TikTok: Shaped for Propaganda?
March 24, 2022
TikTok has some unique characteristics. Mostly they enable lighthearted fun. Other times they can lead to the spread of dangerous falsehoods. Fast Company warns, “On Ukrainian War TikTok, Even Experts Struggle to Distinguish Truth from Hoaxes.” But surely smart software can do the work, right? If only. The article cites a new report from Harvard’s Shorenstein Center that details the reasons TikTok makes such a good a misinformation superspreader.
The researchers began documenting Ukraine-related TikToks the day Russia invaded (February 24) and, by March 9, clocked more than 26.8 billion views of content tagged #ukraine. That might be a good thing if all the posts could be trusted. But built-in tools encourage users to manipulate their videos, including the addition of repurposed audio. Not only that, but it is very difficult to track the original source of either video or audio and posters are practically anonymous. And though TikTok has cut off users based in Russia, pro-Russian groups from outside the country are still active on the platform. One can even find propaganda direct from the accounts of state-controlled media like RT. Reporter Mark Sullivan points out what makes this problem so dangerous:
“The reason this is all so worrisome is not that misleading TikToks often get wide exposure. But because both misinformation (in which users unwittingly publish falsehoods) and disinformation (in which operatives post falsehoods to manipulate public opinion) make it hard for the public to differentiate between true and legitimate and false and misleading narratives about an event, such as an invasion. As the weeks go by, people grow tired of trying to dismiss the lies and find the truth. Exhausted and confused, they become politically neutralized. Propagandists don’t have to prove a point or win over majorities, they simply have to spread a critical mass of doubt. As the researchers put it: ‘[T]hese videos continue to go viral on TikTok, raking in millions of views. This results in a ‘muddying of the waters,’ meaning it creates a digital atmosphere in which it is difficult—even for seasoned journalists and researchers—to discern truth from rumor, parody, and fabrication.'”
The piece notes Facebook is also facing a Ukraine-related kerfuffle. It seems the Zuck thought it wise to allow users in Ukraine to post death threats against Russian soldiers. While we understand the impulse, it does not seem like a good business decision. Unsurprisingly, Russia has labeled Facebook’s now-parent company Meta an “extremist organization” in response. Certainly the propagandists on TikTok and elsewhere must be enjoying that little morsel.
Cynthia Murrell, March 24, 2022
Vimeo: A Case Study in Management Desperation?
March 19, 2022
Video is expensive. Bandwidth is a killer. Even storage is a problem at scale. Then there is marketing, customer acquisition, customer retention, and paying those who deserve the big bucks. Vimeo wants to generate revenue, and it has been struggling to be upfront about its predicament: Money.
A couple of years ago, I put my DarkCyber videos on Vimeo. I was curious about the platform. I think I had a dozen or so 12 minute programs on the service. I received an email explaining that because I was a commercial customer, I had to pay a lot of money. I liked that angle crafted by 20 somethings sitting in a cramped, uncomfortable conference room figuring out who was commercial and who was not.
My criteria were:
- I was retired
- My videos contained zero advertising
- I made the programs available to those attending my lectures at FLETC, the ISS Telestrategies’ conferences, and the National Cyber Crime Conferences, among others
- I don’t sell anything any more.
The Vimeo automated system informed me that I had to pay up or have my videos deleted. I cancelled my account and deleted the videos. I mentally noted that Vimeo was floundering. Where is that life preserver? Ooops. Not near me.
I read “Vimeo Is Sorry, and Here’s How It’s Changing.” The write up dances around the central problem of Vimeo: Making money. There’s hand waving from Vimeo management. There’s information about Vimeo’s contradictory statements about “policies.” There’s information about exceptions for special people.
Enough. Vimeo is stuck. Vimeo’s management is apparently rudderless. And most important, I find the firm’s splashing around in the pool mildly amusing. Will it gulp water and drown? Will it become the new Rumble or BitChute? Will the firm’s decisive management team knock YouTube for a loop.
Splish. Splash. Vimeo is taking a bath and there is no party going on.
Stephen E Arnold, March 25, 2022
TikTok: Child Harm?
March 10, 2022
I will keep this brief. Navigate to “TikTok under Investigation in US over Harms to Children.” The article explains why an Instagram probe is now embracing TikTok. From my point of view, this “harm” question must be addressed. Glib statements like “Senator, I will send you a report” have allowed certain high technology firms to skate with the wind at their backs. Now the low friction surface is cracking. The “environment” of questioning is changing. Will the digital speed skaters fall into chilly water or with the help of legal eagle glide over the danger spots? Kudos to the US attorneys general who, like me, believe that more than cute comments are needed. Note: I will be speaking at the 2022 National Cyber Crime Conference. The professionals at the Massachusetts’ Attorney General’s office are crafting another high value program.
Stephen E Arnold, March 10, 2022
TikTok: Redefines Regular TV
January 11, 2022
What do most people under the age of 30 want to watch? YouTube? Sure, particularly some folks in Eastern Europe for whom YouTube is a source of “real news” and tips for surviving winter in Siberia. (Tip: Go to Sochi.)
