice President*

      *Looks back at You*

      (Silent Majority) "We The People, simply cannot imagine how you came to that...horrifically accurate conclusion..."

  • Clickbait garbage. (Score:4, Insightful)

    by couchslug ( 175151 ) on Monday July 10, 2023 @10:28PM (#63676081)

    Since when is the opinion of an idiot beastmob of tech illiterates worthy of Slashdot? Desperate for space filler much?

    • Since technology advanced to a point that it can program people to hold certain views.

    • Since when is the opinion of an idiot beastmob of tech illiterates worthy of Slashdot?

      Are you kidding? The opinion of a majority on a tech subject, even if they don't have a clue about it is incredibly relevant. These people vote and have the power to sway policy in ways that affects us.

      There's no action more stupid than to ignore the power of a mob of stupid people.

  • How are those platforms any different from TikTok, Alibaba, and Weibo? They are all platforms that government players mine data and ultimately profile users. Meet the new boss, same as the old boss....
  • The vast majority have no idea what the technical implications of TikTok are and their views are exactly the information that has been given to the media they consume. The publics opinion on TikTok with respect to security is as accurate as their opinion on climate change or quantum mechanics.
  • by Anonymous Coward
    A majority of Americans also think that the First Amendment applies when they're in Walmart.
  • Also, a majority of Americans thing McDonalds is good food.

  • ... Majority of Americans Say TikTok ...

    I'm sure a majority of US Americans think water causes drowning: Both factoids, don't give us a to-do list. This is Chicken Little thinking, and like the apocryphal chicken, one should examine the rest of the sky (social media) before demanding a panic.

    In this case, examining social media will reveal a multitude of threats that may or may not include national security.

  • never heard of it.

  • It worked! (Score:5, Insightful)

    by VeryFluffyBunny ( 5037285 ) on Tuesday July 11, 2023 @04:02AM (#63676449)
    Steps:

    1. Tell everyone TikTok is a threat to national security for several months
    2. Pass laws against TikTok citing national security threats
    3. Tell everyone that your passing laws against TikTok because it's a threat to national security
    4. Conduct poll asking people if they think TikTok is a threat to national security
    5. Tell everyone that they think TikTok is a threat to national security

    BTW, did you know that it's been claimed that TikTok is a threat to national security?
  • This anecdote about a recent experience illustrates how people can be hugely influenced by influencers+social media (TikTok being fingered as the culprit in this instance).

    Over the weekend I picked up some necessities at my local big-chain drugstore (the equivalent of, in my non-USA country). While there, I also looked for Xxxx, a natural product (unnamed to protect the guilty). Could not see any and in the last aisle I stopped two shop assistants to ask them where the Xxxx was kept.

    "All out of stock," th

  • Follow the money and you'll see why nothing will ever happen. China ships fentanyl into the US killing more Americans a year than during the entire Vietnam War and we do nothing. Allowing them to brainwash and control our youth is just more negliance on the part of the government.
  • Threat to National Security, no

    Threat to intelligence and threat to the immensely stupid? Yes. But we need Darwin to work harder.....

  • But this means nothing about Evolution, and nothing about weather TikTok is a security threat ...

  • Seriously, I should be able to afford a telsa with this jar by the end of the year.

  • I only get tik tok from what my brother sends me, and it's mostly people doing funny/stupid things. What exactly is the National Security Threat that Tik Tok presents? I googled it but didn't find anything. What I did find was that Tik Tok is thought to be a security threat but there was nothing behind that explaining in what it way the threat was real.
  • I see this study used the gold standard for determining security risk in a technological product - the public survey.

    Let's ask them about quantum mechanics next, this quantum gravity problem should be solved in no time, and at the same level of agreement with reality as this survey.

    A much better summary would have been "Old people still afraid of new technology and whatever teenagers are into."

  • "Among TikTok users, just 9% see it as a major threat"

    And yet they still use it? Are they conscious traitors or just that stupid?

  • A majority of American are idiots and proud to be one.
    • I am a life long American and I can tell you from the inside that you are onto something...

      It is amazing foreign experts didn't write a paper on it sooner after visiting the USA; it took Dunning-Kruger finally write a paper on it but foreign academics likely dismissed what they saw just as tourists did as "being American." Technology also has amplified stupid with about half the USA being obviously delusional; and the other half being slightly more delusional than normal.

  • ...it's the people that USE tiktok that are a threat, obviously.

    Tiktok itself is no more a 'threat to security' itself than Angry Birds or Freecell is/was.

  • "My grand kids dont pay attention to me... Its' a menace I tell you!" shout most of the survey participants.
  • How many of these people were able to explain in what way TikTok threatens the US national security?

  • Most will just stare at you and say "because some reporter said so". Just another example of news blowing something our of proportion to the size of the issue. Any why do they do it, because fear rules the media and sells!

  • Majority of Chinese Say Facebook Is A Threat To National Security

    (And a majority of slashdotters agree)

    Difference is, the chinese did some thing other than wring their hands.

  • ...government needs more censorship power. In order to enhance the user experience, of course.

    In fact this administration is arguing in court [courtlistener.com] that they only want to "prevent grave harm to the American people and our democratic processes" by being able to tell social media companies whose accounts need to be squelched and what news stories need to be suppressed.

    Tik-tok is just the latest 'Alex Jones' low-hanging fruit, because the fascists that call themselves "democratic" want control over all popular chann

  • In other news, the majority of americans are highly regarded
  • All other apps are just subsidiaries of Facebook and being in them is basically sharing all your privacy with it. The fact that sugar mountain cannot buy TikTok does not make it national thread. Tell Facebook to stop harvesting getting popular social apps and you would not need to declare national emergency. Every time I write something to my friends about politics via WhatsApp I just see that grim face of government agent who reviews all the crap we write each other.
  • Stop using Polls to dictate actual facts. Majority of American's DO NOT think TikTok is a threat, cause Majority of American's are not being sampled. The Data: This survey was conducted among 5,101 U.S. adults from May 15 to 21, 2023. Everyone who took part in the survey is a member of the Center’s American Trends Panel (ATP), an online survey panel that is recruited through national, random sampling of residential addresses. The Pew has been learning more right over the years and the panel members

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