“TikTok videos Will Be Playing at Restaurants, Gyms, Airports Soon” reports:
TikTok partnered with Atmosphere to bring short-form videos to the background of your next gym session, restaurant meal, or airport visit. Startup Atmosphere streams news and entertainment to commercial locations such as restaurants, airports, hotels, doctors’ waiting rooms, and other venues. That content is sourced from a host of free, ad-supported networks, including YouTube, Red Bull TV, AFV TV, World Poker Tour, The Bob Ross Channel, and, now, TikTok—making its out-of-home video service debut.
The airport venue may not be A Number One with a Bullet today, but it has promise, particularly when paired with those surveillance centric smart TVs from some folks in South Korea and elsewhere.
My thought is that the short form video looks like the future of entertainment. Instead of smash cuts, the new programs will be structured like TikTok videos. The idea will be to create an impression with the individual videos providing the shaped or weaponized content.
Dystopia? Nah, just the normal progression of information when new tools, techniques, capabilities, and methods become available. In the case of TikTok, the addition of a China-linked approach adds spice. Perhaps it is time to think in terms of managing the content streams which are set to displace what Boomers and other old timers find reliable.
That requires understanding, will, and commitment. Those are qualities on display in many seats of government, aren’t they?
Stephen E Arnold, January 11, 2022
DarkCyber for December 28, 2021, Now Available
December 28, 2021
This is the 26th program in the third series of DarkCyber video news programs produced by Stephen E Arnold and Beyond Search. You can view the ad-free show at this url. This program includes news of changes to the DarkCyber video series. Starting in January 2022, Dark Cyber will focus on smart software and its impact on intelware and policeware. In addition, Dark Cyber will appear once each month and expand to a 15 to 20 minute format.
What will we do with the production time? We begin a new video series called “OSINT Radar.” OSINT is an acronym for open source intelligence. In a December 2021 presentation to cyber investigators, the idea surfaced of a 60 second profile of a high value OSINT site. We have developed this idea and will publish what we hope will be a weekly video “infodeck” in video form of an OSINT resource currently in use by law enforcement and intelligence professionals. Watch Beyond Search for the details of how to view these short, made-for-mobile video infodecks. Now when you swipe left, you will learn how to perform free reverse phone number look ups, obtain a list of a social media user’s friends, and other helpful data collection actions from completely open source data pools.
Also, in this DarkCyber program are: [a] the blame for government agencies and specialized software vendors using Facebook to crank out false identities. Hint: It’s not the vendors’ fault. [b] why 2022 will be a banner year for bad actors. No, it’s not just passwords, insiders, and corner-cutting software developers. There is a bigger problem. [c] Microsoft has its very own Death Star. Does Microsoft know that the original Death Star was a fiction and it did not survive an attack by the rebels?, and [d] a smart drone with kinetic weapons causes the UN to have a meeting and decide to have another meeting.
Kenny Toth, December 28, 2021
DarkCyber for December 14, 2021, Now Available
December 14, 2021
The December 14, 2021, Dark Cyber video news program is now available on the Beyond Search Web log and YouTube at this link.
Program number 25 for 2021 includes five stories.
The first is that a list of companies engaged in surveillance technology and specialized software for law enforcement and intelligence professionals is available without charge. The list is not comprehensive, but it is one of the first open source documents which identifies companies operating “off the radar” of many analysts, law enforcement professionals, private detectives, and would-be investigative journalists.
The second story adds another chapter to the chronicle of missteps by a company doing business as NSO Group. The Israel company develops and licenses specialized software to government agencies. However, the use of that software has become problematic. This edition of Dark Cyber reports about the alleged use of the Pegasus mobile phone data collection system to obtain information from US diplomats’ mobile devices. The consequences of MBA thinking have roiled the specialized services market worldwide.
The third story extracts pricing information made public by the Brennan Center. The documents obtained via a FOIA request to California were prepared by the Los Angeles Police Department. Although redacted, the documents contained what appears to be trade secret pricing information about the Voyager Labs’ surveillance data analytics system marketed worldwide. The Dark Cyber story reveals how to download the document
collection and additional details about a very low profile company’s technology and methods.
The fourth story describes new digital cameras which are the size of a grain of salt. Dark Cyber then reveals that
a small roll up drone has been developed. The form factor is similar to a seed which spins as it floats to the
ground. Combining the miniature cameras with the seed-like phone factor creates opportunities for a new approach to video surveillance.
The final story announces a new Dark Cyber service. The weekly Instagram post will provide specific information about Web sites now used by law enforcement, analysts, and intelligence professionals to gather data about persons of interests, the social media activities, their location, and other high-value facts. The new service goes live in January 2022.
Dark Cyber is produced by Stephen E Arnold, who publishes the Web log called Beyond Search and available at this link.
Kenny Toth, December 14, 2021
DarkCyber for November 30, 2021: Sean Brizendine, SecureX
November 30, 2021
This DarkCyber program features an interview with Sean Brizendine. He is one of the founders of SecureX, where he serves as the director of Blockchain technology. The interview covers:
- SecureX’s secret sauce in the crypto currency and services market
- How open source software fits into the company’s technology portfolio
- How the products and services further the capabilities of Web 3.0, distributed computing, and enhanced online security.
Mr. Brizendine is a certified Certified IIB Council Blockchain Professional & EC Council Online University Lecturer covering Blockchain in their Cyber Talk Webinar Series.
You can view the 11 minute interview on YouTube at this link.
Kenny Toth, November 30, 2021
YouTube: Helping Out TikTok
November 23, 2021
I read “YouTube Co-Founder Predicts Decline of the Platform Following Removal f Dislikes.” The write up includes information from “co founder Jawed Karim.” Here’s a statement I circled in blue:
Jawed Karim, the third co-founder of YouTube, has condemned the platform’s removal of public dislike counts on videos, suggesting that the change will lead to YouTube’s decline.
There’s other information in the write up. However, I think the decline of YouTube may take a long, long time. Don’t get me wrong. The Google is annoying me and maybe one or two other people with some of its “business” actions; for example:
- Advertising on YouTube videos. More ads are appearing and soon some YouTube content will take less time to view than the ads.
- Advertising which is off the mark. I know that some thing my ability to write is terrible. Nevertheless, displaying ads for Grammarly multiple times a day is unlikely to have a return for anyone other than Google. Also, I am a Liberty Mutual customers. Too bad Google YouTube shows me multiple Liberty Mutual ads a day.
- Flawed search function. Try finding videos about a specific retired legionnaire who makes videos in German. Let me know how that works out for you.
- Crazy recommendations. We did a project related to a certain high profile content creator. I was then bombarded with suggestions for videos created by females living together in a van. Yeah, too bad the project ended months ago, but the Google YouTube does not forget.
Net net: The death of YouTube is going to take a while to arrive. The major factor in the decline will be one neither Mr. Karim nor I have yet mentioned.
What will do in the Tube?
TikTok. That’s a prediction in which I have about 60 percent confidence.
Stephen E Arnold, November 23, 2021
DarkCyber for November 16, 2021, Now Available
November 16, 2021
DarkCyber, Program 23, is now available at this link. The mid-November 2021 DarkCyber (Number 23 in the 2021 series) includes six stories.
There are two cyber “bytes”. The first reports about the legal pressure being applied to Signal, a maker of secure messaging software. The second explains that an international team of police arrested more than 100 people in Operation HunTor. Sixty-five of these bad actors resided in the United States.
Malware is tough to stamp out. In fact, Rootkits, a well-known method of compromising targets is returning, is regaining popularity. Plus, bad actors have begun placing malware in computer source code. The targets are unaware that their systems have been compromised. The program provides a link to a report about the Trojan Source method. the US government has blacklisted the NSO Group, a developer of specialized software and systems. What’s interesting is that three other firms have been blacklisted as well. One of the organizations responded to the US action with a sign and indifference. Amazon and Microsoft have learned that their customers/users have been subject to somewhat novel attacks. For Amazon, the Twitch “bit” reward system was used for money laundering. Google ads were used to distribute malware via a old-fashioned spoofed pages which looked legitimate but weren’t.
The drone news in this program reveals that Russia presented more than 200 war fighting technologies at a recent trade show in Lima, Peru. The point DarkCyber makes is that Russia perceives South America as a market ripe for sales. DarkCyber is produced every two weeks by Stephen E Arnold, publisher of the Beyond Search blog at www.arnoldit.com/wordpress and subject matter expert in some interesting technical specialties.
Kenny Toth, November 16, 2021
Prevarication: Part of the Global Game?
November 11, 2021
TikTok is owned by Chinese company ByteDance. China is infamous for its Big Brother tactics on its citizens and enemies. It is reasonable to assume China is using TikTok to spy on Americans. Gadgets 360 reports, “TikTok Tells US Lawmakers It Does Not Give Information To China’s Government.” Michael Beckerman is TikTok’s executive of public policy for North and South America. He assured the US Congress the video sharing platform safeguards US data.
Congressmen from the Republican and Democratic parties are concerned about TikTok’s influence in the US and what data is potentially fed to China. Republicans pressured Beckerman for more information about user data than the Democrats. Both parties are worried how TikTok encourages negative and harmful behavior in young people:
“Executives from YouTube and Snapchat also testified. In a show of bipartisanship, senators of both parties, including Democratic panel chairman Richard Blumenthal, accused the three companies of exposing young people to bullying and sometimes steering them to information that encouraged harmful behaviors such sexualized games or anorexia. The executives responded that their companies have sought to create a fun experience and to exclude dangerous or unsavory content.”
Former President Donald Trump sought to ban TikTok in the US, because he believed it collected data on US citizens that was shared with China. Trump said this was a threat to the US’s safety. Current President Joe Biden rescinded the proposed ban, but he did seek to review foreign-controlled apps.
Does anyone truly believe TikTok? If the company succeeds in converting short videos into a super app, what’s going on behind the digital smokescreen?
Whitney Grace, November 11, 2021
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